New-York tribune., 1910-09-25
BY Harlow Hyde

Nerve. daring. skill and judgment the
Vanderbilt drivers have. but. more than
any but the insiders realize, every man
who drives roaring speed machine has
also great and deep knowledge Of his car
and .ts suhtly complex gas engine Back
of the daring and headlong rush To seeming
destruction every one krOws there must
be months OF practice 70 acquire skill to
control these 80. 80 or 100 horsepower mon
sters. Every trick of the trade must have
been mastered by a man before he can hope
for a chance at the wheel at the Wander
biIt the Grand Prize or even lesser races.
But how many people are there who give
these drivers half the credit they deserve
for downright scientific knowledge Of their
engines acquired by months and months of
patient study and grimy. UnrOmantic work?
You have leaned. perhaps, out OF a box
and been amazed az the lightntng-like re-
pair work, or the replacement OF tires at
the pits underneath you The feverish ac-
tivity excited you almost as much as q
grilling speed duel and If a tire or rim
stuck you tried TO help BY sheer viii
power and wishing II you possess a stop
watch you often time tire repIacements
II so, YOU begin to see the bigger romance
Of worth and work beneath the brilliant
daring Of these great drivers and masters
Of cars. And you see that race IS a con-
test and a scientific experiment in a great
outdoor laboratory
At speedway meet this summer a
youngster by the name Of knight flashed
TO fame by winning in a long race against
big cars. The press stand fairly hur1u1ed
with his praise when. after eighty niles.
he was seen TO be a probable factor in the
finish. When he came home second. fol
lowing a rUmbing I00-horsepower car.
every one wanted to grasp his hand In
the first place. the boy was young. in the
second place, he had driven mastery
race, showing judgment. nerve. daring
and knowledge: but more than ali the
rest the performance was wonderful be-
cause the young driver was practically his
own racing team. He had no pit full of
helpers in case of need he had 10 one
70 signal TO him and coach him from
the side line" and. moreover, ne had
had practically no aid whatever IN the
practice and tuning up before the race
That was the great marvel
It IS in practice and tuning I'd that the
drivers and their helrers demonstrate what
master mechanicians they are You viii
often see engineering skill Of no mean de-
gree exhibited IN racing camps. ard u YOU
come on the men uGawsres YOU are likely
to hear deeply technical discussion about
design and what Improvement they will
put into next years model Visit such
a training camp and you viii perceive that
the practice and tuning up are quite as
Interesting and exciting as the race itself
It is here that the drivers apply the scfen-
&c
close work Every part Of the car is ex-
arnined. inspected and adjusted. Not a de-
tail IS overlooked. The racing driver and
his mechanicfan do all they can: the fac
tory technical men and the engineers do
their part. and outside experts are called
in to advise and inspect or dust those
marvellous little instruments. the mag
netos Every effort Is made to bring each
part Of the car into that perfect condition
that spells efficiency.
These practice spins each day are not on
tirely to familiarize the driver with the
course. The car is being tried cut. and
on the return to the camp you can often
hear a call go up for this man OF that
whose knowledge of some particular part
or equipment is 70 be relied on. Perhaps
they call for the magnetic man I've heard
=
magnetic EXPERT md some trivial thing or
other not quite right: and often il was not
At all an ignition defect. but some slight
valve or carburetor trouble. But Il helps
10 have the man of special knowledge close
at hand, for he knows the last word about
his apparatus. and If he car show the
man from Missouri his way ts easy
Needless to say. only such magnetic men
are sent.
Then there is the not fufrequent episode
Of an ignition expert discovering some de-
fective setting of an Instruments mag
neto set just A shade wrong and the car
not getting fits full speed for instance.
Just the slightest readiustment between
races. not three months ago. turned a car
from close second one day 70 close
first the next day. and against the same
rival. No wonder that manufacturer rae
ing manager always asks the magnetic
company to ''be sure and send that Bosch
man. b
1t often happens that ar Ioug-drawu-out
contests some or these ignition exnerts
have NOTHING to do. At a recent twenty
four-hour race at Brighton Beach the ex-
nerts Of the Bosch Magnetic Coupanv had
about three seconds work during the whole
twenty four hours OF constant racing. and
seven out Of the nine cars engaged in the
contest we're equipped with this ignition
But an hour or two after dawn one Of the
cars came in fer fuel and supplies. and the
driver and his mechanician Went over the
car carefully while the fuel was being
poured N. The inspection showed that
everything was IN proper order. and the
mechanician started 70 crank the ear. one
Of the Bosch men standing some distance
OFF heard the motor stutter and miss i'm
an attempt 70 start. and immediately hur-
ried over, saying; There's something
wrong with your ignition" He asked II
they had done anything. and they said
they had simply looked at the magnetic
But you didn't screw the carbon brush
tight again chuckjed the Bosch man. as
he screwed il home. After that the car
was cranked on the quarter turn and was
sent on the track Now that might have
developed into serious case ~ missing il
the car had got out ON the track with thar
loose carbon brush; but the magnetic man
was On the job. ard his ears were keen,
even IL he had heen without sleep during
the greater part Of the night II paws 70
be on the iob aUd the magnetic men fol-
low the races pretty faithfully because
they can seTve their manufacturing Gus
toners even il most OF their time is idle
Oh their hands.
NEWs OF THE ATHI,ETES