The Washington herald., 1910-02-13
AUTOMOBILE NEWS
NOTES AND GOSSIP

Coming out of its first contest Of the
new year with clean score, the Franklin
motor car has started its record for the
calendar year OF 1910 by finishing I'M
penalized in the two-day mid-winter en-
durance run held by the Rochester Auto
mobile Club. The run was one Of two
days. the twenty contestants going TO
Syracuse on the first day and back 10
Rochester on the second The Franklin
entry was a six-cylinder touring car Of
forty-two horsepower.
A Franklin was the only one OF the
score OF contestants which had an air
| cooled engine II wes the only one which
did not carry a shovel and. being OF
light weight, was the only one which did
not have to be extricated by its occu-
pants from the snow drifts.
AT the automobile show at Portland
Greg. the only alr-cooIed motor car
shown was the Franklin, and in order
to give its cooling system an extreme
test a seventy-two-hour nonstop run was
made with one Of the Franklin cars. This
ended without sign OF OverheAting of the
engine or adjustment or replacement OF
any Of its parts during the three days Of
continuous work
II 4 neW~ transcontinental record is
made in the automobile run from New
York 10 Seattle which Is scheduled by
NJ. r. Guggenheim with the American
Automobile Association for July T. the
time will have TO be better than fifteen
days. two hours and twelve minutes This
has stood as the transcontlnental record
for four years, having been made in the
summer OF 1906 by c. S C'clean score'D
Carris. L. L. Whitman, c. r. Harris NJ.
S. Bates. and J. Fl, Daley in an air
cooled Franklin OF forty-two horsepower;
they cut in two the previous time OF
thirty-three days, which had been made
by Franklin with Carris and Whitman
driving.
4 turntable or conveniences in hand
ling Franklin motor ears has been in
stalled in the repair shop ar the factory
OF the II. H. Franklin Manufacturing
Company in Syracuse. Just as a loco
motive can he run up TO the round house
and then on a turntable sent into its
quarters on the proper track a motor car
can now be ran into the repair shop and
/ turned to be sent in any direction in the
place The turntable has a diameter OF
fifteen feet, is OF steel construction and
moves on ball bearings.
How does it feel TO drive motor car
at the rate Of 70 miles an hour for almost
three continuous hours?" This interest
ing question was asked Of Louis A Dis
brow, Of New York. who drove q Rainier
stock car 200 miles IN 179 minutes at At
lanta, Ga, last fall, thereby winning
the $1,000 Atlanta gold trophy in one of
the fastest international fields ever gotten
together
why. it doesn't feel at all said Dis
brow, laughing at the question. Almost
Everybody asks me the same thing, and
my best answer is that during a race l
am too much occupied in watching the
track and listening to the hum Of the
motor TO analyze my feelings. The en-
thusiasm the realization Of much speed.
and tue danger which exists through the
trace are matters to he thought OF before
and after. not during the contest fancy
that most race drivers feel about the
same way. The real worry and nervous
mess come beforehand In the preparation
Of the car-mahng sure that not "one
little thing, that has put many good
car out Of the running, has been neg
leCted
The ordinary motofist operating his
car for business or pleasure has little. il
any. idea Of the amount of thought and
preparation necessary in entering a con-
test Of speed. in the first place. of
course, # is necessary to know that every
part Of your car is absolutely perfect.
that your wheel bearings are in the best
possible condition. that your engine bear
ings are set just so. having enough play
but not loose in the slightest degree. I
think this Is probably the most impor-
tant point Of all, and the hardest to get to
perfection. Then. needless to say, the
driver. himself must he in frst-class
physical condition. A car going 20 miles
an hour is no sanatorium for weak nerves
or flabby muscles"
Arrangements have Just been made
whereby Ralph de Palma, the foremost
track driver in the world. Will IN the fti-
ture pilot the 200-horsepower Fiat car
owned by z. ". {. Arnold, which was re-
Gently driven with such record breaking
success by Lewis Strang The news has
been confirmed i'm a telegram from Mr..
Arnold's representative to F. E. Mosco-
vics. general manager Of the Los An
geles Motordrome, and also by de Palma
himself The newt aDraarapca - 49,