Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-13
DOPE FOR GAS WAGONS
Auto Speeders Can Turn a
Trick New to the Public.
USE PICRIC ACID IN OIL
Adds 81 Per Cent Efficiency to
Average Motor.
EFFECTIVE BUT DANGEROUS
Nearly All Big Race Drivers Have
Formula for Doping Machines
in Contests.

A serious effort is TO be maze curing
the next racing season to prevent the
DOPING of cars. This is one of the most
difficult subjects that the Automobile AS
ISOLATION has ever tackled and is mat
ter that the general public knows little. II
anything, about. II is fact none the less
that an automobile can be "doped 1or
a race just the same as horse, ana the
result is about the same. The machine
like the horse, may win It's race ana
never be any good afterward. but the diff
ference Is that big firm turning OUT
thousands of cars a year does not mind
spelling a few for the sake of the ad-
vertisement that comes from winning
big race or a hill-climbing contest.
Automobiles are turned out good deal
more quickly than race horses. and while
giving dope to an old selling platter is the
last resort of the outlaw track. new
automobile just out of the shop. with
noted driver at the wheel may be doped
up for a single race and then RELOCATED
to the scrap heap without conjunction,
while the firm comes out with big adj
vertisement of how its thirty-horsepower
car, regular stock model ran away
from a bunch of fifty and sixty horse
power cars of opposing makes.
There are almost as many dinerent
formulas for doping an automobile 1or
a race as there are of doping morse
Most of the big race drivers have their
own formulas, but they are all danger
Gus. all bad for the machine and they
prevent any fair judgment of the relative
merits of racing cars when all are sup
posed to run on the same fuel.
Increases Force of Explosion.
TIL. most effective dangerous and pop
ula- dope is picric acid. This is the basis
that the British war Office uses for the
manufacture of lyddite shells and cordite
powder for the regular service rifle. II
is deadly explosive. and the sole OBJ
ject of mixing it with gasoline for auto
mobile use is to increase the force OF
the explosion Only a few drops are
used to the gallon of gasoline. There
is no use in saying just how many. as
there are enough automobile fatanties
now without throwing additional tempta,
ton in the way of amateur speed
4 professional race driver. and one of
the best in the business, In talking over
the matter with a Star reporter. said
cent additional efficiency out OF the aver
age motor with the maximum addition
of picric acid that could be used with
reasonable safety. This would bring a
thirty-horsepower car up to about fifty
horsepower, and, with no additional
weight to carry. would naturally make
the small, light car beat out nifty or
sixty horsepower car a hill-clfmbfng
contest. The same racing man, In talk
ing over the latter, said:
4 have no particular ethical views on
the subject, and / guess l am willing to
take about as many chances as the next,
but. from a purely practical standpoint.
/ would never use a dope of that sort
in long race. 1t Is good enough for
sprint up to. say. 1OO miles, but after
that the harm that II does to your engine
vantage.
Not Good for Long Races.
For instance, l would never dope
car with picric acid or anything of that
sort for a twenty-four- hour race an en-
durance run. though in these long races
there Is another sort Of mild dope that
1 have used with good results and would
use again. That is simply lubricating oil
mixed with the gasoline about a pint to
five gallons. 1t goes into the cylinder
and gives you extra fabrication at the
top of the stroke. where the cylinder is
hottest and where YOU need it most.
There are some engines that will stand
more of a heavy explosive charge than
others. and / have heard that in some
cases the horsepower can be doubled for
comparatively short run: but you have
TO remember that an extra heavy explo-
sion. while 1t means more power. means
TO point where there Is auto-ignition of
the charge before the piston gets over
the dead center you are going to have
back fire that will wreck your machine
and probably send you to kingdom come
beside surely losing the race, which is
more important
Plcric acid. while it is the commonest
is by no means the only form of dope
that is used. Some drivers use hydro
fuoric acid. but while this gives pow
erful explosion, it is more ruinous to
an engine than almost anything else that
can be used. Hydrofiuorc acid is used
to etch on glass. and it will eat almost
anything except india rubber What it
does to the cylinder of a motor can be
imagined, but still it is used
Race Drivers Have Formula.
Nearly all OF the big race drivers
have their own formula for dope. Some
of them simply use a lighter grade of
gasoline and make up for the tendency
OF this to explode under compression by
putting in certain proportion of al
cohol Ether Is used. also. but it has
to be used very carefully. This was used
last spring in race at Benning, and,
while the ran marvelously in the
earlier part of the day 1t got over
heated in the course of the afternoon
and there was back fire that lifted the
engine clear off the bed plate. No ade-
auate explanation of the accident was
given at the time, but that was the fact
underlying the case.
Attempts have been made to get an en-
CINE that would run on calcium carbide
gas, and this has been done but though
II makes very powerful fuel. 1t has
never been brought to a practical point
for track use.
There has been a good deal of specula-
tion rs TO whether or not some of the
fying-machine engines now in use are
not doped for special performances. but
that. of course, is matter that can
never he settled satisfactorily unless some
fying-machine expert gives the game
away.
The only method that the Automobile
Association has of dealing with the ques-
ton of using doped gasoline in a race Is
by furnishing the fuel itself and insisting
on having an absolutely dry and clean
tank. but so long as only a few drops of
liquid are required 10 turn the trick, Ii is
almost Impossible to govern this end of
the sport any more than the stewards of
the Jockey Club can deal with sudden re-
versals of form in horse racing
is It True GirlsP