ROUND-THE-WORLD MOTOR CAR RACE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 60

ROUND-THE-WORLD MOTOR CAR RACE.

In discflssing the big motor car race, as well as objects, the Motor World, of New York, viewing it in. the light of a piece of journalistic enterprise, considers it admirable- and- for arousing- discussion and- attracting . the Attention of - the public not only to its promoters, but to the automobile in. a general way, as .a most brilliant conception ; but regarding it as & test ■ of individual merit on the part of the com.- i peting cars, or of the abilities and utility} of automobiles as & .whole, it declares thai project to- bft impossible. In -any case iff wilt be a bastfe or money, executive ability, , human endurance, ingenuity, and resource- j fulness, with a, big dash of luck to even up matters. The secret of winning, it is thought, will be in having the best drivers, the wisest guides as to details of the route, the _ meet perfect arrangement of supply Eta t ions, and the most adequate provision I for assistance in time of trouble; and, |

granting

therefore, the merits of the competing machines will be insignificant, granting that they average anything near the standard of performance demanded of even the most ordinary oar in the more usual forms of service. Whatever the value of the contest; it is a theoretical publicity value, and not a practical one, except as it may familiarise a number of people with a neglected* geography. - The American automobile press seem to treat the affair anything but seriously. Comparing it with the Pekin to Paris race,, the- papers referred to thought "that this longer event would be a ' horse-oxen-dog-reindeer-boat-coolie-assisted " The New York Times, which has undertaken to manage the Anierica-n portion of tie, contest, has given' the 'event great publicity. - Three consulting managing- committees have been _ formed-rone in France, another in America, and the third . in Russia, — and -are composed- of scientists, explorers, journalists, , and! Government officials. It is understood that amongst the six oars which the cable informs us, have left Paris for New York will be Borghese's Itala oar, and if he really be a starter more than ordinary interest will be infused into the contest. The American car conI tingent 'oin in at New York. " . The route proposed to be followed is via Seattle (from New York), Skagway in" Alaska, Bearing Strait, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin to Paris, a distance of about 15,000 miles by land. In the event of no car finishing the journey the prize — the Coupe dv Monde — will be awarded to the club to which the most successful car — the vehicle which * travels furthest— "belongs, and a reduced replica of the cup 'will be awarded to the winning car. The route outlined will converge upon the Paris-Pekin course at or about Irkutsk, which, is immediately west -of Lake Baikal, and will thus miss the Gobi desert as well as the lake.