The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-15
AUTO TESTS UNCOIPLETED.
POOR RESULTS IN TIE RAIN AND
POSTPONEMENT FOLLOWS.

| Owen Car does Five Miles In SIS, which
Il Not Record Time Spectators
Travel Through the Might TO the Course
Auto Carries Away Railroad Gate.
After months OF weary waiting for the
cars to be completed. after weeks Of extrsor-
binary efforts to obt ain and prepare course.
remarkable success in getting permission
to use IL and after an attempt TO keep every
bit OF the proceedings secret that resulted
farcically. the Automobile Club Of America
held its first trial tests Of the candidates
for the international cup race yesterday
and they resulted almost in q nzzle. The
failure to get satisfactory results was due
largely to the weather. partly TO poor ar
rangements and partly to the failure OF three
entries 10 be ready for the trials.
The elimination contest. as 1t has come to
be known. although when the time came
there were not so many candidates. that any
needed to be elirnina.ed. vas held on the
sfx-mile stretch Of road lying between West
bury and Merrick. l.. l.. that is variously
known as Merrick avenue and Barnum ave-
nue.. II Is a stretch OF public highway that
runs almost due north and south with West
bury at the north end. II has hard gravel
bed that absorbs moisture quickly and does
not get sloppy or slippery. except under worry
heavy rain.
It was $40 O'Clock in the morning when the
two competitors. with the race committee
OF the Automobile Club. reached the course
where the Old Country Road crosses 1t. about
q mile from the north end Of westbury. The
competitors were Percy Owen Of New York.
with a forty-horse power tnominali Winton.
and !. p. Mooers OF Cleveland with q Mooers-
Peerless. rated at forty horsepower The
full race committee Of the club was on hand
ataft <.fn vah Lat nj
Dave II. Morris. Harlan W. whipple. Samuel
NJ. Butler. secretary. and President Albert
r. Shattuck. eH-ofIlcio. In all. there were
about dozen motor cars with tonneau bodies.
each carrying four or five passengers TO the
course. so that In the ncighborhood Of fifty
persons were spectators Of the proeeediD ss,
This included a very few invited guests and
a couple score OF others not asked to be there.
Owen started at stO o clock with his car
for the Merrick end. In the seat beside him
was Committeeman Scott to take the time
as they few pass the tall planks. eight inches
wide. with big distance figures marked plainly
on them. that had been placed at intervals
Of a mile along the course. Fifteen minutes
later the car came whizzing back TO the West
bury end.
There was hesitation on the part Of the
officials In deciding whether to announce
the time, or to pursue still further the at
tempted policy Of secrecy. Owen. however,
spoke up and said: I will tell my time 10
any one who wants to know it. II was I've
ffty-fve. Five miles in Ave minutes and
ffty-flve seconds The remark was ap-
plauded.
This is rs seconds slower than the record made
by Alexander Winton's Bullet last year and
IL Is Is seconds slower than ives made recently
by a motor bicycle on the Ormond beach.
Florida. Still. II was deemed splendid time
under the circumstances. There was han
a gale driving diagonally across the course.
carrying before IL mixture OF rain and hail
that cut the skin OF those who few against
II at the rate OF almost u mile minute: also
the road bed was soggy ana decidedly SLOW.
Then Mooers went tor a try with Dave II.
Morris. Soon after ne nsd made q standing
start from the Hicksviiie end. his engine
began to miss explosions because his gaso-
lene supply was low, tie ran the distance OF
the course twice and though MS engine re Z.
peatedly missed. he made very good tine.
Owens second trial was no faster than his
first. Mooers wanted a supply OF gasolene
and the committee had al not provided f9r such
made Il difficult to get the car buIettor ad-
tusted for the most favorable mixture. The
with some one with then, holding . stop
watch to advise them that they could get the
sTer decided lSst a. Was so nm
favorable. 1t would be best to postpone the
trials until to-day or Tomorrow. according
In the afternoon IL was announced that
the trials would not be held to-day. but would
tomorrow II It was fine.
So far as they went the trials were salts
factory to the committee. who thought the
cars travelled as well as could be expected
Snde, the and y ,SIs ss,isf ed
desired under favorable conditions
Not the slightest mishap marred the few
one, but there were not more than four or
five vehicles seen on the course during the
two hours that the cars were using In .
miles an hour THE Sun reporter counted
Just sixteen houses in the 1--WE miles between
MerTick and the Old Country , road; sx ero scS
OF these points OF intersect ion there was .
Long Island native stationed with red nag
mon nsnq By e Standing ready to warn chance
travellers OF the approach OF one Of the Dig
One OF the spectators who arrived in the
early morning was H. s. Hardness, but not IN
his own special car. which he had enr f,
im spr T that Would III Be- xsnssd foS
racing on Tuesday. Mr. Harknsss has spent
ss sss Of H biz SSes s
beginnins with the Psris-Madrid He feels
CRAFTY disappointed over his mlsunder-
BROUGHT about By the Extreme effort, 70 be
secret and mysterious. II Is doubtful 4 ne
get ~ on tho a Sq' OF tie
committee to give him every chance. and he
In a sense IL may be considered that the
cars Of Owen and Mooers have now qualified
to complete the team that is TO 90 TO Ireland
and represent America in the race for the cup
on July ?. The committee seems bent: how
ever, on having further tests, and Mr. Morris
said yesterday that they might even throw
open the lists again and let In the Hardness
and Matheson cars In order TO do eveIythins
possible TO get representatives that have
chance to win. The one car OF AleHander
wintop that was accepted without trial be-
cause he made the proposition TO 60 before
the club had asked for entries will go any,
way. and the COMMITTEES, ~ II chooses, may
reject all others. II Is believed. however.
that the xsal Of the club TO have further thor
ough tests will cool.
The committee, contestants and Others
who went TO the rendezvous at the Garden
City Hotel on Monday slept lightly for
few hours from midnight Of Monday and
were reused az { o'clock for a hot breakfast
by electric light. There were about twenty
AZ the hotel on Monday night. At breakfast
there were fifty.
They had been arriving all through the
small hours and they were from sWrywhsre.
There were men pre- sent from PhiIadr lpha,
Boston, Hartford. Buffalo and Washington,
automobile enthusiasts, all OF them. and there
was gre at sport made with reference TO what
was dubbed -Shattuck's Secret Session.
On the way out Searchmont car, carrying
W D. Cash Of PHILADELPHIA. o. j. Woodland OF
New York, 4. l.. Riker OF Bird and A l..