New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-10-07
FRANCE WINS RACE.


ths Mercedes car. driven by Juttgen while
making the turn at Krug.s corner, suddenly
failed TO respond TO its steering gear. The oar
lufuhed TO the left, almost touching the shrek.
Sox and flying spectators, who were saved only
by The remarkable manner IN which the driver
stopped the machine.
AZ builders Of automobiles for purely speed
purposes, France, Italy and Germany once agar
demonstrated decided superiority Amer
Sos, for, out Of seventeen cars which started
only I'VE finished the ten rounds of the course
before the race called of, and in this mum.
Dor there Was not one American machine
TRACY MAKES FASTEST LAP
Crushing the defeat of the I'VE Amsri.
can oars which started in the race. there was
one bright spot Tracy. plotting the Locomobile
racer which won the elimination trial for
American cars on September %, covered his
9TH lap IN rs minutes 20 AS seconds, which
was not only the fastest hap Of the race. but
also established a new record for the course.
Tire trouble. however. prevented Tracy from
giving the foreigners an argument for any ex-
tended period
The American car which made the best show
ing was the 115-horsepower Thomas, which wa
driven by LIE Blon. This car had completed nine
i've foreign cars completed the long grind and
tho race was called off. lie Blon had serious
tire trouble the first round. and 1t took him
81 minutes 80 3-5 seconds to cover the circuit
q decidedly poor beginning. Thereafter he sent
his car along at a steady pace. averaging around
81 minutes TO lap. and com leted the nine
rounds of the course in hours II minutes 26 g.
seconds This time is nearly identical with that
made by the Thomas car in the elimination
trial. when LIE Bion required hours 81 minutes
and % seconds for the full circuit. In the trial
this time good enough to win second place
for the Thomas car. In the real race it gave
the Thomas a poor sixth.
OF the other three members of the American
team the least said the better. The 10 horse
power Prayer Miller car, driven by Lawwell
which displaced the powerful Pope Toledo racer
on protest. covered four laps in the slow time
of hours 10 minutes "a seconds and then with
drew on account OF tire and engine trouble after
passing Krugs corner on the fifth circuit of the
course.
The two American touring cars, the 50-horse-
power Christie, driven by Walter Christie, and
the 50-horsepower Haynes, driven by John
Haynes, made pretty race OF ii, but were pitt
fully outclassed. Each car had completed six
rounds Of the course when the big foreign racers
flashed across the finish line. Christie had the
pleasure Of Just nosing out Haynes for the dual
honors. as the former took hours / minute Is
seconds for the six laps. while the latter needed
hours 2 minutes AS seconds Both cars
running when the race was called off e,d
running we'll They were simply in the wrong
company The craftsmanship of Messrs Chris
tie and Haynes in facing such insurmountabIe
odds cannot but demand and receive cororoan
dalton. but it is a serious question whether u
would not have been more patriotic for them r.
have voluntarily withdrawn cars which obviously
had no chance with the high powered Europear
creations.
In fairness TO Harding. who drove the HAYNES
car into third place in the elimination trial II
must be said that Haynes proved himself infe-
rior 10 Harding a driver. The latter covered
six rounds in the trial race in 3 hours 45 min
utes I seconds. while Haynes did not make
nearly as good time in the big race
WAGNER HAS CLOSE CALL.
Never was the value of detachable rims for
racing cars demonstrated more clearly than IN
the 1903 Vanderbilt Cup race. The question
most frequently asked by novices who saw the
race yesterday WIN all the foreign cars
carried several spare tires strapped to the
gasolene tank in the rear. and why the Ameri-
can cars did not do likewise. The answer was
that all the foreigners used detachable rims
which added a little weight to be sure hut did
away with tire controls and reduced the time
required TO shift tire to the minimum
With detachable rims tire can be charged
in from forty-fve seconds TO a minute and ,
half Without the detachable rims at . ira
control. the time required is from fifteen min.
utes 10 half hour.
The detachable rim was all that saved wag-
ner from defeat when he burst a tire at PuIrs
Head on the last round. He had a lead of .
little over six minutes on Lancia and of nearly
eight minutes on Duray. A groan want 49,
from the grandstand when il was annonnoatt
that wagner had a puncture Iancia 80
Duray were laundering at his heels and .Tena,rC
was only a few moments behind them II 80
a situation TO make a of steel loco 80
nerve. Did IL battle rattle the intrenfS W.
ner? Not in the least. veg
While Lancia swept past him Wapnar orz
his mechanician. with nimble fingers drew 49,
bolts from the rim Of the injured tire caet ,iC
useless tire and rim away slipped neUS o|
from the store atop the gasolene tank clanDgd
it in place and were moving again Win las
than two minutes lost. This occurrence al
lowed LaPcia TO cross the line first bur Waene,
with the new tire on made a quick run horn
and beat the daredevil Italian driver on elaDse6
TINE. Had the accident which befell Wagnel