12
RACER BEATEN
CALAIS TO PARIS ON THE FOOTFLATE
~187 MILES IN 185 MINUTES
Through the courtesy of the Chief Engineer of the Nord Railway of France I have just covered 187 miles in 185 minutes on the footplate of the Super-Pacific locomotive which draws the Golden Arrow train, from Calais to Paris, writes a "Morning Post Special representative.
running up the platform for all she was worth. It seemed As if she was trying to get to Paris be- fore us, but with a terrifying shriek we rushed past her, and the rush of wind blew her long skirts round her legs. Then we followed the road to our right and a 40 h.p. car was racing ahead. We passed it with long, nonchalant atrides, and those 75 miles an hour along a track as straight as a die seemed to have dwindled into mere thirty.
a
Amiens, with its criss-cross of permanent way, was bewildering to This run, which is among the n novice like myself, but Creil more fastest in the world, provides aso, for we went through it quicker thrill which no aeroplane or motor "It took us 44 minutes to do those car can give. Thousands of Eng-fifty miles," the driver shouted at lishmen are carried to Paris. every week by this famous train, but, apart from noticing
the how crockery is apt to leave the table during the steep curve near Amiens, few can have any idea of what it feels like to be travelling in the "cab" as the 500 tons Super-Pacific thunders along the track.
M. Collin, Chief Engineer of the Nord, had warned me to wear dungarees and a pair of aeroplane goggles. I was soon to thank him for his foresight. At Calais I was introduced to the driver and his fire. man, and was told to climb up the five steps leading to the "cab," and take my stand immediately behind the driver will ny back to a rail, behind which were four
tops u
nently stacked briquettes. On the opposite side stood Divisional In spector Terby, who was to explain the journey to me as we went along.
Rising Speed
When the last passenger had taken his seat in the Pullmans be- hind, we glided out of Calais Mari- time Station, threading our way through the uneven tracks that lie between the harbour and the town.
Almost immediately afterwards the needle of the speedometer began rising-10, 50, 50, 100 kilometres an rail hour. I clung to the outer with one hand, and to the grid The behind me with the other. footplates on which I stood began an uneven dance, the roar of the engine deafened my ears, and us I looked down to the ground some fifteen feet below, fear caused a cold shiver to run down my back. Forty-five kilometrei from Calais to Boulogne. It was just before Boulogne that I got my first rual thrill. Round a curve and through a tunnel us the speedometer was flickering
round 110 kilometres
an hour.
I
tremendous
опе looks
me, but he had to repeat it three times before I could hear him. A Blue Train flashed past us in the opposite direction. The speed between our own and this train was something like 150 miles an
and the hour, buffet of wind almost caused me to lose my hold, but the driver was busy lighting the end of a cigarette with a piece of rope he had thrust It bad into the furnace door. ceased to hold any error for him. Up the gradient to Chantilly, over the aqueduct, where- down on the forest as if from an acroplane, and down the slope into Paris-with the innumerable goods yards on either side, and the scores of stationary engines and empty restaurant cars. Then, as the Paris "A" box came into sight, and the needle registered barely kilometres, we seemed to be craw- ling. One felt one could jump out at that speed, and it was easy to picture how any but the most ex- porienced driver can cause disaster through a moment's lack of judg ment. There was hardly Any sound from the brakes as we came to a standstill to the sound of "Porteur, Porteur'' from a hundred throats. Our journey had taken exactly 185 minutes.
WHEN A CAR IS STOLEN
30
The
THE CHINA MAIL,
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1929.
THE MOTOR CYCLE
res
UTILITY AND UNPARALL-
ELED USEFULNESS
VARIETY OF SERVICE
The motor-cycle is en instrument of almost unparalleled usefulness. Its purchaser gets for his money more service, and a greater variety of service, than is his if he invests in any other vehicle of transport, And transport, as we have often been reminded, is civilization.
Vehicle of Transport
It is a vehicle of transport that the motor-cycle primurity exists. Before its day the value of the. bicycle had been firmly established, and with the development of the internal-combustion engine it was natural that its employment would increase enormously the range of the tourist and the convenience and comfort of the man or woman who With cycled on business errands.
that idea the motor-cycle was born, and despite many and serious set- backs, even before the period of the Great War, it was a thorough- ly practical vehicle for daily use as well as for long-distance. travel. Even at that time Motor Cycling was conducting a constant cam- paign in the interests of the utility mount, and that effort, as our read- ers know, lately produced piacti- cularly noteworthy results.
Not A Dreem
The utility machine is no dream of the future; motor-cycles are marketed to-day in many forms and at varying prices, that meat the re quirements of Mr. Everyman "who wants to be able to get about" but who possesses neither an aptitude for mechanics nor an inclination: towards any particular branch of sport.
COMFORT IN THE SADDLE
The best riding position is, of course, only to be found by ex- periment and equally true is the fact, says "Motor Cycling," that a number of motorcyclists, on taking delivery of a new mount, proceed to ride it without making any attempt to improve their comfort or the controllability of the machine.
а
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heavy work--constant work. Load it to capacity.
Route it over rough, unmade roads through
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sandy, muddy stretches up steep grades -
over long hills.
The type of performance it will render will
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of the low price truck field has such perform-
ance and dependability been available.
THE
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of Chevrolet History.
for Economical Transportation
CHEVROLET/
11⁄2 TON CHASSIS
COMPLETE HK. $1,510.
THE HONG KONG HOTEL GARAGE
Most owner-drivers hold the belief that if they insure a car and declare its value to be, say, £200, they will receive £200 from the insurance company if it is stolen and not recovered.
All long-distance speedmen' facts are, says "The Light Car spend quite considerable and Cyclecar," that an insurance amount of time in adjusting company's responsibility is mere handlebars, footrests, knee-grips ly to make good the loss suffer- and saddles, with a view to their cd and if the market value of the personal comfort, for in a long, car in question is, say, 110, that gruelling event, even the smallest Soot and grit rushed across Ins is all that the owner will be given. details, which at the beginning of face, flames from the furnace The attitude of insurance, com-- a ride rank only as negligible dis- curled round the holes in the panies in connection with cars comforts or maybe, do not at first ventilator, lighting up the grimy which are stolen and subsequent- give any evidence of themselves faces of my three companions, and ly traced is equally (to put it whatsoever, become magnified then four of the harshest whistles kindly) businesslike. The owner out of all proportion after a few have ever heard that rearly is a very fortunate man if he re- miles at high speed, and a rider's burst my ear drums and left a
ceives any payment for the un- chances of success, if his position medley of dying vibrations, as we noticeable but none the less harm. and comfort on the machine have shot into Boulogne station, rattled ful effects of the car having not previously received his per- across points and thundered round heen over-driven by the thieves.sonal attention, may be very seri- a bend until I was convinced that He is also very fortunate if he ously jeopardised. It follows, we were about to crash into a
can obtain anything from the in-therefore, that the private owner wall. Twenty miles of unever surance company as compensation may, by bettering his riding posi sand dunes on either side of us for the inconvenience he has tion, gain more confidence and during our run towards Staples suffered whilst the stolen gur has handle his machine with greater where our speed declined to take been out of his possession. These ease, whilst also enjoying in-ROADS AND TAXES the curve here, and then, as if in
are matters which are worth care- creased physical comfort merely hotour to the great mitoryful investigation when filling up by spending an hour or so in the cemetery, we were brought almost insurance proposal forms, and garage making use of the sundry to a standstill by a signal raised
some consideration of them is also adjustment points provided by against us.
advisable when declaring the the manufacturers of the ma- value of a car. It is necessary chine. to bear in mind that the value of a car as assessed by an insur m.p.b.).ance company is not what that Ahead of us along the platform of particular car might fetch, but the little halt of Rue, a peasant what it would cost to buy one of woman with a black knitted shawl the same make, type and date in thrown acrose her shoulders was substantially similar condition.
75 Miles an Hour But five minutes later the speedometer was back tu 120 kilometres (about 75
Record Breaker Has World at His Feet
25 Queen's Road Central
REVENUE DERIVED FROM MOTORISTS
The frequent allegation by It is wiser not to rest content spokesmen for the railway inter- with the first efforts, for by ocea-ests that the railways have been forced to subsidise road transport sionally experimenting it often during the past few years had led happens that what previously ap
the president of the Motor peared to be the best obtainable Agents Association to investi- combination of adjustments can subsequently be improved upon.gate the subject of road costs. The result of his inquiries may prove of interest to many readers. The pre-motor cost of roads (he finds) was approximately sta- tionary, being £14,646,000 in 1902-3 and £16,288,000 in 1909- 10; in no year in this period was it less than £14,000,000 or more than £15,288,000. The 1910 cost of £15,288,000 is equivalent to a cost to-day of £27,000,000 in view of the rise in prices. There were in 1910 114,000 motor vehicles; in 1914, 307,000; in 1920 551,000; and in 1928, 2,027,000, This shows the small number of motor vehicles before 1910, the rapid growth between 1910 and 1914 and the even more rapid growth since the war.
Added fame came to Major Sir H. O. D. Segrare, right, world's auto speed record holder, through the unfortunate death of u competitor, Lee Bible, who was killed racing J. M. White's "Triplex" to beat 231.3 miles per hour at Daytona Beach. Carefully thought out plans of the British sportsman were responsible for his success. A machine scientifically designed to the best of human knowledge to meet the demands of terrific speeds, was none too good as the bottom picture shows where only one wheel of the "Golden Arrow" clings perilously to the sands as it whizzes by at top speed. Major Segrave, top left, being congratulated by Mayor Armstrong of Daytona after breaking the record, deserves full credit for his iron nerve and careful preparations.
safe side this is taken as 42,000,000. The total extra cost to the country of motor transport cannot, therefore exceed £29,000,- 000 plus £2,000,000 or £31,000,- 000 per annum.
Petrol Tax
The petrol tax is 4d. a gallon, and the estimate of the petrol consumption for the year 1928-9 816,000,000 gallons. The yield
of the tax for that year, will, therefore, be £13,600,000. Ac- cording to the Ministry of Trans- port "Road Vehicles, Great Bri- tain," return, code number 56- 125-4-27, the yield of the motor vehicle taxes for the twelve months ending November 30, 1927, was £23,456,378. On this basis, allowing for the increase in licences, the yield for the financial year 1928-9 is likely to be £20,164,000. The total yield of motor taxation for 1928-9 will, therefore, be £13,600,000 plus $26,164,000, or £39,750,000 "ap- proximately, some £8,750,000 more than the cost to the country of motor transport.
The railways, it is pointed out, pay some £8,000,000 a year in The cost of roads in Great Bri-rates; but this sum represents the tain for 1925-26, the last year for total local rates paid by the rail- which information has been ex-way companies, who themselves tracted, was 266,005,000, This before the Joint Select Committeo figure is given in Appendix 13 of on the Railway Bills did not claim the Ministry of Transport report that more than £1,600,000 went on the administration of the Road towards the roads. It should be Fund, 1927-8, and there is no remembered also in that connec- evidence to show that this figure tion that the railway companies has appreciably increased. The have approximately 30,000 horse- extra cost of the roads due to drawn vehicles using the roads motor transport is the difference and that these are not subject to between the equivalent to the any form of special taxation such pre motor cost of roads of as is imposed upon motor vehicles. £27,000,000 and the present The railway companies are Gigure of £58,000,000, that is under the Government Derating $29,000,000.
Bill, to be relieved of an amount
Tel. Central 4759.
To the Victor Belong the Spoils
The first to greet Major H. O. D. Segrave. after speeding along Daytona Beach at 231,3 miles per hour, was "Mra." Below is shown a glimpse of the racer speeding down the course when he set the gebored
NICE DISTINCTION
MOTORIST “MECHANICALLY
DRUNK
of his car, the police surgeon an- nounced; "He was not socially in- toxicated, but mechanically drunk.” The phrase must have gone far to soothe the feelings of the convietk ed man, who was ordered to pay £20. Indeed, it was quite worth while paying this small sum for the privilege of going down to history as the person to inspire so delight- ful a verbal distinction. Had he been "socially intoxicated," one can merely tremble, at the fate which might have overtaken him. "Mechanically drunk," it is evident, · describes a far less heinous offence, and will swiftly become a term to conjure with by those unfortunate
The art of euphemism and the In addition to this there is the which has been variously estim- ability to express a fine shade of factor of police. According to theated at from £4,000,000 to meaning are generally regarded as annual reports on police in Eng- £6,000,000 of rates. This relief the perquisites of diplomatists, land and Wales for 1913 and 1928, is to be used to subsidise and parliamentarians, and writers of there was an increase in the therefore presumably to increase distinction. It is unusual to find a strength of the force of 5,075 be certain railway traffics, notably police surgeon, in the humdrum tween these two years. The coal for export and the heavy routine of the courts, choosing his average cost of a member of the Industries. In order words, the words with that meticulous care police force in 1927 was £343 a petrol tax that is, the motor which he would display with his year, so that the cost of the 5,075 transport industry-is being look-knife in the operating theatre. additional constables taken oped to as the source for supplying Giving his considered opinion at motorists who slip-or stagger- since 1912 may be put at the wherewithal for these derat-Blackburn in the case of a motorist into the arms of the law. $1,740,725. In order to be on the ing plans.
charged with being drunk in charge | "Morning Post.”