Evening star., 1909-01-17

garages where fee is charged as we'll
as public garages.
An opening for professional motor
racing manager-somewhat similar to the
professional retained by many golf clubs
lis rapidly developing. Numerous auto
mobile clubs are anxious to hold racing
meets. but find it difficult to obtain Of
ficials or members who can devote time
to arrange the details and manage the
events. Hence the need for an expert
who can travel from city to city and
assist clubs with his time and knowledge.
According to Frank B. Hover, chair
man of the contest board OF the Ameri-
can Automobile Association. the route
ly be in the west. Denver will be In
cuded in the route. but whether it viii
be the finishing point of the tour or
whether it will only be one of the cities
to be included in the routes has not been
settled He predicts there will be at least
seventy-fife entries for the tour.
All horses have to be ordered dismissed
from the city of Paris fire brigade and
their places taken by gasoline motors.
There are at present seventy-six horse
drawn fire engines in the city of Paris.
costing annually a sum of LOCO; II they
could all be Immediately transformed into
gasoline engines the annual upkeep cost
to the city would not exceed SIT 400. The
cost of transformation. about S320.OO0.
will be spread over period of six years.
Garages in Broadway. New York city,
range in cost from 100000 to $5O0.OOO
each, and 1t is estimated that they have
a. combined capacity to house about TO-
600 automobiles. Although five years ago
the greatest automobile row" in the
world was the Avenue de la Grande Ar
mee in Paris, New York's automobile
row in upper Broadway now exceeds it
in the attractive character of its sales
rooms and garages and also in volume of
sales.
A successful test Of an automobile con-
suming naphthaline instead Of petrol was
recently made before the technical COM
mittee of the Automobile Club Of Frante.
large omnibus fitted with a special car
buretor made the trip from Paris to Ver-
sailles and back in about four hours.
Naphthaline costs barely third of the
price of petrol and can be handled with
safety and with much greater ease. The
main disadvantage Is that a small amount
of petrol has to be carried for the start
ing.
When motor cars were first made and
designers wanted to know how high to
make the seats they measured the height
Of chair from the floor. In the course
of time it dawned on the designers of
bodies that racing drivers insisted upon
seats very close to the deck, and they
seemed to be able to ma aintain their posi-
tion under strenuous conditions for hours
at time, whereas autoists perched high
in the seats were much fatigued in hun
dred miles Of travel. The influence of
racing is to be seen in bodies at every
hand.
The rim speed OF a wheel of an auto
mobile reaches the high maximum Of ap-
proXimately two and a half miles per
minute. In comparison the rim speed on
the fywheel on a 5.OOO-horsepower steam
engine would be limited to one mile per
minute. Wheels for automobiles must be
nearly devoid of f1ywheel effect, and this
is an extremely difficult matter, unless the
felloes are of wood and of small section.
Fortunately. wood exhibits rare qualities
under the condition in which it is used in
wheels. and the felloes and spokes can
be OF small cross-section without trespass-
ing upon the desired factor of safety.