Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-10
BUMPS IGNORED
WHEN GOING FAST
bile Drawer. sans About Il Racing
Aluchinc--lrclanu Race.

Louis N1ooers. the famous automo-
bile engineer. has built and driven
some of the fastest automobiles III the
history of the rucinS game. Mooers
drove a Peerless car in the James
Gordon Bennett cup race in Ireland
in 1908.
1T was the same Year that Barney
Oldfleld drove through the fence when
he killed two people at the st. Louis
fair grounds in 1904. said Mooets. This
car had S0-horse power when | took
it to Ireland, but we had no chance to
test it thoroughly before the race. The
irish course was 365 miles, outside OF
Dublin, laid out IN the shape of a
figure eight. The roads We're meander-
ing out in splendid shape, but were too
narrow to be safe.
Along most OF the route the road
was lined with stone wall fences, five
feet high. The curves We're sharp, and
around most OF them the road was only
wide enough for two iaunting cars to
pass each other. The winner, Janetzy.
the Hungarian driver, Won the race In
z Clarence Dinsmore's Mercedes car ia
net2y averaged G5 miles per hour for
the 800 miles. Dnsmore had this ear
built for American roads. and it was
more ruggedly constructed than the
other two Mercedes cars in the race,
both OF which broke down. Foxhall p.
keene also drove a Mercedes i'll the
race.
II have seen all the great automo-
bile road racing courses of France.
Germany and Italy. but none of them
were as terrifying to drive over as this
course in Ireland Going around those
sharp turns at so miles an hour was
enough to make your hair stand up
straight. The first sharp bend we
rounded was surrounded by one of
those stone wall fences, MY lnechan-
ician. who WAS down In the bottom of
the car. saw 1T as we turned on two
wheels and involuntarily threw up his
arms to protect himself. He thought
the machine would 70 into the rock
fence Aftei5we had passed it safely
he whispered to me:
I, Don't you think we had better
slow up the next time we turn one of
those bcnds?'
my car was put out of commission
by going through q hedge fence
Luckily for us it was a hedge fence
lift had been ono OF those rock walls,
yours truly would never be here to tell
this tale.
after my car was put out Of the race
I had Il good chance to watch the other
fellows take the desperate turns. 1t
was enough to give one the 'wlllies.
Foxhall p. Keene jumped a hogback
F. Concrete riaduct over 81 small crcel)
with his throttle wide open. and lie
must have sailed through the air SO
feet before his car hit terra firma
again"
BUMPS DON'T SHOCK.
Didn't the shock jar his car?" Mr.
Mopers was asked
Elsa'tNo. bpcausf. h, Was reincr tbp limit
of the cars speed ana the faster you
travel in a racing machine the less the
shock when You strike a, hump. Mr.
Keene's auto flew through the air like
a bird and came down like an airship,
with his wheels revolving at the rate
of so or 90 miles an hour or course,
Il wouldn't care to do this very often.
Something might happen to your mech
anism, and then the consequences would
be DISASTROUS.
Zone of the most extraordinary
features Of this race was the fac
that the first four cars went through
1t without a single puncture.'
Mr. Mooers is a great believer in
high speed cars to advertise automo-
biles. He says the French forged
their way to the front building the
fastest cars in the world and have
lost ground rapidly in the automobile
game since they let the Italians and
Germans beat them in the great En
.ropean races He says that fully 80
per cent of the high priced cars man
iufactured In Europe OF recent years
have been bought by Americans. Since
the financial furry rich Americans have
quit investing in European automo
5biles, which accounts for the depression
in the trade abroad.
Automobile engineers have reached
the limit of horse power in a car for
speed PURPOSES said Mr.. Mooers. "A
60-horse power car Will beat an S0-horse
power car, because you can't get weight
enough In the SO-horse power machine
to hold her to the ground. If you put
it there the additional weight will hand
leap the car. We haven't struck a hap
spg medium yet, but are speedily APP
preaching 1t. Americans will lead the
world in automobile manufacturing
within the next five Years. The French
are more patient than we are, and go
about the construction in n more thor
sough manner than we have. but most
of the machinery in their automobile 4
shops is of American construction, and
the time will soon be at hand when
America viii be building the best cars
in the world If We are not doing so
now