QYCLINQ fjUTOßr^ray\'rise FIXTURE. i Tima.ru to Christchurch fioad Race.—Oct. 30.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 57

QYCLINQ fjUTOß r^ray\'rise FIXTURE. i Tima.ru to Christchurch fioad Race. — Oct. 30.

BY DEMON.

Our local racing contingent will have an addition to its ranks this year in the persons of two English cyclists — Messrs Bates and Sweeney — who have just arrived in Dunedin. I am sure they will receive a warm welcome from the crowd when they make their debut on the Caledonian track. Mr Tom Fraser informs me that he lost a cap off one of the wheels of his car on Saturday Tho cap is of brass and marked "Stuart, ' and Mr Fraser will be \ery grateful for its return. j Mr H. V Fulton, secretary of the : Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society, j has ordered a 12 h.p. four-cylinder Vulcan | car from Messrs Wimper.ny Bros. j 1 hear that the "silent SiddeLey" 13 to l>e represe-ntec' by one of our local firnio ■ Mr Brown, a Dunedin motorist, who went Home about a. year ago, acted as an hon. observer in the Scottish reliability trial. Dr Batchelcr, sen., and Mr J. F. M. Fraser return to Dunedin from Sjdney , on Saturday. j As published in the cable new? 011 ', Tuesday week Louis Strang, on c Buick j car, lowered the American road record , for 100 miles by 21min 20sec. The Buick | also won tho Cobe trophy over a 395-mile course, averaging a speed of 50 mile* per hour. j -Mr Peter Black. (Jimmerburn, has become the possessor of a 3j h.p. Norton motor cycle. Mr Youn.g, of P-alnKT^fop, i has purchased a 3£ Norton, and Mc.^'s Chas. Campbell and D. AVihon (Gimmciburn) 2s Clements. Messis Cookp, Howli c on. and Co. aie landing per Waimate a. Model 10 Buick. as used by Dr Stanley Batchelor, i and one of tho popular Model F's by ■ the same boat Magneto is now fitted to ! these models. The «Anie firm are landing j by the Arawa a shipment- of 3i Nortons ! and by the Rakaia a ehipment of 3i Hiunbers, with two-6peed gear The number of motor cars and motor ! cycles in Invercargill is large in proporI tion to its size. There are 132 cars and motor cycles registered locally. Tho actual ' numbers, taken some time ago, were 67 cars and 77 cycles. The employees of the Dunlop Rubber Mills (Melbourne) have organised a rifle club, which has been gazetted. The club J already comprises over 50 members. I Taxica-bs are now plying for hire in | Christchurch, a stand having been reserved ," for thorn in Hereford sireot, almost oppo- | site the Bank of New Zealand. The cabs started running ju*t before National Week, 1 and up to the pic.-^nt time have been j kept veiy busy. j It is stated in a northern paper that a keen demand has arisen from Christchurch racing cyclists for racing machines as a result of the impending Timaru to Christchurch Road Race, one Christchurch t

firm alone having oabled Home for 100 road-racing machines. A company has boen formed to establish a motor transport between Opunake and New Plymouth. Dairy produce will bo largely depended on to supply freight for the cars, each of which will carry two tons and be capable of travelling if required at from 12 to 15 miles per ■ hour. i Owners of automobiles in lowa, U.S., 3re now able to insure their cars against " explosion, reckless driving, - and accidents 1 of all kinds for the first time since motor • vehicles were introduced in that State. ; The V>"hite Bill, adding motor \ehicles to j the list of property that may be insuied i against any casualty, has become a law by j publication. As a result, fire insurance i agents in every lowa city and town are , doing a brisk business. I ■ A very creditable record was rei cently put up by two London cyclists, ' Messrs Peiser and Fawley, who succeeded m breaking the London to Liverpool reI cord by 32 minutes, covering 204 miles on their tandem in the extraordinarily good time of lOhr 50min. It will be seen that this gives an average of nearly 20 miles per hour all the way, and, having regard to the fact that the ride was accomplished over wet roeds in various storms of rain, its merit is all tho more pronounced. Judged by the standard of the Whit Monday annual parade o"f the London Carthorse Society in Regent's Park, the increasing iwe of industrial motor vehicles has had little effect, if any, upon carthorses used in London (says the Autocar). The entries were slightly in excess of last year, and, after inspecting the 736 horses which took part, one of the judges declared that the standard of excellence was higher than in a> previous parade during the past 20 yea. a. ! —The taxicab service lately inaugurated in Sydney is reported to bo doing j ts phenomenal business, and those desiring : to tra\el by the motor vehicle generally have to wait some time before engaging a. taxicab. It ia estimated that the drivers I are making from 18s to £l a day, and j altnougn tn« intention of the proprietors j was to use the tax'icabs for short journeys in the city and suburbs, tiiey hav6 already been cngage-i for long trips to the outlying centres. The Toftr de France, which had just started when the last English files left, is a lace which has no parallel here. Roughly, it is a complete circuit of France, and extends to a trifle over 2800 miles. This distance is not traversed straightaway, but is divided into 14- stages, so that a rest can be obtained. Tho longest stage is about 260 miles, and the shortest about 160 miles, and the race lasts a month. The towns traversed en route seize tho event as an occasion for a general holiday, and fete tho riders in a liberal manner. Last year the event was won by Petit-JBreton, after a desperate finish on the Pare dcs Princes track, from Faber- and Passerieu. This year 150 riders started fiom Paris for the tirst stage of the race through to Roubaix, a distance of 169 miles. it is a curious fact that everyone who takes charge of a piece of mechanism or running plant will gradually accustom himself to managing it Oy ear. li j total volume of sound emitted by the mechanism when xunning becomes in course of timespilt up into its component articulations, each of which is separately detectable by the man who is familiar with the machine; ihus, in the ease of the motor car, tho ear becomes a distinct aid to engine management. ——The Bleriot monoplane No. XI, *-ith which Mr Louis Blerior, recently won the Daily Mail prize for the iiret aerial flight across the English Channel, is only fitted with a2O h.p. engine. No. XI is the lightest and smallest monoplane yet made, and when the wings are folded up the j whole construction is only about the size ' ,of an ordinary motor car. The total ' I weight with aviator is only 5071b. The ! j spread of the monoplane is barely 23ft, the j length o^ er all being the same. The area j of fabric is only I£l£ square feet, so that I the weight carried per square foot is 3.131b | Bleriod's best spe,->d on this wonderful ; little machine* is 46£ miles per hour. — — Experienced cyclists *ay that no two | machines are a.like in 'running. One may be rcsponsivo to every thrust, while ths ! otiKT simply rum "dead."- And it is a fact. I (says "Fortis," in tfos Australasian) have noticed the phenomenon repeatedly. Two i of tJie machines now in general u-j'e by me, although built by the same firm, and "practically identical in every wav, are unlike ' in the matter of running, and 1 to overooma ' the difference a lower gear >6 fitted — 7Lb). j as against 77in Some large manufacturers I are inclined to think that the quaJity of ! the? tubing is responsible, which opinion is '• ba&cd on the result of several buceessive . seasons <lurin-g which the running of the ' machines was said to vary, and when difte- ; rent makes of tubing were used. As regards ' tubing, however, J am certain that the method of assembling — fitting and brazing-— < lwvs mtv-h to do with the "life" of a ma- , chir.e, for >f the tube? are at all sprung ' to mako them fit in the lugs, deadnese will i r°sult. flic fault ia common enough with • Jo w-g i a t lo cycle? . In Maj La-t Mr S. F. Edge, the wellknown British 'motorist and manufacturer, returned from a business visit to the States, ) and instead of finding that country a pro- | mising field for British care, <lisco\erod that,! owing to the extraordinary activity of the American motor manufacturers, it was pojeiMe that Great Britain would be invaded. "Nearly everybody 'n America," he said, "is gcin<? in for some sort of a car. and the fet-en- has cached the re-motest \illages in tho farming regions. Many farmers, too, I have learned that the motoi car is not only \ a creat machino for pleasure, but a<ri even more important means of pushing- modern ' business. Mechanical vehicles will in a [ large measure supersede the horse in haul- I ing grain to market and drawing hea\y [ ploughs, and at not a very distant date either." | The utility and 1 general excellence of i mo'oi* commercial vehicles was again demonstrated to a nunnber of interested spectator© ' the other afternoon. A Renault d-aliveyy ' van of 12-14 h.p. (the production of the I well-known firm of that name), carrying j over a ton of maize, was driven from the North Ooast Steam Navigation Company's ■wharf up Margaret 6tipet (Sydney) at a rate- of fi\o to six miles an hour. It climbed the hill with case, and was aftea-wa-Tcls turned round and driven down to test the brakes. On tho steepest part, which rises to a grade of one in cix, the van was brought (to a standstill by the use of the footbrake, within half of its own length, and again, when travelling at a rate of 10 miles an hour, it was similarly brought to a stop

| by the hand brakes, showing with what easo I of control it could be handled. In order to further demonstrate how easily it could ba [ handled in traffic it was driven along Sussex street. A number of onlookers, not ! wishing to miss such an excellent object* lesson, had scrambled on top of th* maize, but in spite oi _the additional weight the van went on 6il«.ntly and" smoothly, at ai high a pace a3 tho traffic would allow Since the announcement that a prize of £10,000 would be given to the Australian £10,000 would be given to ths Australian j inventor who would design an airship ' c?ipable of use in war, the Federal Minister of Defence (Mr Joseph Cook) has been flooded with letters from every part o£ the Commonwealth, covering suggestions, j plans, and ideas. People who have turned I inventive minds to tho subject, and are | ambitious to win fame and £10,000, have surprised Mr Oook by their numbers; but perhaps the most surprising bid for the money was made by a (Jippsland resident, I whoso "invention" was described in a I few words on a half -sheet of paper. Hie communication reads thus: "Airship in the shape of a swallow or swift, and driven by air." The Minister has not yet decided] to . award the prize to this " inventor r 't says the Melbourne Argus.