CYCLE AND MOTOR NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 81, 2 April 1912, Page 3

CYCLE AND MOTOR NOTES.

It may bo remembered that some months ago the Automobile Club of Victoria and the members of the motor trade in conjunction agreed to hold an Automobile Show in the Exhibition during the present month, and all preliminary arrangements, including the engagement of the building for a week, were settled. Jt was also understood that exhibitors would have access to the hall four days before the opening date in order to arrange stands and display goods, and also to make sundry decorations. Subsequently it was learned, that the building had been let to others for the Wednesday preceding the opening Saturday, and it was feared by the committee in charge of the arrangements that insufficient time intervened to make the necessary pre-

partitions; hence the trustees of the Exhibition building were interviewed, and after some negotiation the hall was granted for the motor show to take place during the first week in September, the opening day to be Saturday, August 31st. This term, be it also noted, is Agricultural Show week, hence good attendances should be secured during its currency, for in addition to a large influx of country visitors there will also be a fair number from the other States. It is doubtful yet if the motor show will bo open during the evenings all through the week, but it is certain that the two Saturdays—the first and last days—and the intervening Wednesday at least will have evening sessions. Success should attend tne venture, which will 'be the first real motor exhibition held in the State. One or two minor attempts wore made at periods much earlier in the history of the car, but the displays were of a very meagre description. Motor shows • in both Europe and America, especially in late years, have proved highly profitable undertakings, while the trade benefited to an enormous extent. During the last Olympia Exhibition in London the crush of visitors was so great as to interfere with the business sought to bo done by exhibitors, and for next season’s show it is probable that one day will be set aside for intending purchasers, when the admission fee may be £5 os; but if the visitor makes a purchase on that day his ticket will he negotiable to the amount of £5, and will be accepted as part payment by any exhibitor.

One of the most pleasing features in connection with/ the organising work of the great military despatch relay race from Adelaide to Sydney is the marked enthusiasm of the intending participants en route. The Dunlop Rubber Co.’s representatives, Messrs H. B. James and H. V. Tuson, who have motored over the entire route of 1149 miles, report wholehearted support from the cyclists and motor cyclists whom they have met, and, further, notice a growing spirit of rivalry and a keen desire of victory for the classes they respectively represent. The pedal-pushers declare that they null give the motorists of both classes a very tough task to catch them—if they do so—while the motor cyclists fully recognise they are up agaiust a hard proposition to catch the wheelmen with their full day’s start. As for the automobilists, little 'has been said; perhaps in their firm calm belief in the superiority of the motor car over all other classes of road vehicles, they are indifferent to the big leeway to be picked up. In any case, they will have a clear road. The one regrettable incident in the whole affair is the refusal of the Amateur Association in New South Wales to allow motorcyclists to participate under penalty of losing their status. A more erroneous conception of this big event as a professional or even a strictly competitive contest could hardly be made. In the first place, it is not a personal or individual matter; and, in the second, it is not, strictly speaking, a race, although referred to in such terms. It is really a test over nearly 1500 miles of give and take country —good and bad roads, sand and desert tracks, over plains and hills, and even mountains, to demonstrate the relative value to the military authorities here, and elsewhere for that matter, of the three classes of transit for the transmission of despatches, and may also afford some data respecting the most expeditious means of effective and rapid mobilisation. And to class such a test,' pregnant with far-reaching possibilities, as a professional event, or one that could affect amateurism in any way, was a deplorable misconception of the real objects of so great an undertaking. Possibly it was a matter of rules, or what was read into the rules, and if so those, rules were made to be altered.

Increased interest is being evinced by firms in all branches of commerce in the commercial motor vehicle, and especially by those doing a big carrying business. In some parts of Australia the motor waggon is effecting changes, and though they may be small they are none the less significant. So far the Commonwealth, has seen little of the motor road train, yet, given a fairly decent road, it will solve many transportation problems and will obviate the expenditure of largo sums oi money necessary to provide railway communication. The various carrying companies are having forced upon them the adoption of motor traction, whether for parcels delivery or for transport of heavy merchandise, and last week in Melbourne the Master Carriers’ Association was much interested in the trial of a new 5-ton lorry which was tested on all the steep hills in the metropolis, carrying a load exceeding five tons of pig-iron. After witnessing the hill tests, the carriers then desired that the waggon bo driven over a heavy road, and the west end of Dudley Street, which is over swamp land, was chosen by them. The lorry negotiated the vile stretch up and down without any trouble and the Master Carriers expressed themselves perfectly satisfied. The very meritorious performance, considering all the circumstances, accomplished by Mr E. J. Lewis last month in motoring from Sydney to Brisbane—over 700 miles—in 76 hours, which constitutes a record between the two cities, has stimulated a Brisbane motorist (.Mr E. Trevethan, of the Town and Country Motor Co.) to undertake the task with a view to improving Mr Lewis’ time. 'J he road in places is declared to bo remarkably bad; in fact, Mr Lewis was bogged for three hours! In addition, lie had many delays from punctures, taking wrong turns, foggy weather, etc., hence his actual running

time amounted to less than half that I claimed as record, viz., 32hrs. His greatest handicap, however, was when 100 miles had been covered, that his mechanician took ill and had to he sent back by rail to Sydney, causing a direct loss of an hour, and many others later through being sin-gle-handed. It was no light task lor one man to handle a car for 000 miles, to attend to eight punctures, replenish fuel and oil tanks, and to supervise matters generally; all this, too, was done without sleep. Hence with decent weather and freedom from mishaps, Mr Trevethan should be able to materially reduce the new figures. Broadbent’s well-known Road and Railway map of Victoria has again been revised and improved, and is issued for the seventeenth year. Motorists and cyclists in this State and visitors from those adjoining have found it invaluable, for the .map is kept right up to date, duo to the painstaking indefatigable care of the author. Mr Broadbent discovered that to make the road map serviceable and acceptable to all he had to specially study the requirements of those who actually “footed” the country, and who needed accuracy above all things. In filling the wants of these —motorists, cyclists, travellers, etc. —the general public has benefited immensely, because there is so much detail of such a useful, interesting and instructive nature that the map, when opened, holds their attention. The map proper is printed in three colours, the roads, as well as towns and distances, being in black; the railways and stations in red; and all physical features—rivers, mountains, etc.—in blue, which harmonise well. Copies of the map are obtainable at all motor and cycle depots, booksellers, and the Tourist Bureau at the popular price of one shilling. It is expected that some Australian motor cycle track records will be broken at the big amateur sports meeting on the old Friendly Societies’ Ground, Melbourne, this afternoon, March 23. The meeting was originally fixed for the 9th instant, but owing to inclement weather and continuous rain the managing committee deemed it wiser to postpone the meeting. The track on the Amateur Sports Ground —as the reserve is now' called—is onethird mile in circumference, and in testing the speed capacity a pace of about sixty miles an hour has been reached. One of the items on the programme will be an attempt on the hour record, or, rather, it should bo said an attempt to establish respectable figures for the hour, since the fastest work done so far has been accomplished on the road. Respecting the shorter records, for the mile distance and upwards, the motorists on the new ' track practically can start with a clean slate, since there is nothing worthy of the motor cycle yet on record. It yet remains to bo seen how the riders negotiate the track and what speed, with higher powered machines than at present in use it will actually accommodate. It was understood when the track vivas under construction that it wms being banked for a speed of about 70 miles an hour.