ZIGZAG COURSE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 465, 24 February 1933, Page 5

ZIGZAG COURSE

DESCRIPTION OF RUN Rec. Feb. 23 Daytona Beach, Feb. 23. "From the very start my arm was hurting me badly," said Sir Malcolm, commenting on the run. "In fact. it was all I could do to shift the gears. Then when I got up to a fairly good speed I bumped along over the course like a pea in a pot. I didn't put my foot down hard on the aceelerator until I had almost reached the measured mile, because the car would not have stayed under control at a high speed with the beach as bumpy as it was." Sea shells, strewn on the course cut Sir Malcolm's tyres badly, especially the rear driving tyres, where the rubber was stripped in some spots down to the fabric. Several cuts as if inflicted by a knife, were a quarter of an inch deep. "On both my runs," Sir Malcolm continued, "there were times when I could see no distance whatever ahead. I just had to gue'ss and trust to luck. I was also bothered by sand knicked up into my face and also from strong fumes from the motor. The car behaved magnificently under terrible conditions, hut I certainly had a tough time keeping it from running all over the beach. Frankly it was the roughest ride I ever had and I'll multiply that 50 times. All in all, though, the old car could have done much better if she had had better conditions. If they were better I am confident she would have set a much higher record." Sir Malcolm laughingly characterised his achievement as merely a high speed test run. He said he was undecided whether to make another try to boost the record still higher before returning to England.