Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-23
INTEREST IN
BIG AFFAIR
OVER A HUNDRED CARS HELPED
START RACE
Fifty Thousand Persons Gathered ir
Times Square When New York
10 Paris Contest Was
Inaugurated

For eleven days the cars entered IN
the New York to Paris race have been
toiling on their way through drifts OF
snow where the road had to be maze
bv shoveling the snow out of the way
and through rain and over muddy
roads. The immense crowd that gath
cred to see the start on the race SHOWS
to some extent the interest taken III
motoring.
It has been estimated that there were
so 900 people in Times square when the
cars left. .,.,,
An escort of over 100 cars left with
tbe contestants, but most of them were
content to turn back at TarrytoWn'
many of them not going even that far.
Four nations are represented IN tne
race of the six cars, France haVills
three and Germany, Italy ana America
one each.
The cars and their drivers. with de-
tails of their specifications, are as Ioi-
lows:
American-Car. 30 hp. four-cylinder
Thomas Drivers Montague Roberts ana
Harold Brinker. Weight $500 pounds. Gaso-
line capacity two tanks, 12b gallons each; ~
France-Car, 80 hip. four-cylinder ne
Dton Drivers. st. Chaffray, Austrian ana
Cantain Hansen Weight 5000 Kilograms
Gasolene capacity 100 litres in seevn tanks.
France 1880 hip. four1cylinder Moto-
Bloc. Drivers, Charles GODDARD, arthur iue'
r. Maurice Liver. Weight 2s2O kliosraih7'
Gasoline capacity 325 liters in four tanks.
Francois hip. one-cylinder Sizaire- Nau-
din Drivers, August Pons, Maurice berlAe
and Lucien Dechamps. weight looo XIII
: INNS. Gasoline capacity fifteen hters IN
three tanks. ,...
Germany-4O hip. four-cylinder Protos'
Drivers. Ernst Mas Hans Knape and Lieu
tenant II. Koeppen. Weight 5000 pouhus'
Gasoline capacity 500 liters in SIX TANKS
Italy-2s-4O hip. r-cylinder zust. Div
err Emilio Sirtori, Henri Haaga and An
tonic Scarfogla Weight 1900 Kilograms
Gasoline capacity 500 liters in three TANKS
Make Good Start
On the first day out three of the cars
got to the Hudson, 116 miles from tne
starting point. The cars were the
Thomas. Zust and De Dion. The Fro
tos car got as far as PoughKeepsle, ~
miles, while the two remaining cars
the Moto-Bloc and the Sizaire-Na
went only as far'as Peekskill, A miles.
Tho Thomas has maintained the lead
most of the way since, but has peen
closely followed by the De Dion.
The route to be followed will be from
New York to Buffalo via Albany TO
cleveland, Toledo, Chicago. Omaha
ogden, Carson City, Goldfeld, MoJave,
santa Barbara, San Jose ana san
Francisco.
From San Francisco the machines
viii he sent by boat to Valdez, Alaska,
ond from there to Nome by trail and
liver he'd. From Nome the cars Will
he Skinned across the Behring straits
tn East Cane, Siberia, and thence start
overland to Paris ,,u.,
rrhe cars have been especiahy
eon1ipped for the trip, and the variety
of paraphernalia is almost unllnlteu.
Several of the foreign drivers nass
H., ha Pp<inQ to Paris
race of last year, ana were cnosei A0A
their qualifications. s.,.
q Rorcier ST. Chaffray, the orlVeF-
ip-chief of the De Dion car, was the
winner of the much-heard-of Peklhs
70 paris race last year. His wide ex-
nerience In this event and other en-
durance tests has made him specially
valuable man, and LIE Matin, the orig
inator of the New York-Paris race, en-
gagged him to take entire charge OF the
race. Capt. Hans Hendrick Hansen is
NJ Cbaffrav's assistant driver. Before
leaving Russia to take part in the race
he made a bet of 10000 rubles STi0o)
that the race would be successfully
completed before June 10.
Lieut.. Hans Kuppen, the plot OF the
German Protos car, is member OF the
general staff of the German army. HE
has been in the service of the kaiser
for fourteen years. He is not an auto
mobilist, but sportsman, and is enter
ing the race In that spirit. His milf
tary experience commands the conf
dence of the proprietors of the Protos
car. Engineer Knape is frst otficer
of the engineer corps. lie entered the
infantry branch of the German service
and afterward was shifted to the en-
gineer corps His love of mechanics
and of machinery is what led him to
abandon the infantry service for the
engineer corps. He is a clever mechan-
ician and thoroughly familiar with the
details of the work which he may be
called upon to do on the trip.
Antonio Scarfcgio, the driver of the