STEEL TYRES.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 301, 15 August 1929, Page 7

STEEL TYRES.

FOR SUPER-SPEED RACING. Steel automobile tyres may be the next major development in superspeed racing, believes Captain J. S. Irving, British automobile expert who designed Sir Henry Segrave’s Golden Arrow. Captain Irving is of the opinion | that the present-day rubber and fabric racing tyre has about reached its limit, as far as withstanding terrific force is concerned. If the speed record goes much higher, he says, steel tyres may have to be put into use. The tyres on Sir Henry Segrave’s car, built at a cost of about £SOO each, were designed to withstand a speed of 240 to 260 miles an hour for one minute. Sir Henry set the new record at 231 miles an hour, abandoning further attempts after Lee Bible, Daytona mechanic, was killed in an attempt to break that record. “ One of the greatest hazards of high-speed racing,” Captain Irving says, “ is the tyres. I have been considering using steel tyres for some time, but I’m not ready yet to let a man risk his life with them.” The British motor expert believes there is no calculable limit to speed at which a man can travel in an automobile as long as he is protected from the wind by an enclosure and j moves in a straight line. If the limit ever is reached, he believes it will be in the neighbourhood of 350 miles an hour for two-wheel drive cars and 400 miles an hour for cars with fourwheel drive. ,