Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-04
NEWS OF INTEREST
TO AUTOMOBILES

the ball rolling" from Windsor T White OF
Cleveland, Ohio. In the letter accompany
ing the subscription Mr.. White said in
part:
LAS the establishment OF course will
so greatly benefit manufacturers Il seems
proper that they should give the project
their financial support.
AS regards the nature of the course IT.
self, l personally believe that il should
not be too perfect in character; that Is.
there should be sufficient grades. sharp
turns and so forth to approximate actual
road conditions. In no other way will IL
be possible for us to train set of AmerI-
can drivers who will cross the water and
bring back from Europe all the great In
ternational trophies. which is the goal which
SELF ''' S"o''u set '"'
Several speedway schemes have been pre-
sented TO the speedway committee. consist
ing Of w. X. Vanderbilt jr., A. X Pardins-
ton and j. ID. Thompson.
The big racing cars that participated IN
the Vanderbilt Cup contest may be lesurely
inspected in a group, II the plans of the
committee of the National Automobile Show
In Madison Square Garden next January
are carried out.
Charles Stewart Rots one OF the best
known automobiists In England. is in New
York city for the purpose Of studying con-
ditions In America. In an interview he said:
This Is my first visit to America but |
hope to do little motor touring. although
snail be here barely month l shall en-
oeavor to make careful study OF automo-
bile conditions here. for believe the Amer
icah manufacturers have a great deal to
| teach the foreigners in certain lines
! am not, however. a speed enthusiast
hrmiy believe the motor vehicle is bound to
grow more popular year by year. but prac-
ticai tests, we'll conducted are needed
believe the speed and endurance of a car
should be calculated upon the amount OF
gasoline or other fuel used. This will give
| fair average speed and will be OF com
mercial value, besides furnishing the nros-
pective buyer with clear object lesson
or the real worth OF a motor car car
OF ABOUT thirty horsepower l consider am
PIE 1or pleasure touring purposes. man
can get as much speed out OF a car OF
that type as is necessary. and most OF the
time he will be satisfied with much less
than the maximum speed"
Motoring racing. 1t is stated. seems 10 be
threatened even In the country where Il
began. The Automobile Club of France at
its last meeting discussed. for the first
! time in its existence. the ACCESSIBILITY OF
holding another speed contest next year
Hitherto the question has never even been
began preparations in due time each year
! for at least one motor race. This time not
only was the question lengthily debated,
but opinions were divided. and no decision
was reached whether there will be any
motor racing at all in France next wear
The Marquis de Dion has long been I'm "A
minority In opposing such contests. and In
suggesting big tourist events instead such
| as the European circuit proposed for last
| summer. but postponed. Now. however he
is strongly supported, though on the other
| side it is argued that the French club hav-
| ing killed the Gordon Bennett cup race
| cannot drop its own Grand Prix after II
| has been only once contested. Finally Il
was determined to take the opinion of the
Union of French Motor Manufacturers
Two small boys recently were gaping Mt
| the ''inwards of a car that was standing
| on the street with its hood raised while the
| chauffeur was making some adjustments
| and were overheard Specializing as To the
| uses of the fan in front of the engine.
Finally one of them solved it all to his sat
isfaction and triumphantly declared TO h $
chum that it was a propeller which WAS
used to make the run backward The
chauffeur grinned and told the youngster
that he would be an inventor some day.
3 :;
While q couple of the foreign racers In
the contest for the Vanderbilt cup have re-
manned in this country. II is expected that
not only those. but also those that were
shipped home to Europe after the race VIII
be on exhibition January 12-l9 at the
seventh national automobile show in Madi-
son Square Garden. The foreign racing ma
chimes will be displayed at the Paris show
in December and under the present plans
of the garden show committee will be
shipped from there to New York.
An increasing tendency toward carrying
baggage on the roof of touring car or to
strap them high up the vehicle is said
to be deplorable. Baggage, II is stated
should be carried as near the plane of the
chassis possible.
Gradually il has become conceded that the
automobile is road vehicle and not suit
able for track racing. yet old timers who
were present at the Empire track where
the only track races held in New York this
year were run October ~. admitted that
there was enough interest to warrant a
belief that there might be u renaissance of
this form of sport.
THE CLUB r1EETING
n