CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 59

CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES

BY DEMON.

— — At the annxial meoting of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Athletic Union k was unanimously decided to recommend to the union that they take over -rhe control of cycling in \ow Zealand. Delegates reprasentingf the Clyde. Lawrence, Cromwell, Middlemarcn, and Palmeiston Clubs spots in faiour of tli-o union controlling cj-cling, and on© or two of them expressed her die-satisfaction with tlie- poor sport provided in (Jtago on occasion in .cj cling laces, While i>ersonally of the opinion that the mana^cm^nt of cycle racing cannot bo harmed by the uni in taking- control, and may possibly be considerably impioved, I should like do point out that the control of cycling in Otago in the past has nothing whatever to <k> with poor competition : lack of high-c!afs riders is the Hrst and la^t cause of this. Still, the delegates to the Otag-j Centre "neeting ihadL a just cause of complaint in the number of permit fees charged at present to sports bodice — one by the Athletic Union for profession*! races, another by the amateur body for amateur running-, and one made by the League of Wheelmen for cycle events. This is too much of a strain on country clubs' finances and it i«s to be hoped that ina-iteis in this respect at k-a%t ■will shortly be put on a more satisfactory basis. 1 not.ioe that an Adelaide motoring wriior expt^^cis great surprise at "the fact Ihax a lady motor cycli-t has taken out a icgistraiion a-5 a rider in South Aut-tialia. It li.aT uucicst this writer to learn that a Green Wand young lady scm.e four yeais ago earnod considerable fame bj riding a 1 win-tylint'sr L'lement motor cycle about ih> p.i.iin bouth roat'.e in a manner cakuJatocl to excite the envy of many male motor «t«. TLo \otin? lady in question out in tomo faiily extensive ride;-, too. At a. mcoliiig of t-ie fcsouth Cantorbury Centre of t'.io L:aguo of New Zt aland j Wheelmen it was unanimously dcc.fkd that it would bo in the in-torosts of cycling for j iiio loa^u-e to flmalgamate with the Now Z "aland Athletic I'mon. I —-— At the annual meeting of the Canterbury Automobile A*~ociation ti'.e following , (.mcc-i'3 were o!eo:ed :— Prc-iiilsjit, Dr Noe- ' Kj: \icc-prc-.d-3iit — fir Thacker, Meters R. English, P. L. Halionstein. it nil E. H. Jaaics; t^aniror, Mr C. C- M. Ollivier; | .■-^cii iai v, Mr K. Nordon ; com-mittea — Dr J Rimp.on and Jlc-^-s Crozier, Pratt, Steeds, I John ton. JNia^-farlatjo, and A. L. Sm.rh. | It rj« <u'ii } r 'A that meinl>ei& intfie-icd in | t!:o rrad-o >hou!d 1.0 c!ig:hie for election as officcrio ap 1 raei::b:-i = cf the a c i-ociatibn. -(Jr.c^ ii oic i- luii=oii, the el-»ct) - ical I c\psrt, -,aid to haw perf-ctlcd a battery, the (*-lh of wliuh \a -. in weight from 13ilb to 161b, uiid tha: he exiwct-s foon to see <j\ery 1 t«\;-cab t!r:ven by ihe now battery. Tho life of the battery he estimates at not less than four y^ars. A ijumbd' cf the members of the ncotor touring club of the Syracuse (U.S.A.)

University are at present on a trip to Great Britain and Europe which will extend over 80 days. To test the magnets of a magneto, ddscormeot driving gear, and turn, over the armature by hand. A slight but perceptible resistance to turning should be- felt twice in every revolution. The council of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (England) has "called upon" the Chancellor" of the Exchequer "to withdraw the unreasonable tax "on petrol," as it "will- considerably hamper the industry, end prove a serious blow to the trade. A copy of a resolution embodying the above was forwarded to Mr LloydGeorg©. It may interest motorists and cyclists who are inclined to cavil at the price of their tyres to know the extraordinary variations to which the market price of rubber is liable. In February, 1908, the price had dropped to 2s 9d per lb, as far as known the lowest it has ever touohed. Since then it has been rising steadily. In January this year it was 5s Id per lb, and in May it had advanced to 5s 7d, whilst to-day it oos*s over 8s a lb, or about £900 a ton. It will be seen, therefore, that in litole more than 12 months the price of the raw material, which is the principal expense connected with motor and cycle tyres, has trebled. During the past decade we have changed our opinion about the automobile being exclusively for the rich. The trend of progress and ■the awakening perceptions on ithe part of .practical men regarding the commercial uses of the automobile, together with the demand for transportation facilities in districts far frorr the railways, are combining to bring about a condition of things that must in the near future make for the greater development of the whole farming and commercial community, besides directly j influencing the opening up and subdivision of lands hitherto inaccessible tc most people. It is said that there are approximately over 21,000 motor vehicles now in uso in California, of which 10,000 are in San Francisco alone • British motorists may consider themselves fortunate in the matter of petrol charges, even with the new duties add«d, as | against those prevailing in France, as in Paris the cost of a 5-litre car (l.lgal) is 2s j 6d to 2s 9d, and in other portions of the Republic from Is Id to Is lid. In Britain, j th© price per gallon is now from Is 2d to Is sd. But the French Minister of Finance proposes to still furth-er tax the~ spirit, owing to a large deficit, a-nd seeks to obtain the huge sum of £800,000 from petrol taxation alone. The announcement has caused dismay amongst the manufacturers, especially fchosa engaged in the commercial motor industry Tha aeroplane used by M Blexiot in his Channel night, as well as those of Wilbur Wright, and the- airships built by the French, German, English, and Russian Governments, were all constructed of the Continental Tyre Company's balloon sheeting, and the manufacture of it is now an important branch of the company's business. The opinion of Mr T. A. Edison, the famous electrician, is that in 10 years' time the progress made in aviation will be suoh that aeroplanss will be used t< carry mails, and will .fly at a speed of 100 miles an hour. In respect ro the development of airships for defence purposes, the cables tell us that the English "War Office is making up for Jpst time, and is encouraging the manufacture of airships of the Zeppelin ,-ype and others, and that the army would shortly have four large dirigible air-vessels, while experiments with an aeroplane built by the Wright Brcs. are to be conducted at Aktershol. The army authorities nr<? also considering the proposal to form a corps of aeronauts, on similar lines to the Army Motoi Retv«rve, and the interest now being evinced in aviation indicates that there will bo a largo number of volunteers available for this branch of national defence. The automobile has corns into great usage as an ambulance. In many paris of the world motor cars are regularly fitted up in ambulance form. But in cas-33 of emergency, 6ueh as accidents, the motor car often bscomss an improvised ambuJai "••a and hurries patients to the hospital ar:l saves their Hvs6, wh.<?re the regular horfe-drawn. ambulance would be too slow. It lias besn the history of the past few years that on thesa errands of mercy the automobile has cotno into great use whsrevor there has been a catastrophe, and noticoahly was this true in the great fire in San Francisco three years ago. The Dun lop RubbcT Company, who organise . the big Warr-nambool to Melbourne Ro«wl "Race, of 165 miles, state that. over 300 entries are already to hand, although nominations do not close ujvtil Ss-tember 14. when the esrries total 500 all further nominations will be refused, for the Dunlop Company consider it unwise to accept moro- that* this number owing to the difficulty of successfully chfekinff and feeding this large field. bss'cL-s the cansci/ of overcrowding the — Some of the English cycling writers ar-^ ca*:Ln^ doubts on J. Ain-fs wonderful rHo of three iroi:ib<! back from Christfhurch to Dur-edin (247 miles) in 12hr 21m ; n. Cycling- (the leading Enpli«h cyoiini journal! states " that \t wouk! l>3 interesiing to learn how the distance of I 247 mii~s \va= arrived at. It U rot prohabi*> f.it i cross-country road in a recently developed country like N<mv Zoa- , land has been accurately jjirasurrd ; in ; f -tct, H is far ro~v>a likely "that the distance ba* lv°n Ti^.^lv computed." As far as the di-.ra.noe of A mat's profit ride is con- ! cerrse-J. the P'li-irtchtirch-Dun'-rijn route is a p 1] ~r!v svvf^-cd av.\ measured or. 13 ; joj <-or c cqucntly tho distaneo i« p" actically beyond )oubt : but we have to exj tent cMy our<s?K."9 to I 'am.? in the mat f-M\f -M\ for ir i<s only a f-ew nicnths back that the • C'h'-i>t' % hi'rch Club orf/ani^'-c'i. a^lverti^pd, and ian a SO-iruWs read race, which waa won in very fast time. Sub c ?nuenrly it : tu.tn<r-d out that the dis^ar!C^ covered was some six miks short of that advertised. J Unfortunately this mistake has come home I to roost aJrcadv. and in England, at all I events. ha« r«=;itlte<J in Jack Arnst'e greait j ricly boing discounted. This is a pity, | for it means that in future any startling ! road' pTforinances in +<hir part of the 1 world will be received with a certain amount of doubt. In t.be interests of the passim.? and of N*w Zealand cyclists the ' host thin? the Christchuroh Club can do is to collect full particulars X the bona fi<'es of Amst's ride — evidence that will admit of, no do<ubt as to distance and timing— and submit «ime to the Home cycling journals. For the sake of our

reputation in the sporting world. i< is imperatiTe that such an important matter be carefully attended to in the future* and no loophole left for a recurrence of a similar blunder. To decide a vrager Professor L. B. Willis the other day carried out in Melbourne a novel cycling feat, he carryingsix mien, on his machine for fully half a mile along St. Kilda road. l"he presentday bicycle is put to many curious uses, but seldom to such a severe test as that successfully executed by Willis. The machine used was a Massey-Harris cycle, fitted with " Oceanics," and despite the fact that over half a ton was piled upon! the machine both the cycle and tyres withstood the- terrific strain splendidly The mode of carrying the men, adopted by, Willis -was one man on his shoulders, two men etanddng on steps fitted to front forks, and three men on special steps fitted to back stayß. Willis, who is a very powerful cyclist, found little difficulty ia .balancing, steering, and pedalling his machine; in fact, he could beve apparently carried more passengers if h© could have only found rotfro to pack them on. As a weight-carrying test under road conditions the ride demonstrated what a wonderful piece of mechanism the present-day bicycle is. The feat was carried out publicly, and is said tc constitute a world's 'record. 100-MILE RECORDS. It is imterestinig to note how the motor car, motor cyele> amd bicycle stand for speed as compared with other kinds of locomotion over a distance of 100 miles. Over * " hundred " it ia a close thing between the car and th« locomotive. Th« Great Western Express (Eng.) holds a record of 8* miles an Mbur, the actual figure* being lhr 9min 30seo. F. Newton's cau uecond at Brooklarxls track (Eng.) for th« same distance ie lhr lQmin 20sec from a standing start. If the express's time was from a flying start, which it probably was, then the honours aTe with the automobile J. B. Derosier, the California^ crack motor cyclist, comes next with a hundred in lhr 37mm 59sec. clo-dy followed by- the performance of the balloon "Banshee," which last December averaged 55 miles per hour for about 500 miles whilst travelling from England to tieimany, and the actual time for the " century" being lhr 49min. Zeppelin's dirigible balloon is not far beh-inrd with a hundred in 2hr lOmin, or 46 miles pe* hour. Next on the list is his Majeaty'a torpedo boat destroyer, Swift, which has steamed at the rate of 43 miles an hour. The Frcmch cyclist, E. Bontheurs, holds the paced bicycle record, his time being 2hr 26m in Bsec, equal to 41 miles per hour. Next c.omes W. Wri-ght'-s aeroplane flight of 96 miles in lhr 54min. equal to " forty " an hour. Th© Duke of Westminster's crack motor boat Wbleeley-Siddeley II has maintained a speed* of 39 miles an. hour, which is eight miles an houi faster than tha Mauritania's hundred in 3hr lßmin. A/ 100 miles, with -a relay of 16 horses, haar been left behind in 4hr* lOmin 20sec, -wiiiJ&i! in the Dunlop Relay , Cycle Ride the earn* distance was cover«l by the Chrie+ohurch Cycling Olub's (N.Z.^ team in 4-hr 29min 30sec. On the road 11. Green, the English road crack, has cycled a hundred in 4hr 36min 22sec, whilst J Selby drove a fourhors© coach from London to Brighton and back; negotiating -the " century " in Eevem and a-quarter hours, a. distance that haa been walked in 18hr &nin 15sec. For 6hortei dietanoes the motor" car is an easy first, F. Marriot having covered a mil« in 28 l-ssec, equal to a speed of 127 miles per hour SCOTTISH RELIABILITY TRL\LS. The latest files give particulars of th« great annual Scottish reliability motor car trial, which embraced puns in sections, and totalled about 1000 .miles, and extended over thg best part of a week. Tho competition was open to vehicles of different horse-power 5a ting. These were dividec* into classes.' The result, which will be interesting to enthusiasts, was as follows : — Claas A (open to vehicles of which th* prios of the chassis with tyres does not exceed £175).— 10 h.p. Rile/ car. Scored 989.9 points out of a pcssi&le 1000. Actual selling price of car chassis, £175; car complete, £210. Class B (open to vehicke of which the price of chassis with tyres toes not exceed) £215).— 12-18 h.p. Ri'ley. Scored 976.9 points. Chassis, £212 ss : caT complete, £257 ss. , Class C (vehicles of which tho price of chassis with tyres does not exceed £260). — .10-12 h.p. Bumber. Scored 995.9 points. Price of chassis, £250 18s; oar complete, £275 18s. Class D ivebicles of which the price of chassis with types doss not exceed £325). — 14-16 h.p. Argyll. Scored 985.9 points. Price" of chassis, £325; car complete, £375. Crass E (vehicles of which the pries of chassis, with tyres, does not exctod £425). — 16 h.p. Humber. Scored 994.9 points. Price of chassis, £338; car complet3, £388. Class F (vehicles of which the price of chassis with tyres does no* exceed £525). — 24 h.p. Vauxhall. Scored 995.1 points. Price of chassis, £506 12s; car omplete, £551 12s. C!a r s G (vehicles of which the pa-ice of chassis, with tyres, does no*- exceed £650). —30 h.p. A-dler. Scored 976 6 points, Prio of chassis. £635 ; ear complete, £725. Bronze medals in each class for hillclirnbin.g were award^fd xs follow: — Class A, 10 h.p. Riley, 50 marks; Class B, 12-18 h.p. Riloy, 50 marks; Class C, 12 h.p Star, 50 marks; Cla«s D, 15 h.p. Star, 49.1 points ; Class K. 16 h.p. Humber, 47.7 marks; C!a=s F, 2* h.p. Vauxhall, 47.1 marks ; Class G, 33 h.p. Minerva, 47.1 marks ; Class H, 50 h.p. Ariel (only competitor). Fifty marks is the highest possib'.a for each hill, and the above figures represent ihe average- score of each car ij» all the hill-clim l^ The Scottish Cup, for the vehicle showing the lowest fuel consumption per ton* mile over the whole trial, was gained by, & 38 h.p. Minerva, with a consumption of .02244ge1 pei ton-mile, equal to 44.57 ton-miles par gallon of fuel. MOTOR CAR RACE. NEW YORK, August 22. Louis StTang, driving a. Buick car, won the 100 miles race at Indianapolis (U.S.A.), in lhr 22min 40sec, which is the Trorld's best record. T lie previous ! record yras lhr 44mxn. [The&e times_arg_

incorrect. The existing Tecord for 100 miles is F. Newton's lhx lOmin 20sec, put up on the Brooklands track.]