‘THE LURE OF SPEED’

Shannon News, 11 May 1928, Page 1

‘THE LURE OF SPEED’

INTERESTING IMPRESSIONS. Some interesting aspects of high speed driving are dealt with in “The Lure of Speed,” just published by Major H. O. D. Segrave, driver of the 1000 h.p Sunbeam which raised the flying mile record to 203.7 m.p.h. in March, .1927. Although Major Segrave’s performance has now been eclipsed twice, he has the honour of being the first man in the world to exceed 200 m.p.h. The new book revives some interesting incidents of motor-racing a quarter of a century ago, and after tracing the gradual increase in speeds, the writer gives his ideas of the future. In one chapter Segravo says: “I am not going to pretend that driving the big Sunbeam, even under the almost ideal conditions offered at Daytona Beach, was the easiest thing I ever had to do, but I can say without hesitation and equally without conceit that there was never any question at all of the' machine beating . the man .... I am simply placing on record the result of my own personal observation. The reaction, between the eye, mind and muscle is so instantaneous that I believe one could learn to drive habitually at 200 m.p.h. (supposing road conditions permitted it).”