The Washington times., 1912-02-17
LOCAL MOTORISTS
PLEASED At HONOR
TOBE SHOWN THEM
Automobile Club of Wash
ington to Send Delega-
ton to Baltimore.
Meet
BY HARRY WARD.

bile show committee Mas decided to set
aside one night of the exhibition in
honor of the motorists Of this city is
pleasing alike to the owners of cars and
those who sell them. The committee is
expected to set the date for Washing
ton night today and II is believed the
night of February 81 will be selected.
The Automobile Club of Washington will
send delegation. while individual mo-
torists and dealers will compose another
large party that will take part in
w ashington night"
The work of decorating the Fifth Reg
lment Armory for the big exhibition IL
nearly completed and the exhibits are
ready for installation. The show will
open Tuesday.
Where do the automobile racing driy-
ers come from? Nobody has never writ
ten the romance of the man behind the
wheel of the big racing automobile
probably because there is little glamour
in the story of how he got there. But
20 TO Detroit-the center of the automo-
pile industry-and watch the men who
test out unfinished cars over 200 miles of
fierce Michigan thoroughfares and you
nave come upon one breeding place of
the wo,, race rae, 6 drivers speed germ There
', scure tester the racing driver of the
years to come. On the payroll of the
institution he is down as a trough test
man" His duty is to take an assem-
pied car out onto as bad a road as can
be found and work the car as hard as
possible, to bring out any possible de-
the motorist His track" consists of
several stretches of road that are scien-
tihcally determined upon as the worst
roads to be found within miles. The
test route" is generally from twelve
to twenty miles from start to finish.
Run over the list of race drivers you
have heard Of You will find scarcely
any who have not been testers
Speed King Bob Burman was a
tester and his racing aspirations were
Inspired by the rough looking test
cars In which he hurtled through space
to bring out the possible defects after
the chassis of the car had been assem-
bled. Mortimer J. Roberts, whose name
is known from one end Of the country
to the other, was once a tester" And
there is scarcely famous driver today
who has not guided the wheel of a
or which was drivers seat and hood
to cover the engine. The tester" is to
the automobile industry, what the cow
boy daily risks his life for owners of
automobiles. Yet few motorists even
know of his existence or the romance
connected with his life and the eXacting
duties he performs
1t will be of interest to Washington
owners of electric automobiles to learn
that one of the street railway COM
panies in New York has been expert
menting for two years with storage
battery cars, the batteries being of the
, same type used in electric vehicles.
The company in question has now in
operation fifty-one street cars equipped
with "HyCap- EXide" batteries. these
batteries being used on large num-
Der of electric pleasure and commercial
vehicles. According to c. II. Bristol,
of the Electric Storage Battery Com
} pany, the latest development in the
battery family is the new
this battery has only been on the
market year the service it is giving
electric vehicle users has proven so
| satisfactory its use is increasing rap
, idly.
One of the Western automobile maxi
ers has closed a contract with wild
) Bob" Burman to drive a Cutting car
in the 50O-mile International Sweep
= stakes race at Indianapolis Memorial
was that before it was signed Burman
insisted on practically taking car
E to pieces in order to find out-as he
| expressed ito just what he was trust
q ing his neck. Burman was well pleased
: with the examination he made.
: c. NJ Storm. of the Storm Motor Car
I Company, the Hudson dealer here, re-
ceived work today from Los Angeles
| that F. w. Potter, of New York, had
shattered the transcontinental automo-
t bile tourist record between the Atlantic
h, and Pacific oceans by completing the
i journey without a mshap of any kind
to the Hudson "S3" which carried Pot
ter and Jack Hills. another New York
man. They were so pleased with the
trip they are now planning to return
East in their car. When the men left
! the East they were told it was fool
hardy to attempt to make the trip
across the continent at this time of the
j year in an automobile, but decided to
i try, and as a result, I'VE had the time
= of our lives" as Potter expressed 1t.
=. -
= lie Roy Mark, who represents the
d commissioner of motor vehicles of Mary
e land in this city, has issued Maryland
n automobile licenses to the following:
r DR.. c. W. Richardson. r. S. Huide-
e koper. S. S. Adams, Mrs. ]. E. Hurley.
Samuel Ross, Ora Preston. Miss Mabel
Boardman, John r. Mclean, Gen. Clar-
ence Edwards, Edwin Danforth, and
L. w. Smoot.
THE Studebaker Corporations EMF
factories in Detroit have buckled down
, in grim earnest to the task of build
i ing the promised $4,000 EMF and
W Flanders cars in 1872" said w. C. Long,
# of the Commercial Automobile and Sup
ii ply Company. January production was
double that of any January in the his
It tory of the corporation, and the chief
a difficulty in February has been to get
d enough freight cars in which to snip
the product"