CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 99, 3 May 1913, Page 2

CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES.

A RACE OF 150 MILES

The principal Cycling Event at the next Olympic Games to be held in Germany in IJI6 will be a ISO miles race around Berlin. Considering the great interest aroused over the event held mound Lake Malar, Sweden, last year, the next Olympic Hoad Racr> will provide a great contest of world-wide interest. Neither Australia nor New r Zealand was represented in the last International Hoad Race, which was won by G. R. Lewis, the sole South African representative, but it is hoped that an effort will be made to see that these countries are suitably represented in the next Olympic Contest. DEATH OF A CHAMPION. J. Do Rosier, the erstwhile Champion motor cyclist of America, and one of the finest track racing motorists in the world, is dead. Do Rosier never properly recovered from the big smash-up that befell him on the Los Angelos track (California) in March last year, when he sustained terrible injuries, which practically kept him in the hospital ever since. No other motor cyclist has ever been so prominently before the public as De Rosier, „In America he was idolised. Since taking pp speed work, he practically swept the record sheet, putting up times that were almost incredible. At one time he held every world’s record from one to 100 miles, including the hour, in which he covered 83 miles. In 1911 he visited England and raced 0. R. Collier—England’s premier rider—for the world’s championshin, and w'on. At the time of his death, De Rosier was only 33 years of age.

EFFECT OF SPEED CONTESTS. Few motorists stop to think what an influence such performances as P. ■Lambert’s recently' established 103 miles in an hour has on the future motor car. They little tWnk that months of hard work and experimenting, and the outlay of probably £2OOO was represented in the freak-looking cigar-shaped 25 h.p. “Talbot” that accomplished this feat. Such a remarkable piece of mechanism is the outcome of experimenting with different engines, transmission gears* and cutting out weight, in all the ret ciprocating parts. Step by step the efficiency of the engine is tuned up until the desired result is attained* and eventually the knowledge and ex--periehce, gained is incorporated in the standard road models. . The large sums of money spent in those speed trials'iS far from being wasted, and motorists generally gain the benefit in increased efficiency, which means lower cost of car running. These racing freaks never figure in the maker’s catalogue and price list, but they undoubtedly improve the breed of those which are.

TAIL LIGHGTS. For some time past all motor cars in use in the Commonwealth and Now Zealand have been compelled by law' to cany tail lights, whilst the slower moving vehicles, which are in nn danger of running into motor cars have been allowed to go lighfless in chat respect. It now looks as if the matter is to be at last taken up in a commousense manner, for the Melbourne authorities propose passing a bye-law concerning the tail light on all vehicles, whilst one or two Victorian Shires have laready adopted the same regulation. No doubt this is only the start, and it should not be long now before similar regulations are enforced throughout the Commonwealth and the Dominion. Looked at from any point of view, it is only reasonable and right that all vehicles should carry a rear light, to enable overtaking traffic to pass slower going vehicles with safety during night hours. The bye-laws might go further,. and compel, cyclists and motor cyclists to affix reflex lights on the. back of their machines, and thereby further minimise road accidents during darkness.

MOTORING ON ICE. A speed of 70 miles an hour has been attained on the frozen surface of Lake Ontario (Canadia) by a 40 h.p, motor driven ice boat, fitted up with ice runners. The power was applied by an aeroplane propeller, fitted to the front of the chassis. Motor ice-boating is now' becoming very popular as a wdnter sport in some parts of America, and it may not be long before tho great speeds attained on Brooklands Track (Eng.) arfe beaten by ice boats on the frozen lakes of Canada.

“SLEIGH OF THE DESERT.” A corporal in the French Army in North Africa has devised a peculiar motor machine, particularly adapted for travel over the sand wastes of the Sahara. The machine is a cross between an automobile and a Bleriot type of aeroplane, and has been dubbed the “sleigh of the desert.” The construction is very light indeed. It is mounted on broad tyred pnematic wheels, but is driven by an aeroplane propeller. It. T is is so light, and its bearing surface is so great, that it will ride over the sands without sinking, leaping over light depressions and climbing the steepest sand dunes. There is n decided advantage in using an air propeller, for the drive of the machine is independent of its traction. In the loose sand of the dec -t it is difficult to propel a machine after, the manner of a motor car. One trip of 120 miles across the Sahara has already been

successfully accomplished on this machine. QUEER CAR BODIES. The development of restoring in Europe has been attended by a corresponding development in the construction of motor car bodies, even by an over-development, which has produced queer forms that depart widely from the conventional types, although they are not always unpractical or destitute; of merit, / Most of these queer looking automobiles are of French make. A well-known example is built on the lines of a “submarine,” which conceals all but the head of the driver, The same firm makes a still more realistic “submarine” which is provided with a conning tower, and completely encloses the driver. Then there are cars shaped like artillery shells, with rounded tail pieces in which extra wheels or tyres are neatly stowed, and other shell-types with glass skylights.