MOTOR-CYCLIST
WIZARD."
LE VACK KILLED IN CRASH.
Herbert le Vack, known as The Wizard and generally regarded na the greatest racing motor-cyclint of all time, has died as a result of jujuries received in a rond smash near Geneva
He was the first motor cyclist to "Inp. Brooklanda nt over 100 miles an buur-thio was in 1922-when he was awarded the art gold star.
Because of his brilliant tuning, Te Vack established, racing sup- remacy in England for an Ameri- can machine, bat on becoming associated with a British firm he bent all the records which previous ly he had set up. He was respon- sible, possibly to a greater extit than any other man, for securing the pre-eminence of the British motor cycle.
He retired from racing about three years ago to devote his, mechanical génins to designing, and was responsible for, several modern motor-cycles,
According to the British United Press, Je Vack was driving a com». bination machine, with a German engineer as passenger. The latter states that through what, was ap parently an attack of giddinesi, le Vack lost control of the machine when travelling at a speed of 58 mp.h., and crashed into a tree, fracturing His skull.
I saw my two mechanics thrown aside. One disappeared over the side into the water. The other flow high in the air.
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1931.
SPARKS
FROM THE PLUGS
THE HARMSWORTH TROPHY INCIDENT. TREASURE-HUNTING | HOW TO CUT DOWN
DON DECLINES TO COMMENT: WOOD SAYS,
WAS MISUNDERSTOOD."
KAYE DON AND GAR, WOOD ON THE TRANS. ATLANTIC TELEPHONE.
Disgruntled when a request for delay of 13 minutes was refused, Gar Wood deliberately tricked Kayo Don into a false start in the second heat of the Harmsworth Trophy races at Detroit with an almost fatal result to Kayo Don when Miss England II. overturn- ed and sank.
Qar Wood admitted this when asked why, for the first time in a decade, of trophy defence, he had beaten the gun. Wood said that several times in the past he had agreed to postponementa requested by challengers, and that when his request-made because he had discovered a Jeak in the petrol line was rofused he decided to try the trick on bis zival deta
He admitted: "I made up my mind to show Kaye Don a trick.
or two. We hurriedly soldered up the spot, although one of the mechanics was rendered unconscious in doing it.
"I decided to cross the line a minute ahead of the gun, and
if Kaye Don wanted to follow mo that was his business. Every- thing went off just ns we had planned.".
KAYE DON RETICENT.
Kaye Don dealinod to comment on Wood's admitted trick' which resulted in the disqualification of both boats and the ruling of the judges that it was no race,
He did, however, talk freely of the bont's sinking when struck by Wood's wash on the turn. He said that he did not remember how many times the boat overturned or just how it sank, and that he had only two sonsutions, of being terribly far under water, and of realising that his life jacket would bring him up.
The Harmsworth Trophy rules forbid a competitor to anticipate the starting, gua by more than five seconds.
KAYE DON GIVES
OWN STORY.
WHEN BOAT SANK,
Over the Atlantic telephone Mr. Kaye Don, the British speedboat
I tried to extricate myself. My face, graphically described to the legs were pinned. The "steering "Evening Standard" his experiences wheel was pressing against my chest. I was jammed in the pilot's
sent.
GAR WOOD STATES HIS CASE,
GAVE SQUARE DEAL.
BY MOTOR:
NEW SPORT AT HOME.
Quito
agood iden when at a loss for something to do one afternoon is to get some of your friends to gether and to organise a treasure hunt in
motor cars. It is quite easy and provides excellent fun doing it, but this is the method I There are probably lots of ways of
tried and found successful.
Having regard to the time that was to be devoted to the hunt, I made out the rough distance thought the searchers would go-say 30 miles-then consulted the map and charted an approximate circle.
YOUR COSTS.
DO SIMPLE REPAIRS IN YOUR OWN GARAGE,
Many owner-drivers must ba giving serious thought to the coat of motoring in view of the further additional tax on petrol
casting up their bills of ex- Soveral motoring friends have Fennon and they mande, a surpris. when looked at from the viewpoint ing discovery-surprising, that is, of the average owner driver who goes to the nearest garage whon ever there is a mut to be tightened up, a brake to be adjusted, or
I looked at the names of the vil-sump to be emptied. They find that lages, and places en route and tried as much is paid in a year to the to make clues out of the names roadside g garage proprietor for This was not always easy, but I "Hittle jobs" as is paid in the way will quote one or two clues of the
of taxation.
unt we had, is of Wit, where
Adjustment Work, Hundreds of motorists are now faced with the fact that they must
Brakon.
There is no great difficulty in adjusting brakes in one's own
BRITISH MOTOR EXPORTS DROP.
garage. Many garage proprietors £359,298 FALL IN SIX MONTHS. charge as much as Ds. för this job. *-
All that is required as equipment The British motor car trade will are four blocks of wood and the shortly receive the confidentint ordinary chr jack. The car should figures of the oxports of British be jacked up so that all four wheels motor products for the six months are clear of the ground. It is easy then to carry out adjustments.
of all he washed with parafin mixed All adjusting points should, first
ending June, ned by the Society of British Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Those show a big falling off in the with a little oil or with a cleansing demand or British motor products "oil. The brako adjusting nuts throughout the world, the follow- should be pulled up until the brakes ing figures being quoted: tested by trying to turn each wheel
Private begin to take offect. This can be by hand. Then slacken off the ad justment by a couple of turns and repeat the testing process....
vices of su assistant, who will sit in the car and depress the brake padal about half way. With the brake pedal so depressed it should be possible just to turn each wheel with a little offort. The assistant
It is necessary to obtain the ser
the treasure hunt was held, there 18either do certain minor adjustment/can next depress the brake pedal
a small village called Godshill, and
alittle further. The wheels should
Europa
America
Australin
New Zealand Ocannia
CATH
Number. Value £
$4,124
248
063,049 88,529 1,700 303,912 44,969
1,045 141,994
2
BOB Brit, S. Africa... 1,891 189,408 Brit, B. Africa 119 21,925 Brit, W. Africa., 192 23,883 Afrion (other
159
24,264
This is a total of 9,948 cars valued at £1,301,760 'compared with 12,402 cars valued at £2,090,064 exported in the first six months of 1930-a
the name of the village inn is the work themselves or curtail thoirt then be locked. It is remarkable decline in value of £380,223.
Grifin Hotel. What could be sim-motoring, pler than: You must sip of the There is one motorist who never nectar of the griffin on the holy pinancle to make them go to the empties a sump himself. He runs village inn and get the next clue?his car to the nearest garage and All had to do was to arrange has the job done by a mechanic who with the innkeeper to hand out the not oluca, which I gave him, to
-even when no actual charge is anyone who called about auch and made for the work is tipped at such time and who was wearing least one shilling. n red rosulte, or some similar dis tinguishing mark which was ar- ranged at the mest.
From Godshill they had to go to called Chalo about six or seven the grocer's shop at a small village
miles away.
The Clues,...
Ho has his sump filled with new have often pointed out to him oil at a cost of approximately 8. that by doing the job himself the
cost of the oil would be roughtly Gs. The difference represents the petrol
The cluer that they were given warYou'd better go to the tax on nearly 100 miles surely a grocer's department at the chalet, very important factor. but you won't find any tea there!!
rican motor-boat "ace," who has Commodore Gar Wood, the Ame been criticised about the start of chalet! his race against Kaye Don for the
exact adjustment required to give cial motors haa, also declined, the how quickly one can gauge the
The demand for British commer. uniform braking A Anal test is to whole of Europe taking only 1,584 take the car on a quiet road-one vehicles; South Africa 150, Aux- with a loose surface for choice.
Many motorists do not trouble the
tralia 187, and New Zealand 194, to adjust the brakes until they find vehicles of £13,275 value as against total exports being 2,720 a definito pull on a wheel. This is 3,743 vehicles of £1,000,349 value.in
mistake. The effect on the life the first six months of 1930. adjustment of brakes is remarkable. of the tyre of even the slightest mis.
half in number" and vaine,
In tractors the demand is only
Lubricating a Oar;
In the export of British pneu Lubricating a car not fitted with matic outer covers and tubes and centralised lubrication is not a solid tyres there has been a reduc- pleasant task, but it can be made marina motora a decline of £128,734, tion in value of £775,111 and “in
ing is to take place.
This proved 羅 great stumbling There are at least a score of air and much cheaper if the
away which was built like a Swiss over types at least once a week, to a sort of museum about 10 miles driver can economise. By the going half-an-hour before the actual greasent at an average price of dd. or block, and some people even went ways in which the average owner.lubrication points are wiped over *****
with some thin penetrating oil, eay, time, it is better to buy an assort When any difficulty arose about removing all small stones embedded
2d, and by going over the car at anms of the place, I found it work- small cuts with tyre compound, any and bolts renewed at roadside caused by the failure or rusting of Croquent intervals make certain that being able to make a clue out of the in the tyre surface and filling up Instead of having various nutano unexpected hold-up will be ed quite satisfactorily to give thing from 1,000 to 5,000 miles muy
some important bolty.
These are only one or two car words: You should always keep represents a considerable saving.
tasks on which money can be saved. up with the times!" written on it. a copy of The Timer, and in the This meant that they had to buy
item telling them where to go përsonal column they found an
when Miss England overturned Hammsworth "Trophy. at Detroit, and sank in Detroit River during spoke over the Atlantic telephone the race for the Harmaworth Tro to the "Evening Standard" and people a slip of paper, with the be added to the life of a tyre.'. This garages at an average cost of la f
phy. Mr. Don said:
said:
7
world thinks that I have served I will never race again if the Kave Don- very good friend of mine-a dirty deal.
Harmsworth Trophy ever to Kaye "I les inclined to band the
"I have only one ambition in my life, and that is to give a square
deal.
Worse than Brocklands.
I am feeling very sore. My legs Deeper and deeper we dived. fare. paining me very much. Plat Jought.
Everything was going ford, one of my mechanics, is now biach. I had nearly lost conscious in hospital. Garner, the other deen, I am certain, when a last mechanic, is not so bad, but wo desperate kick threw me clear, and are all very badly bruised. In I that to the surface.
dced, we ara very lucky to be alive.Don right away. Lwill never forget that wild des I do not quite know how to des- "perate gasp of air. I felt that 1cribe the accident. I had to make
had swallowed half the river, and a decision in a split second. that my lungs would burst.
saw Gar Wood, the American, dash Then again I became semi-cons-
away ahead of me. I knew the gan had not gone, but what could! cious. But for Juy life jacket I 1 do To go after him seemed the would have been killed or drowned only obvious thing, so I opened
I have had several trying "experi- her out.
"I am grateful for the opport ences at Brooklands and in road
We were going all put. The en unity the Frening Standard has races, but never anything like this. gines of Miss England were begiven me of addressing the British I want nothing like it again. having magnificently. She was public. I have been. racing for The divers are now down on the travelling as fast as she has ever nearly 20 years. I have always river bed. We hope to be able to travelled, and I felt confident that tried to play the game as the salvage. Miss England soon, and iwe would register another win. We British people understand playing
were skimming along the surface. the game.
.then it happened.
"It has been suggested that 1 What as stly happened I do not deliberately crossed the line ahead
am now waiting for a report on the condition of the boat. She is about 20ft. down.
!
"The American Pres have not given me + square deal. They have attributed statements to me which I did not make."
next!
J
kinds of roads. I realised that the whenever possible, to include all Arranging the course I tried.
more people with ears that I could in this game each car load would gather together the better, because. be a separate unit and well, the more the merrier! Similarly, the more people, that could be squeezed into one ear the more brains there would be in that unit.
I had to go round the course myself On the day previous to the hunt
and arrange with the shopkeepers, to give out the clues to motorists, innkeepers and people concerned, wearing the distinguishing mark.
Tim expenses came out roughly as follows:---
chocolates...........£1 105. Treasure, 3 or 4 boxes of
Porsonal column adver tisementstopp
Tips, etc.
Coloured ribbon (for
rosettes)
I hope that one day we will bent know. I probably never will know of time in order to entice my fou of a shilling or so the expenses
the Americane, in: fair fight. I am
certain Miss England could have
Over the windscreen I could see friend, Keys Don, into disquali huge, teaning, rushing wall of
cation.
benton the best that America could white foam. I know. now it must bat, sir, is an absoluto un-
produce.
have been the wish of Gar Wood's bont. I tried to skid to avoid it.
truth.
Totul cost of Hunt
... £2 10, As everybody paid an entrance were shared out amongst the on- trants, and a very cheap form of arausoment which everyone enjoy. ed was thus obtained... GJÁ,
Believe me, I had only one iden
the Harmsworth Trophy fairly and
I value my own reputation na sportsman too highly to throw : if away by an act which must stink in the nostrils of overy sportsman, the British people moans much to I assure you that the opinion of
mo. tell you I would not stoop, to-the-meannesses of which I have been accused.MAIN
Wo won the first heat, Wo would is England answered at once to "On my steering wheel I had a have won the second. That sounds the helm. She swerved. All this clock. It was the name clock which in my mind--and that was to win
bonst. It is not my boast. It is takes a long time to tell, but it I had uned in the previous race. "Miss England's boast,
happened in a split second.
"Unknown" to "nie, the hands had squaroly You must not ask me to discuss is England seemed to leave stuck, the factics adopted by Gar Woooth the water. We felt as if we had "Kaye Don and I wéra racing No doubt he had made his own fit y hump hacket brig
bridge: nt | 100 | each other neck and neck. We were miles an hour. The world seemed | 200ft. apart. I was watching my plans. What they werd. I do notes an
topsy-turvy. The water seemed to clock. Only then I discovered that know, t-was-ura dilemma I could be above us ant the sky below, it could tell wo nothing. unt let the American But get too Aliss England swerved, shudder ar away, and yet I knew the risk od, and then struck the water in awkward dive. Wo had the American boat's wash at an angle.: Our dive continued. Instead
we would run if we got into her
an
It is the ond of a glorious adven-righting herself, the hose of Miss ture. We have failed but I
not so cortain that it is a failure,"
England went t
"(Continued on
the
Columa)
Only One Idea.
I want to pay tribute to Kaya Don. He is a great Englishman.
"Mr. Kaye Don and I have met since the affair We have met në shake my hand in friendship. I friends He is well content to ask the British public to accept my
"I had had something of Miss England's wash in the previous made up in mind that I would not have it again if I explanation and my word as a could help it, so I forged head
(Continued on next Volume.)
~~fortsman that I had no intention
phy
of stealing the Harmsworth
'(l'ontinued on next Column,)'::'
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ELEPHONE: 22221
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