FLYING AND MOTORISTS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5236, 8 February 1928, Page 2

FLYING AND MOTORISTS.

MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY. • IyiANY CAR RECORDS. The lure of record-breaking has urged speed kings on bicycles,, in motor cars, and at the joy-sticks of aeroplanes, to reduce the travelling time between Sydney and Melbourne, but thet -ime taken by the stately old railway express has not varied for a quarter of a century.

1 .When he Melbourne express pulls ou at 7.25 each night, the passengers all look forward to having a fast and untroubled, journey, hoping that thq 589 miles will be covered in the schedule time of 17 hours ‘5 minutes. To the rail traveller the journey: eptimbmises ailway speed, but it leaves other people cold. Way back in 1908, when. C. B. Kdllow and Harry James made thelir wonderful overland journey in 25 hours 40 minutes, it was; considered a wonderful feat for road vehicles. So it was, but since that day the honour of holding the speed record between the two capitals has been coveted by all drivers. Gradually, the improvement in motor, cars, the time between the capitals has ( been reduced until in 1915 Boyd Edkins had he honour of being the first driver to cover distance quicker than the train, in 16 hours 55 minutes.

The first aim of motorists, having been achieved, there was a. lull in record-breaking for a few years* Then the late A. V. Turner, S. C. Ottoway, Norman Sjnith all kept at it, repqatedly lowering the times.

Better roads, better cars, and more z ffioient oorganisation made the times better, and to-day E. L. Buckley holds the record, with 10 hours 51 minutes for the 565 miles.

Compared with the; train time of 17 hours '5 minutes, the car time is a stupendous performance,p articularly as hills and turns' and bad roads have to be negotiated. The train has its private highway, with suitable grades, whilst the car used has to meet all kinds of road difficulties*. In addition the safety of the public must be considered.

Consider these things only, and the car looms large in the speed world, but thing of the aeroplane and what it van do. Over 100 miles an hour »’s a mere bagatelle for a good plane’ so we .find that the fastest time by air between Sydney and Melbourne is, three hours forty-five minutes, a performance which stands to the credit of Squadron-Leader of the R.A.A.F.