New-York tribune., 1902-08-09
,rTOMOBlLE ROAD RACING
,oSrT1oN TO IT GROWING IN FRANCE
sTEEPLECHASE TO VIENNA ALMOST
.s DISASTROUS AS BATTLE.

TieDu a QlSIdslCe Oh 11'- n4loiiICliSo. VI
Ties in which there were 13I starters. of whom
- eight managed to complete the course
arrive more or less the worse for wear at
So, terminus on the racing track Of the Prater,
o-oused great deal of adverse comment in
-ocsrd 10 allowing the public highways to be
,--an over to motor cars for nearly three days
sa,eby interfering with all other traffic. Auto
-nohiIe road racing is bitterly opposed by public
o,snion in France and Austria-Hungary, and IT
&c absolutely prohibited in Great Britain, Switz-
eriand and Italy
The portion Of the route in the Paris-Eienna
-acs nassing through Swiss territory neu-
,ralized-that is to say. no motor car could pro
coed at a higher rate of speed than is allowed
Cor other vehicles. Towns and few villages in
france and Austria were also ''neutralized,'
but oeducting these 'neutralizations,' it ap-
nears that the speed of the motor cars on the
onen roads during the often exceeded
sixty-fve miles hour. The average speed Of
NJ Rene de Knyff between Paris and BelfoIt
was ninety kilometres, or fffty-six miles an
hour. and NJ. Marcel Renault, who was the firsl
10 arrive at Vienna, completed the Sal miles,
without deducting 'neutralizations" or delays,
in &c hours and IA seconds. These figures give
an idea Of what automobile road racing means.
It must also be borne in mind that besides the
1877 motor cars that started in the racing cate
gerry Yearly q hundred tourist automobiles
simultaneously left Paris for Vienna. TO say
nothing Of fifty or sixty motor cars that swept
over various portions of the road in the pacity
of spectators
No accurate report Of the casualties Of the
Paris-Vienna race has yet appeared, but ii IS
: instructive 10 note those that happened on one
day Of the race-the Saturday when the motor
cars passed through the Tyrol. During ten
hours on Saturday. June 2S, the following Incl
dents were registered: Motor car No. SO was IN
collision with q cart. and both vehicles were
upset; Delany was tossed out Of his motor at
the Arlberg and badly wounded in the head;
Max Jumped from his car which plunged into
the sana from a height of $50 feet; the motor
car Of Count Zborewsni caught fire; motor car
No 105 upset near the ArIberg. and the me-
chanician was wounded; De Knyff arrived with
out wounds or contusions. but On another motor
from the one on which ne started. which
smashed Up the read near the Arlberg; motor
Car No. iG3 upset; motor car No. 21S had
collision with rock and was smashed and the
mechancian knocked senseless; Thery and his
motor car rolled down an enbankment seventy
feet high. the driver was badly wounded and
the motor car took fire and burned up;
near the Arlberg six other motor cars broke
down, and four Of their drivers were seriously
injured.
body expected that this motor steeplechase to
Vienna would prove almost disastrous as
military engasement and Baron Henri de Roth
schild fitted out an automobile ambulance for
ae occasion. II is certainly remarka BILE evil
dence Of the qualities and strength and stability
Of the latest types Of motor cars that OF the
total number of 131 that started to race TO
Vienna as many as seventy-eight should have
surmounted the innumerable obstacles Of the
route, and completed the S11 mile race But
the whole road was reserved exclusively for the
racers, and the inhabitants were warned and
kept of their own roads by the local police, and
IN this way danger to the public was minimized
Last year the start Of the Paris-Berlin motol
race characterized by the death of child
who was run down by one, Of the competitors.
This incident called forth from NJ. Waldeck-
Rousseau who was Prime Minister at the time.
the following statement, which he made in the
Chamber of Deputies: 'T certainly DO not wish
10 cause the slightest injury TO the motor car
industry. especially as they are now striving
net so much to develop a rate Of speed higher
than one hundred kilometres (sixty-two miles)
an hour. but because they are seeking to turn
out motor cars of practical utility that be
depended upon for regular work and with a
minimum OF repairs. If the automobile people
want TO use the public highways for what 1
call endurance tests well and good To this
there is no objection. But II they want to use
the highawys for racing, 1 have no hesitation
in saying that this should be firmly prohibited
as q nuisance to the public. Automobile racing
ought to be restricted TO special tracks that
the automobile interests are entirely capable of
constructing and maintaining at their own ex-
pense There is only one way to prevent acci-
dents and that is 10 prevent automobiles from
going at a higher rate of speed on the public
roads than is allowed for ordinary vehicles. I
prepared to assure the Chamber that the
national. departmental and communal roads ex-
ist for purposes Of the use OF the public. and
that they Will longer theatres for
experiments of speed similar the Paris Ber-
lin race"
This assertion Of the Prime Minister was ac-
cepted s final, and nothing further was heard
Of the matter until the Paris-VieLna race took
place In June last without interference the
part Of NJ Combes, the successor Of NJ. Waldeck-
Rousseau.
Throughout the country districts strong feel
ing Of opposition to automobiIsm is already
manifested. With the season for motor scorch-
ing, which is now beginning. this hostility Of the
public is likely 70 increase. Several important
Paris newspapers, such as the 'Gaulois the
Journal des Debats." the Steele" and the
'.Rappel," have protested against automobile
read racing. and II. Henri Rochefort, in the
Intransigeant.'' declares that unless the gov
eminent soon enforces effective measures against
this monopoly of the public thoroughfares by
the motormen the French peasants and
country fok VIII, out OF sheer desperaIloh take
matters in their own hands, and put beams and
building stones on the roads where excessive
speed is INDUCED in, and these fashionable
promenades at the rate OF hundred kilometres
an hour VIII be transformed into veritaole mas
sacres which. If the authorities don't look OUT
may assume the political Importance OF the
lacqueries Of the fourteenth century
american and English motormen should bear
N mind that pace Of thirty-hVe or Iorty fhlIes
sa hour on an American or English ROAD seems
raster than fifty or sixty miles an hour on
French route rationale smooth as a bilIiard
table Nhere nne can nffen see right ahead 10