The San Francisco call., 1910-07-15

One of the axioms of George Mein-
singer, who recently piloted the Flan-
ders 90 Under Three Flags" car.
when passing through Oklahoma was
that, IF you're travelling through Okla
homa and meet an Indian, turn around;
you're lost"
Meinsinger's view is founded on eX-
perience, as may be seen from the fact
that the crew of the Flanders could
get absolutely no answer to road or
other inquiries of any kind from In
dians encountered en- route. They re-
fused to talk English, though 1t was
plainly seen that they understood 1t
well enough. In one of the famll1eS
was obviously college youth. Just back
from one of the government schools. He
was as stolid as the rest. The car had
gone quite a. ways out of the route
and when, disgusted, Meinsinger turned
the Flanders around and started back
over the treacherous trail, for more
than a mile, the young braves of the
two families which formed the settle
ment could be seen from time to time
back in the underbrush, as they
skulked from tree to tree, after the
fashion of their forefathers. How long
they would have followed will never
be know, had the trail remained
dangerous, but turning bend the
main road was sighted and Meinsinger
opened the throttle and the car sped
away for a distance at a speed no
Indian could hope to travel on foot.
Meinsinger said:
The Indians are never seen ON the
main roads, if you meet one you
may know you are siderracked and go
back to the highway"
W. K. Vanderbilt Jr., president of
the Motor cups holding company. has
announced the en-
Marmou Carsin try of three Mar
~ ..noerD". n"ce Vanderbilt cup race
to be held on the
l. and for the grand prize race to be
held on the parkway October Is. The
Nordyke & Marmon company of Indian
Ray Harroun and Joe Dawson to drive
two of the three cars declared for
the contests.
J. w. McAlster, a member of the n.
Q. Harrison company from Los Angeles,
who has been Wis
j. w. McAIister iting the local
visitlnE city ffaafuarteco HfaTrison eondern of 5he
will leave tomor-
row for the southern section of the
Better and more economical tire
service is one of the most important
< questions. to be
Good Advice met for the motor
Ahouf rire. car owner, whether
of a pleasure or
commercial v e h l.
Gle The substitution of large size
tires in the place of smaller size on
cars has in most instances proven
to be satisfactory; as Is shown most
strongly by the adoption of the large
size. by many of the manufacturers, in
equipping the cars at the factory. In
discussing this question recently,
Theodore Weigle of the Diamond rub
Der company said: 1T has not been
the experience of owners that the sub
ample by ~ inch tires, increases the
tendency to Skid. Changes to larger
tires are recommended only on cars
where the tires are overloaded. Properly
loaded inch Diamond or other tires
will not skid any more readily than
properly loaded ~ inch tires. Skidding
relation of the power transmitted by
the rear wheels to the weight which
these wheels are carrying than by the
size of the tires. This is shown by the
fact that the car which has the least
rear axle load skids most readily
On the. other hand it is doubtless
true that large tire wastes more
power, will be particularly noticeable
on hills. A car will climb hill faster
on inch tire than on inch tire.
But the waste of power is not at all
in direct ratio to the size of the tire
and is hardly noticeable in a COM
parison of 4 u inch tires and inch
tires. An increase of diameter, from 81
to 80 inches, for instance, would prob
ably produce very appreciable effect
on hill climbing ability of car on high
gear. car which would on high gear
negotiate a given hill with difficulty at
20 miles per hour on 34 by Az tires
would probably not be able to go up
at all If 80 by Az tires were substi-
tuted. For ordinary work large tires
on the front wheels present no greater
dimculties In steering, but in the case
OF racing cars running at extreme
speeds small tire is handled better
than a large one. From the standpoint
of economy. tires of larger diameter
will develop more mileage at given
cost. Increases in the cross-sectional
sizes are unquestionably more profit
able, therefore, in cases where an over
loaded tire is replaced by one of ade-
quate size. In such cases the average
mileage secured repays the difference
In cost several times over.
NOTES OF THE AUTO
George H. Newman, the prominent
local businessman, has just taken de-
livery of model MN White steamer.
The car is beautifully equipped and is
attracting wide attention because of its
fine appearance.
Frank B. Glenn, his daughter Miss
nance Glenn, and j. Leonard have en-