CYCLING AND MOTORING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 191, 21 January 1915, Page 7

CYCLING AND MOTORING.

Full particulars are to liand by the American mail of the Australian success in the big New York six days' bicyj tie race. It was cabled out in December that Messrs Goullet and Grenda had won the rich event, but no details I were given. At the end of the contest wily six teams out of 36 starters were I level, they being Goullet and Grenda, ' Lawson and Drobach, Fogler and Hill, Egg and Verri, Cameron and Kaiser, and Moram and McNara, the distance covered being 2758 l-10th miles, a record for America, the previous best, 2751 miles, being recorded by Messrs Goullet and Fogler in 1913. Instead of the usual mile sprint, as has been the custom in deciding the winner in previous American six days races, in the case of a tit —the European finish was adopted. At nine o'clock the leaders alone remained on the track. They contested in a one hour race with a sprint every 15 laps, points counting. There were fifteen distinct finishes. -Six teams having tied, the rider finishing for his team, who won a sprint, got six points; the second received five points and so on down to the last man, who got one point. The Australian combination won with a lead of six points. The first prize was worth .£320. Goullet rodei a French machine (a "Peugeot,") whilst (Jienda also rode a machine from the same country (a "Bastide"); in fact one of the features of the mounts used was the large number of foreign made machines in use. Large sums of money were disbursed amongst the contestants for special prizes awarded to the leaders at various stages of the race. One, of .€4O was won by Goullet. The success of the Australian team was very popular. Remarkable times were recorded in the Corona Motor Car Road Race, recently decided in Los Angles (California), when new records were established by Pullen on a "Mcrcier" (U.S.A.) car. The race was held over a 2J miles circuit, which had to be negotiated 109 times. The full distance, 301.8 miles, was covered in the wonderful time of 3hrs 26min 2see equal to an average speed of 87.7 miles per hour, which is even. faster than R. Thomas's record average put up on the Indianapolis track in' the Indianapolis "500" last May. It is estimated that over 100,000 people witnessed the contest. The /Irst prize amount-1 ed to £2400, in addition to valuable trophies. Nineteen of the fastest cars in America competed. "We are glad to note," says Motor Cycling (England), "that manufacturers I are giving more attention to the production of machines that can hardly lie misused even by the novice who has not a natural sympathy for things mechanical. In the past it has sometimes been argued by the more expert motor cyclists that so soon as we have the machines that give "no trouble" and rarely cr never require attention beyond cleaning, interest in the sport would be less keen. With this view we have always disagreed. We realise fully that there will always be a small proportion of amateur experimenters who will continue their endeavors to make the motor cycle more efficient and who will find their chief pleasure in competing in trials races and hill climbs, but the vast majority of riders, who after all from the backbone of the sport and trade, require machines that need little attention. The general desire for easily managed machines has naturally had its effect in many directions. Compare the modern high-powered side car outfit with that of a few years ago. Mounted on the latest model, the beginner can almost at his first attempt drive through the thickest traffic with perfect safety, whereas a few years ago lie would not have dreamed of attempting such a task. The perfection of clutches, gears, catburetters that give slow running, and a dozen other details have given us the mount that it is a pleasure to drive. A study of 1915 models shows that there are no very radical departures in design, but that much thought has been given by manufacturers to the details that make machines even more easily handled by the beginner. For example we seem to be approaching the time whe ■ all motor cycles will have mechanic:' lubrication, like most cars, or will use oil mixed with the petrol. The majority of. carburetters are now semi-au-tomatic, and with great efficiency of ?»- ginex the necessity of keeping them in pe-fi ct tune ceases to be or such vit'll importance. We welcome also the tendency of manufactures to supply ma-t-h'nes the engines of which are already ".v.ii in'" and which are therefore not liable to be damaged by cartless«!33 at the cutset of their working Such deta : ls as really air-tight induction pipe connection that do not re (i -r.' (ha use of disfiguring insulating ta-v, >'nl a dcie'i other minor improvements are all moves in the right direction. A few years ago a man who bought a motor cvi le usually had to experiment and tune before he could get it to run to his satisfaction. To-day the, lucky l eginner is able to get a machine that will run perfectly for thousands of miles even in the hands of a rider who hardly knows the names of the different parts.

It will surprise most people to learn that England already has over 10,090 motorists engaged in the mechanical transport eolumns in Belgium and France. One of the feautrc of the war has been the manner in which the nations at war, the Germans particularly, have utilised the bicycle, and :t is peculiarly significant that the German cyclists were the first to enter Brussels, Antwerp, etc., and that most of the daring raids have been made by Belgian and German cyclists. At the outset it is estimated that Germany had 120,000 cyclists, and these have been of incalculable service, liotor bicycle? are, of course, faster, but for scouting purposes they "give themselves away" by reason of their noise. Moreover, they are naturally not so reliable as the bicycle. Each has proved its value, but the bicycle is of immense utility, as practically every soldier nowadays rides a bicycle, and for night scouting they are silent as the grave and extremely mobile, for the rider can lift them over hedges, and trenches, etc., easily and quickly. Many of the German officers have their own bicycles with them, and they take a hand in night scouting to observe for themselves. Russia has already purchased 10,000 bicycles from British makers, and has further large batches on order, and Belgium has some 5000 cyclist scouts. The French and English authorities are also extensively using the cyclist soldiers and find them invaluable in many ways. T. Linton, the first cyclist in the world to ride 30 miles in the hour, recently died in France.