The Glasgow courier., 1916-05-12

Ten hours and forty-seven minutes.
This tells the story of how much
closer Los Angeles has been brought
to San Francisco by the modern mot
or car and how, for the second time
within a year, gasoline has triumphed
over steam by besting the time OF
'The Lark" the crack Southern Pa
ciic train between the two cities.
To a 1916 Buick six-cylinder tour
ing car go the laurels for setting the
fastest pace at which man has ever
travelled on the intercity run, for in
setting this mark the Buick cut hour
and % minutes from the automobile
record established last June, and
reached here some three hours ahead
Of 1.-THE Lark's scheduled running
time.
In this remarkable run the Buick
covered 457 miles at an average speed
of 43.6 miles an hour, and despite
this fast clip for over 10 hours ar
rived here "humming" as perfectly as
at the start and was not stopped once
for a tire change. Certainly tri-
butte to the development of automo-
bile engineering principles.
The start was made from Los An
geles on Monday night at 8 o'clock
with Joe Nikrent at the wheel and
with Fred Nikrent and George DAN
iels as passengers. Joe Nikrent drove
the car to Fresno, 235 miles, without
leaving the wheel in 6 hours and S
minutes. At Fresno. Earl Jackson
Joined the party and acted as pilot
into San Francisco, arriving at Guer-
ero and Market streets the official
end of the intercity record run, at
6:47 yesterday morning. Jackson's
time for the 222 miles he drove was
hours and AZ minutes. He could
doubtless have cut this time close to
80 minutes had he cared to take
chances from Redwood City into San
Francisco.
At Redwood City Jackson had the
Buick bowling along at about 60
miles an hour when he suddenly OBJ
served the dangerous sink in the
State Highway which has been caus-
ing motorists much annoyance. He
pulled on his brakes suddenly and
must have snapped the brake rods
for the car kept moving rapidly and
he hit the "gully" at about so miles
an hour, nearly throwing the two
men in the tonneau out of the car.
From then on Jackson cut down his
pace materially. He knew he had the
record and took no chances of run
ming into anything that might cross
his path along the road. AS re-
suit he pulled up to the finishing
. point more like a driver of an ordin'
ary touring car than record break
er.
The Buick that was used to make
the trip was a regulation stock car
the smallest type turned out by th'
Buick factory this year. 1t wa'
stripped of the tenders and top. Blu
one extra tire was carried, and thi
was never unstrapped from the rea
end.
The car was checked in at the fnisl
by Fernando Nelson, one of the bes
known local motoring enthusiasts, VIII
once held the Los Angeles automo
bile record, and who is the donor o
the perpetual challenge trophy bear
ing his name for the best time alon
the coast route, members Of the locs
press and the writer.
Charles S. Howard, head of tn
Howard Automobile company, Cal
fornia distributor of the Buick lin'
and who won several trophies with tn
Buick cars in the early days of auto
mobile racing on the coast, picke
up the record-breakers at San Mate
and piloted them into the city. Ma
uIdlly Ic was HloSl CIlCHuoIAoCiS wv
the splendid record made by the c;
and said the performance easily den
onstrates the remarkable strides mac
in automobile construction within Il
past few years. "Bob" Thompso
Howard's chief aid, was also at tt
finish, and like Howard, was as pro,
as a peacock over the fine showir
Of the car.
The details of the intercity run a
best told by Joe Nikrent in the ft
lowing fashion:
"We were checked out at Los A
geles by George A. Lawrence of Il
Western Union Telegraph compan
and left the North Broadway brid,
at exactly p. m. We followed Il
->-,,ln~ Yoc Ar~oloc Con- E,roro;c q