The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-03-19

nldA1GS VI the man DeHiiAu llS WhSSA VI
the big racing automobiIe-probably
because there is little glamour In the
story of how he got there.
But go to Detroit-the center OF the
automobile industry-and watch the
men who test out unfinished Hudson
cars over 200 miles OF fierce Michigan
thoroug1fares and you have come up
on one breeding place of the race
drivers speed-gernl.
There you will 1nd in the guise of an
obscure tester" the racing driver OF
the years to come. On the payroll OF
the institution he is down as q trough
test man." His duty is to take an as
sembled car onto as bad q road as
AN be found and work the a as hard
as possible to bring out any possible
defects before the a is turned over to
the motorist.
His track consists of several stretch
es of road that are scientifically de-
termined 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 I'VE 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 test
er and his racing aspirations were in
spired by the rough looking test cars in
which he hurled through space to
bring out the possible defects after the
chassis Of the car had been assembled.
Mortimer j.. Roberts, whose name is
known from one end of the country to
the other, was once a tester. And
there is scarcely q, famous driver of
today who has not guided the wheel Of
a stripped chassis, the entire equip
ment of which was a drivers seat and
a hood to cover the engine.
The tester is to the automobile in
dustry what the cowboy is to the
range. The motor cowboy daily risks
his life for owners OF automobiles.
Yet few motorists even know of his
existence or the a connected
with his life and the exacting duties
he performs.
AS a rule the tester and coming
race-driver starts out to fortify his
future by learning a trade. That
takes him to some machine shop, from
which he acquires a mechanical turn
of mind and eventually gravitates into
the automobile business, the ground
floor OF which is the rough test de-
partn1ent
After acquiring sufficient knowledge,
the man who will make q good tester
takes to the work like a duck to wa
ter.
Then it becomes his primary duty to
put the cars to which he is assigned
through vigorous practice over the test
His duty is to discover the faults of
cars that are not 100 per cent right
and at normal seasons Of the year
there are 100 testers-the majority of
have aspirations to be racing
drivers-who daily do fifty to sixty
clips over the fierce roads that
constitute the test route Of the Hud-
son Motor Car Co, on the outskirts Of
Detroit.
These testers take some chances that
racing pilots never take. The latter
perform their feats over specially pre-
pared courses in machines which have
been specially groomed under the most
expert supervision and tried out over
and over again for weeks before they
are actually opened UP wide.
But the tester. with picturesque
abandon, takes out new, roughly cIad
machines and sends them hurliing
over terrific stretches OF road at mile
a-minute speed to prove that a wheel
will not come off here. nor a part there
where holes and other obstacles APP
pear intent upon wholesale destruc-
ton.
A newspaper man, who had never
heard of the motor a tester before
had never known the birthplace Of the
speed germ of the racing pilot-took a
ride with a Hudson tester recently and
came to realize more thoroughly what
a wonderful bit Of construction an au-
tomobile is, For the motor a stands
more abuse than any other piece Of
machinery in the world.
1t was raining hard when the
p man reached the plant OF the
Hudson. He knew nothing about test.
ing and supposed that the weather was
too fierce for any road work.
The newspaper man had been invit-
ed to take a ride. but didn't count on a
swim.
VIII they go out in this" repeated
the head tester with a plying look.
why. son, they go out every working
day in the year. regardless of what the
weather is"
The newspaper man asked: Don't
you think / might get a better and
more comfortable idea Of testing IL /
-
'sThe car will be ready in just a mo-
ment and we have q suit of oilskins
for you,'' broke in the tester. Wen
put some chains on her and she ought
to stay upright I'll caution Stralow
not to try the bottomless mudhole
down the back road today"
Finally the newspaper mar was in
a hard seat and the tester had jumped
in beside him.
sBAng-br-r-r-"
The car shot out OF the shop back
wards. Then the tester skidded the
machine around until 1t faced the de-
sired direction and 1t fairly leaped out
Of the yard. The tester always skids
on a wet day when he wants to make
a turn. 1t is the shortest way around.
The scribe was thankful for the
sou,wcster. oiIskins. sarlaps and gaunt-
let's. For once out OF the yard the car
dove into the Quagrnire OF mud where
the holes of varying depths were filled
brimfuI Of water.
The air seemed to be filled with n.y.
ing mud and water. The car plunged
and see-sawed by turns. varying the
performances from time to time by
crashing and splashing In some par
ticularly bad spot until the water bub-
bIed half way up to the seat. Then
would follow a series Of corkscrew mo-
tions that almost twisted the newspa-
per man u Of his hard seal.