10
THE CHINA MAIL.
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1931.
MOTORISTS THIS IS YOUR PAGE)
THE MONTE CARLO RALLY
D. M. Healey's Invicta Wins General Classification.
BRITISH SUCCESSES.
con John o' Groats for Stavanger, in Norway, thus increasing their mileage from 1837 to 2,260, with consequent increase of points pos- sible for distance. covered.
By starting from Athens a cum- petitor could gain one and one. feath more points than if he select-the
acard mire.
Monte Carlo, Jan. 21. This morning Monte Carlo don- ned its most brilliant gala attire. A warm sun shone from anazure- blue sky on to an indigo-blue sen; on the imposing mass of rock aplashed with every tint from grey
mud to vermillion: flags of every nation, flowers of every hue; deep green led Stavanger. But the trail from hundred and sixty miles orange groves bedecked with balls Athens, through Salonica, Sofia, to Belgrade, and of yellow-ɑ][·
contribul Budapest, and Vienna, bad never these
been reduced ed to the scene of enchantment, Nature and art had prepared for the Rally competitors, writes W. F. Bradley, Continental Correspon dent to The Autocar.
cars
a
had
the
to
make
absen-
As we basked in the sunshine at petition for the actual victory. Monte Carlo, we followed the com- Only five had started from Jassy, Seven started from petitors' progress by means of in Roumania. telegrams received from, the con- Lwow, in Poland, only to meet with tro stations en route. Salonica insurmountable difficulties. Of the reported the arrival of the seven nine who had hoped to and the departure of two more-a Tallinn their jumping-off point. Fiat and a Mathis. Three hundred only one could reach this town on
Baltic, while route the
Riga and and fifty-odd miles of the had been covered. The two hun- Koenigsberg, to which they revert- dred miles of "road" to Sofa re- ed, were too near to give them duced the nine to five-Boillot's chance of winning.
The John o' Groats group num. Peugeot, Moccia's Fiat, Bignan's Fiat, Stoffel with the Chrysler, and gored twenty-one. the only Urdariano's Fiat. The Brennabor tees from the official entry list and the Morris, the La Salle und the being J. F. Sutherland on a Riley Renault were firmly embedded in and C. A. Lundy's Rolls-Royce. to Two The distance of 1,837 miles more Monte Carlo was not sufficient in them to circumstances for Kroup the
three aspire to first prize, this group been covered under Rally condi-Baillot, Bignan, and Moccia. At really holding a competition among tions, whereas the route from Budapest they were but two themselves. Stavanger was practicable, with Boillot and Bignan. They passed With increasing interest we fol- much effort, unless, of course, through Vienna on time, drove lowed the progress of the thirty blizzard happened to sweep across across Austria, entered Germany from Stavanger. A few had failed to reach that town, among them the country the night before the and were checked in at Munich.
the Bugatti if there
race quick start, or
driver, Luuis A Real "Dog-Fight."
was held back in change from rain to hard frost; Sipping coffee under a sunshade Chiron, who
ruced but these were the hazards of the on the Condamine, we tilted back Paris by influenza, then game which might be met by any our chairs and remarked, "Now northward, "doping" himself with competitor.
that they have finished their mud- quinine and cognac, only to reach plugging and have only the good, Oslo and be allowed to.start from hard highways of Germany and there "sous toutes reserves." Two France in front of them, we are, or three others were either too late going to see a real dog-fight be- or too exhausted to get to Stavan- this pair from the Near'ger, and, although they eventually East and the international group set out from Oslo, they were dia- from Norway, and the fight will be qualified. wou by fractions of a point." E. ie Thuisy's Rally was unable Then Munich reported that Andre to get any farther than Christinn Boillot, who 38 1 preliminary san; Mrs. M. Vaughan's Riley training had driven from Algiers dropped out at Helsingborg, in across the Sahara to the Gold company with a Citroen; J. W. Const and back again in record Austin's Ford was left behind t
Blin too exhausted to con-Oslo and M.
d'Orimont's time, was
In to be abandoned tinur. Then an equivocal message Bugatti had
Dr. Jamot'a Re- was received from Strasbourg re- the same town. garding Bignan, and, instead of his nault and M. Zeeck's Austró Daim- time being written in ink, it was ler could not get beyond Copen. scribbled the score-board inhagen, thus reducing the original pencil, with a questionmark behind contingent to nearly half by the time the main continent was reach- it.
was a
Despite the risk, fourteen of them announced their intention of blazing a trail through the wilde of the Balkans. Only Beven of them, however, succeeded in reach- ing Athens in time for the official start. Among those who realised the impossibility of the task on the outward journey was Robert Senechal, driving an eight-cylinder Delage.
tween
As early as eight o'clock on this Aummer-like January morning mud-covered
carrying un shaved, often unwashed and sleep weary travellers, could be found in the streets of the old town of Monaco. Not until ten o'clock could they pass through the con trol lending to the harbour front, thus officially recording the com- pletion of their journey, which, in many enses, had begun on the pre- vious Friday morning at auch die tant points as Athens, or Amster dam, Tallinn or Lisbon, John o' Groats or Jassy. For five daye these mea and women had battled with mud and rain, snow and ice, Andre Baillot, the racing driver, fog and cold. Some had refused to on a 1,609 d. Peugeot; Jacques go to bed, fearing that they would Bignan, the Rally winner in 1928, never be aroused again if they
on a six-cylinder Fint; Engineer slipped between a pair of sheets; Moccia, also on a Fiat; Henri sonte had relied on an occasional | Stoffel, a French racing driver, on bath and good meals to invigorate a Chrysler; Hector Petit, last them; and some appeared to have year's winner, on a Renault; R. T. been strangers to both water and Richard. on a Morris; and J. M. de
Gomez, on a La Salle, food.
were the seven who had their rond books With the collapse of the Athens ed. The conditions in Norway and
directed to- Sweden were not signed in the Greek capital, and group attention was
at all insur. set forth with the hope of reach wards the Stavanger contingent, mountable, but they called for real ing Monte Carlo. Three others with all the more interest, since, pluck and determination Count Urdariano, on a Fiat; P. of the twenty-one starters from the part of all the crews.
When the Monte Carlo Castella, on a Mathis; and C. W. Norwegian town, twelve of the Andrea with a Brennabor, unable crews were British, and most of was thrown open at 10 o'clock on to reach Athens-were allowed to them had British car. From other the Wednesday more than thirty start from Salonica or Belgrade. points there was no serious com- competitors were ready to pass be
fore the time-keeper. Among them travel. and crew 80 weary and mud-coated Độ to be hardly recognisable. It was Jae- ques Bignan's Fiat, the only one of the seven starters from Athens to rench Monte Carlo, and, indeed, the only car to travel across this stretch of country under Rally conditions.
Quite apart from any freaks the weather might play, it was going to be strenuous. For the first time competitora gave really serious thought to Athens, 2,344 miles from Monte Carlo, and the most distant point from which a start could be made, while several of the British contingent decided to aban
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end of the
which the Louis Chiron was another unex- three more at Glasgow and a fur- point at pected arrival who claimed the ther three in London, reported brake test was timed. No Official Credit.
more severe conditions than laet Walle the arrangement worked Officially, the Fiat was entitled right to be qualified, but was ruled
the year.
For two hundred miles out nat very satisfactorily, it cannot to no credit for its marvellous per- out by the committee on formance. Bignan, burly, grounds that he was not authoris of John o' Groats snow fell, and be considered any better than the phlegmatic French, who used to be ed to start from Oslo. His super- there was a thin layer of snow on regularity test held in the past. occasional It naturally favoure the light. a car manufacturer and is now a charged sports Bugatti was fitted the road, followed by
There open sports modela. While the Fiat agent in Paris, brought with with a huge exhaust heater under drifts on the Grampians.
was heavy rain in London, braking as a whole was good, and him a letter from Strasbourg de- the driver's legs, and also had a
the out must have been a surprise to the claring that he had been met at copper pipe connected to the ex- twenty miles of fog on the gates of that town by a con-haust and running across the base skirts of London, but quite favour-, spectatore, it was very variable, as missaire, who had given him the of the windscreen. This pipe had able conditions in France. address of last year's control fine holes drilled in it, so as to tuin Mellor's Chrysler dropped out which failed to secure any points. to the glass, and in London, and T. M. Best Dali Experience and practice are re station and caused him to cheek Direct heat on
Cap is shown by the number of cars
in five minutes after closing time. was stated to be very effective in son's Bentley, which had started quired to know just how much do their from Glasgow, was missing at, brain lag and pedal tag to allow The car itself told the story of allowing the wipers to
While coming through the almost unimaginable difficul- work under the worst conditions of Nantes.
frost and snow. ties encountered. There was an
Lewisham C. S., Grant's Talbot hit
a
refuge and broke a spring,
smart piece of work the spring was changed and a second boat was caught with very little delay.
linch gap between the bonnet and The last-minute arrival
was which fact was not discovered scuttle, the doors were agape, the Major Douglas Morris on the until the boat was reached. By a safety glass had been cracked Triumph "Little Boy Blue." Look through the twisting of the frame, ing very tired and dirty, Morris the radiator and the spare petrol stated that first of all he had made tank were leaking. the front the mistake of thinking he could wheels were out of alignment, the drive all the way from Joha F. Mortimer Montgomery was layer of mud made it impossible Groats, but the real cause of his unable to present his road book on even to hint at the original colour arrival thirty seconds before the reaching Monte Carlo, and bis of the car, while even the engine doors closed was repeated dynamo M.G. was threatened with dis- looked as If it had been burled trouble. Thirty seconds after the qualification, for no excuse is ad- underground.
time-keepers had put their watches mitted for the loss of this docu- Despite all this, Bignan and his in ther pockets, Dona M. là Cazo ment. Fortunately, it Was dis. companions act about preparing de Noronha, from Lisbon, dashed covered at the last minute, and the the car for the final acceleration up with an open two-seater B.N.C. car was qualified. In the excite- and brake tests. The Flat engine having a bent frame, a bent front ment of the start from Stavanger had a blower on the opposite side axle, and one front brake discon J. W. Whalley's road book to the carburetter intended to be nected. The time-keepers were in given to D. M. Healey, and vice driven by chain from the crank-flexible, and, instead of expostulat- versa. Both drivers were in a shaft. The chain was fitted, the ing, the lady just went to sleep at state of nervousness as to what carburetter removed and connection the wheel,
made, from the supercharger to the Intake manifold. Thus transform-
Late From Stavanger.
testa N. the acceleration and brake
Garra d'a Crossley, and was then eliminated; the com-Stavanger, came in with
ed the car was allowed to rub for
:
from
A few
of
on
WAS
would happen, and attempted to the explain at every control road. Their efforts were of 110 avail; Healey was Whalley and Whalloy was Healey, and so they had to remain until they regained mittee ruling that no allowance acconds to spare, having been hold their identities at Monte Carlo. could be made for the five minutes back by a split radiator, an in
ability to purchase fuel because of An examination
starting lost at Strasbourg.
Apparently anmoved by the de-the absence of French money, and motor, lighting set, seats, state of cision Bignan stated that he was a string of minor troubles. Whal mudguards, and so on was follow. convinced the.. Athens journey ley's Ford also camo in rather late ed almost immediately by the ac would not be repeated for a long in the day, but with sufficient timo celeration and speed test along the time. First, the crew had found to qualify. By means of an in-sea front. From a standing start mud and water, then clay so heavy gonious-system-of-side-curtains-the-cars-had-to-run-250-matres; that when they became embedded and canvas roof the dickey seat they were timed electro-mechani an ox team broke three stout had been transformed into a com- cally over the last ten metres, and chains before succeeding in drag-pletely closed compartment. This again over the ten metres follow- ging them out. Germany and car ran with big dual disc wheels ing the dashing line. Two huge Austria presented an unbroken at the rear, an arrangement which white boards carrying the letter shost of ice on which seven sets was said to be effective over the C indicated the beginning of the metres. A bright, red of chains were used up. Although snow and ice in Norway and last 10
trellle-work arch indicated they had had no sleep for five days Sweden. No and nights it was impossible to The twenty-one cars from John Baishing line, and another white Imaintain the required average..
o'Groats, which were joined byboard with the letter D marked the
the
(Continued on Page 11.)
They Are Here!
.1931
BSA
Motor Cycles.
THE MACHINES OF
PROVED
P. O, WER SPEED SILENCE SAFETY ECONOMY RELIABILITY
Hire Purchase Arranged.
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