Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-13
RAMBLER CAR
BREAKS RECORD
NEW MARK TO SAN DIEGO AND
RETURN IS SET
SPEED OF OVER 81 MILES AN
HOUR is AVERAGED
L. 3. Harvey Drives Roadster to
Southern City and Back to Los
Angeles, Setting Fast
est Pace

At a rate of speed that averaged bet
ter than thirty-one miles per hour, l..
B. Harvey drove a Rambler roadster to
San Diego and return yesterday in 10
hours and 80 minutes. He beat the rec
ord made by Ralph Hamlin October 10
by forty-hVe minutes, reaching Pomons,
two minutes behind the time that 1T
took the Franklin to reach Los Angeles,
thereby beating the air-cooled car by
thirty miles at least.
Starting from Los Angeles yesterday
morning at o'clock before the light
had come i'll the sky sufficiently to
make fast driving safe, Harvey care
fully got out of town, but it was not
until he had passed Bell Station that
it grew light enough to open up une
throttle for any speed.
AS soon as it was safe he began to
hit the high places only, and when
Santa Ana was reached it was just one
hour after the start was made.
Rushing through that town in the
dim morning light a pace that beat
fifty miles an hour was reached on the
fine stretch of road through the Irvine
ranch and also beyond Capistrano.
When the road was good Harvey held
the throttle wide open and the speedy
roadster seemed to sail through the air
at times, so fast was the pace and so
rough the road.
Nothing delayed the car until Ocean
side was reached, and there a short
stop was made to take on gasoline and
see that the water was not too low.
Harvey had taken the fan off before
starting the run so as to get a higher
temperature in the water and so get
better combustion and consequently
better speed
To oceanside
1t took just three hours and nine
minutes to get to Oceanside, where four
minutes were spent. Oceanside is al
most an even 100 miles from Los An
geles, and part of the road is not of
the best.
From Oceanside to San Diego Harvey
kept up the same grueling grind and
rolled into the bay city in hours ana
% minutes after leaving here. He
equaled the time of the Franklin Tor
the run down. DO you know that
would have taken over a minute and
maybe two off of the Franklin's time"
said Harvey, "if it had not been for one
thing, and that was the same thing
that made the dog fail to catch the
rabbit"
At San Diego the crew sat in the car
while the gasoline tank was replenished
and a few quarts of water were poured
in the radiator, and once more they
were off. San Diego won HarVeys adj
mira ton by the way that they re-
ceived him there. For three or four
miles out of the city mounted police
kept traffic and pedestrians off the
streets over which the car rushed.
Crowds lined the thoroughfare down
town and waved enthusiastically as the
Rambler sped on its way and tore
huge chunks out of the atmosphere and
the speed ordinance. Little did the San
Diegans care if it was a matter of
sport, and they have come to look on
the record runs as one of the best
sports that can be had.
With eight minutes stop to check at
the office of the Union Harvey once
more let in the clutch and out the
main street toward the hospital grade
the car whirled, cheered by another
crowd that seemed endless. Over the
mesa near Miramar and down the
Scripps grade the car made fine time.
The best of luck was played in, and for
tune seemed to favor car and crew,
as there was not a team but that gave
up the whole of the road, and only
one car delayed the progress of the
record breakers to any extent, and that
was doubtless to the pride the man
had in his automobile, as he tried to
keep ahead of the racer. 1t was use
less to try, for when the road broad
ened a little of the reserve power I'M
der the hood of the Rambler was let
out, and like a flash the mud-smeared
roadster slid past the ambitious motor
list and left him only trail of dust
and a smell of gasoline to remember
that he had had a race.
Watches Weather Signs
Everything was going fine, but Har-
vey kept an eye cooked on weather
signs and prayed not for rain, but a
delay of it, until he could get to Los
Angeles. His prayer was answered
and the weather kept clear. Into Ell
sinore the time was hours and So
minutes. Here another stop was made
to replenish the gasoline supply, and
out through the long canyon the car
rushed toward Corona, which place
was reached without an accident or
special incident.
The car seemed to have settled down
to a steady grind that would not al
low of any suggestion of trouble, but
hardly had the town of Corona been
passed until one of the tires began to
go fiat from some small puncture. A
stop was made and a new tube placed
in the same casing and away once more
with little time lost and the record in
plain sight. Things had been so easy
so far that when trouble did come 1t
was strongly felt. A gasoline feed
pipe was shaken loose by the incessant
vibration of the purring motor and
finally gave way altogether.
Fortunately an extra piece of piping