Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-10-30

were hair raising. Some French auto
mobilst is now expected to climb the
Alps in the attempt to surpass Mr..
Walkers record.
Automobile sport has naturally taken
the form of racing. The speeding of
the horseless carria sc is not unattend
ed with danger, for q gasoline en-
CINE or an electric motor pushed to
it's highest capacity is neither a safe
nor pleasant thing to trifie with. ALL
tomobile racing will never probably
become a popular sport in the sense
that the mass of the people will particle
pate therein, for it requires much time.
skill, money and attention. Our young
millionaires have taken it up, and the
craze, particularly in the east, is
spreading. William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.,
one of. the wealthiest scions of his
house, is one of the leading promoters
of the sport and attends to the labor OF
cleaning, oiling and driving his ma
chine himself. The French are enthu-
siastic over the races, and to be lead
ing chauffeur as they call the con-
ductor of horseless carriage, is the
ambition of every French sportsman.
The machines principally used are
| those supplied. with gasoline motors.
which have been found to produce the
| highest rate of speed. The piston is
driven by the successive explosions of
minute quantities of gasoline, and these
heat the cylinder to a very high de-
| gree. Unless the cylinder be cooled off
it soon becomes too hot for use, and to
cool it the automobile must carry a
tank of water. The water is kept cir
culating around the cylinder and piston
to keep the temperature sufficiently low.
| Another interesting feature of the
racing machine is the carrying OF an
extra man for ballast. OF course, the
automobile intended for racing is made
as light as is consistent with safety,
but this lightness adds an additional
element of danger. On the turns, when
going at high speed, the machine has
tendency to upset, and this is offset by
the balancing of the additional man.
The speed attained is often very high.
but will doubtless be considerably sur
passed in the near future.
There are several varieties of auto
mobile motors, electricity, steam, case
line and oil all being used to generate
power. Each of them has it's advan-
ltageS and it's drawbacks. The problem
is to secure motor that will be at
once simple, easily understood, light i'll
weight and inexpensive to operate. Ev-
cry variety combines some of these de-
siderata, while some of the newest
models closely approximate the ideal.
Research and experimentation are
working wonders with the horseless
carriage, as they did with the bicycle.
and. although the end has not been
reached, one who sees the elegant au-
tomobile pleasure turnouts now manu-
> featured by American makers can cas-
lily be persuaded that it is in sight
AT the national automobile show to
be held in New York in November ev-
: cry variety of horseless carriage will
! be shown. Full representation by all
makers is expected, and the plan is to
make the shows fully reflect the pres
> ent conditions of automobilism in this
y country. Visitors will be able to judge
! for themselves the relative merits OF
. electricity, steam, gasoline and oil drlv-
u en- motors. and it is announced that Gu
u rious minded persons may test FOL
. themselves, if they have not already
" done so, the delights of riding in the
y Carriage with wings.
II CHARLES N. LURE.