TOURIST TROPHY RACE, 1911

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10645, 29 May 1912, Page 6

TOURIST TROPHY RACE, 1911

Undoubtedly the neatest test that I any motor cycle has ever undergone, j and one that included the most varied conditions, was the Tourist Trophy Contest, held on the Me of Man, Eng-1 land, in July, 1911. The course was a circuit of 37£ miles, covered five times, ia total of 187 miles. It was over the ordinary roads of the island. full of turns and kinks, with a surface .much below the English standard-. Besides numerous ordinary grades-, Snaefell Mountain, a climb of four miles, with a corresponding descent, was surmounted on each circuit. For this great contest fifty-nine .machines entered, the '.best that Europe could produce, and in whose construction many months were consumed; and of these only twenty-eight survived, elo- ! qaient evidence of the immense severity of the task. Among the starters were five "Indians," and not only did every one cf the five finish, but the "Indian" captured the first _ three places. iSuch a performance is unprecedented, and the 'most wonderful showing ever made .by any motor cycle. To cover this long course without a falter at the tremendous speed neeessarv for success; to survive the continuous strain of rough roads and hard driving without a single mechanical failure; io climb the miles olf steep mountain roads without a sign of burning out, are demonstrations of efficiency, endurance and mechanical perfection that have never );«-n equalled, and will never be -surpn-Sid. Mr J. C. Ewingtion-, of .Master-ton, has "Indian."