RACING A TRAIN

Hokitika Guardian, 21 March 1930, Page 5

RACING A TRAIN

SEA TO SEA DASH'

BRITISH DRIVERS WIN.

CALAIS, Jan. 28,

When the Blue Train from the Riviera, one of the most famous of Continental expresses, drew up dead on time this afternoon at Calais, a British mo-tor-car, all plastered in mud, was parked alongside the platform. Two young Englishmen, unshaven with red-rimmed eyes, and almost as dirty as the car itself, stood by and greeted the train with cheers. They had raced the world-famous express right from St. Raphael, on the Mediterranean, and they had won by twenty minutes!

The heroes of the episode were Mr D. Noble and Mr F. Bennett, who had been paying a visit to the Riviera. for twenty hours on end, through all the night and half the day, these tivo adventurers raced the Blue Train h their gallant little ear, from sea to sea across 750 miles of France,

They were at times slightly ahead of the express on schedule, and well behind it at others.

While the lordly Blue Train roared along on its metals, secure from trouble, the two travellers in their motor-car were handicapped by fog, level-crossings, and deep water-courses in addition to the normal obstacles or the great highway. The Blue Train left St. Rapheal at 6.30 p.m. yesterday. The motor-car, a two-litre light six Rover, was set in motion at the same time.

Between St. Raphael and Brignoles, where road and rail run parallel, there was an actual neck-and-neck race between the car and the train.

The road ahead was staight and clear, and the travellers had the satisfaction of seeing their modest /ehicle take the lead—but their luck was cut. A level crossing was rfliead, and the gates were closed to let the Blue Train pass. It faded into the landscape, and was seen no more until it arrived twenty minutes after the car at Cauiis. Between Macon and Avallon, just before dawn, the task seemed Hopeless. Wisps of mist kept floating across the road, obstructing the driver’s vision and the speed dropped to twenty-eight miles an hour—the lowest recorded. The average speed during the run was forty-eight miles an hour. When dawn broke a puff of wind suddenly dispersed the fog, and IV way lay clear ahead. ■ A dead ctraighl tree-lined road stretched as far as the eye could see. '