MOTOR CYCLE TRIALS

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 43, 5 November 1952, Page 4

MOTOR CYCLE TRIALS

24-Hour Reliability Test Taupo provided the venue for a twohour break in the Auckland Motor Cycle, Club reliability trials last Saiurday evening when at 5 p.m. the first of forty-two competitors arrived at one minute intervals leaving Auckland Railway Station at 9 a.m., the route being via Thames, Ngatea, Paeroa, Te Aroha, Morrinsville, thence nearly into Hamilton, to Cambridge, Tirau, Rotorua and Taupo. From Taupo, the route followed ^he Desert Road to Waiouru, Ohakune, Raetihi, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti and back to Hamilton and Auckland. The purpose of the contest was reliability and accuracy of speed-timing, and contestants were checked at sixteen points along the route between which they had to travel at speeds varying from 24 m.p.h. on the TaumarunuiTe Kuiti stage to 36 m.p.h. on the Thames highway and on the HamiltonCambridge road. As the riders reached Taupo they were prompt in divesting themselves of their heavy riding kit, refilling their tanks at Buckleights garage arid invading the restaurants for ; dinner. It was dark when the first of theni set off for the south to ride through the night with only a stop at* Taumarunui before Hamilton was reached ten hours later. No doubt they would be pleased to see the Auckland Railway Station again between nine and ten a.m. on Sunday morning.