Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-09
NEWS OF INTEREST ~--~~r-7T7
{ TO AUTOMOBILES

roads were clear. 1 certainly think the
club is wrong"
D. Lee Fernando Nelson and other drivers
who were in recent record races agree with
Saunders.
With the increasing interest this season
over the big race meet on the Florida coast
at Ormonde, in January, the addition OF a
.OO-mile race by the management, and the,
assurance that several racing cars as well
as some of the Vanderbilt cup contestants
will be on the scene for the big events the
question of touring all the way from New
York to Florida has been discussed with
more than usual ardor in automobile circles.
The bad roads in the south have always
been held up as the chief drawback but
considering the triumPhS that American
cars have accomplished during the past
year over all sorts and conditions of roads
in this country and Canada, 1t IS not Likely
that the trail paths through long stretches
in Georgia which would be the most trying
state, would prove an insurmountable bar
rier to automobilists provided the meet
came at any other time of the year than in
the middle of winter.
All that seems necessary. however, to
make a motor tour to Florida possible Is
for group of energetic owners to deter
mine that they will make the effort Several
autoists have already expressed the opin-
ion that they would be only too glad. to
make the trip, provided others would prom
Use to go. If only three or four cars could
be obtained. thus making the trip appear
in the nature of a regular tour. the south
ern automobile clubs would readily Cooper
ate in welcoming the travellers. and the eff
feet would be a salutary one for improving
the roads in any of the sections traversed.
Several automobilists have made the trip
frn To nly p,-tl 10 70 np6n In n
the annual motor interest in Florida every
winter efforts now being made to i'm
prove the coast road SO that riders and WIS.,
itors to the various resorts from Jackson
Vile to Miami may be able to travel from
place to place in their cars. An. endurance
run is now being discussed from Jackson
Vile to Miami, nearly 400 miles, The event
will be held provided enough visiting auto
lists signify their willingness to compete. If
successful it is said 1t would be the biggest
thing of the kind ever held in the south.
and 1t would also have the effect of adding
a very practical feature to the Florida auto
mobile interests which hitherto have been
solely centered upon straightaway speed in
races on the smooth beach between Or
monde and Daytonia.
Once overtaken, the foreign makers are
apt to be speedily outstripped. Even now, 1t
is said, they seem to be tagging in respect
to the shaft drive and six-cylinder models.
Even England is ahead of France In respect
to the latter. The Napier people have dis
carded all else for the six-cylinder model,
but the French makers have not had much
success with them.
Those who are the active guiding spirits
of the American Automobile Association are
Girding themselves for an aggressive cam
paign in 1907 The organization is really in
flourishlng condition, and new lines of
activity are being planned which are hoped
to make 1t the strongest automobile body
In the world.
y
Automobiles are beginning to realize it
is said, that motor horsepower and horse
power rating do not mean as much in auto
MODELLING as the power that Is delivered to
the rear wheels. Hence the study Of eff
cheney in the transmission Of engine power
to road wheels is becoming a broader and
more important element of motor car de-
velopment than formerly.
-. -
While the Europeans are pretty free at
talking about Yankee tricks, the foreign
automobile makers are not Impractical
hands at passing the lemon" This the
wise ones discovered when they inspected
the 1907 models of imported cars at the
Automobile Club show in New York 1t Is
great deal to ask them to have 1907 cars
here in fact before the raris show but It
seemed hard not to have them here at least
In name. One way, it is said, for buyers to
protect themselves from this sort of thing
is to be familiar with the changes in design:
another is to keep track and know how
high are the current factory numerals The
real 1907 models of foreign cars are shipped
here after the Paris Salon. in time for the
regular Madison Square Garden show in
January, as they will be this year.