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PLACES OF INTEREST IN AND…

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CYCLECAR AND MOTOR CYCLEI…

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CYCLECAR AND MOTOR CYCLE I I NOTES. [BY CELERITER.] I THE MOTOR CYCLISTS' DERBY. I THE JUNIOR TOURIST TROPHY RACE. I What a relief it must be to the riders in the T.T. race when it is over, when they have had a rest and can settle down to the calm contemplation of their exciting rides. Even the riders who have done well and had no serious breakdowns or involuntary stoppages most be thankful there is not another T.T. for another 12 months. The speed merchant who glories in his 40, 50, or even 60 mile an hour spurts on the open road, can hardly realise what it means to ride in a T. T. where the engine is reviving" all out for hours up hill and down dale, faster and faster, and yet faster still must be the motto of every T.T. rider; the corners must be taken at what would be oonsidered breakneck speed in every day riding and many are the spills resulting therefrom, but heedless of the possibilities the T.T. rider must keep pushing on and on and on. What a strain it must be and what risks the riders have to face, and what a price may have to be paid in the endeavour to gain the coveted Tourist Trophy. In spite of all this there were 49 good men and brave who faced the starter on the day of the Junior Race. Several had bad spills in the practicing, and even though only partly recovered they were only too anxious to start in the race. Young Howard Newman, who bad the misfortune to be badly thrown in the practicing owing to a careless youngster running across the road, was one of the very plucky ones, as he was in none too strong a state when he brought his machine up to the starting line, and in fact bad to receive strong nourishment to keep him going during the race. His pluck is on a parallel with that of Mason, who was in a. similar condition at the start of last year's race, and who had to be half carried off the course in a state of collapse at the end of the jrsce in which he was victorious. Fortunately there has been no serious aocident during either race, in fact the most serious accidents appear to have been during the practising, excepting F J Walker's smash. He came in third in the Junior Race, but was unable to pull his machine up, or else in the excitement of finishing be lost his head and crashed into a barrier at fall speed. At the time of writing the poor fellow is reported unconscious with a fractured skull. It is to be sincerely hoped that be will make a speedy recovery, and that the tragedy of poor Bateman's death last year will not be repeated. The exciting finishes of both races last year, when only 46 seconds separated the riders in the Junior Race and five seconds separated the first and second men in the Senior Race, were not repeated this year. Eric Williams, who won the Junior Race, was clocked in four minutes and 44 second. earlier than C Williams, who, by the way, is no relation to Eric of the same clan, though ttie difference between the second and third men was not so marked as last year, being just over eight minutes as compared to 22 minutes last year. LESSONS OF THE JUNIOR RACE. I 49 competitors started in the Junior Race, and of the-e 30 were fortunate enough to oomplete the course, the first man taking 4 hours and 6 minutes to cover the course of 187 miles, and the 30th man taking 6 hours aDd 39 minutes. The winner's speed worked out at an average of 45.58 miles an hour, which is nearly 2 miles an hour faster than the winner's time last year. When it is remembered that the time includes the time taken for replenishments and other stops, and most machines stopped at least once on each of the five circuits of the course, then one can realise what a high maximum speed the winning machine must touch. The fastest lap time was put up by Williams, the winner, and averages out at 47t m.p.h.,which is a record. The record last year was put up by Mason, who average 45.4 miles an hour for the Jap. One cannot say what the maximam speed would be, but it would be probably in the neighbourhood of 55 to 65 miles an hours, and when it is remembered tMat this is indulged in many times during the course of each lap, one can realise the terrific strain to both machine and rider. Last year's T.T. was not without its lesson, and two of the most important of these, im- portant because they had to do with the safety of the riders, were regarding safety helmets and tyres. The Auto Cycle Union very wisely insisted on all riders wearing a specially designed safety helmet, and all machines had to have wheels fitted with tyre security bolts. There is every evidence that these precautions had been the means of averting more than one serious accident, both in the practising and in the race. One rider dented his rim very badly, yet the tyre did not come off, as the security bolt. held it. Had there been no security bolt, there might have been no rider to-day. The safety helmet proved their efficacy in very many instances, and though the riders did not take to them in the first place, there is not one of them now but who will admit that the helmets are fine things. One striking I fact in connection with the Junior Race is the almost entire reversal of last year's per- formances. In the first place 1914 can be looked upon as the first year in which the Junior event has been won by a single cylinder machine. In every previous year twin cylinder machines have carried off the the premier award, not only so, for last year out of the first six machines, only one- taking third place-was a single cylinder machine. This year, out of the first six machines, only two are twin cylinder, and these took third and fifth places respec- tively. Does this mean that the single cylinder machine is coming back into its own or is it simply that the smaller number of working parts of the single, score over the increased complication of the twin in long distance high speed trials? Another curious fact is that last year all the first six machines had belt drive, three being all belt, and three being combined belt and chain. This year the first four machines had chain drive, whilst the fifth and sixth had belt and chain drive respectively. Last year out of 22 finishers, 10 had combined chain and belt driven machines, 9 had all belt driven machines, while only three had chain driven machines. This year out of 30 finishers; no less than 15 had chain drive, an equal num- bers had combined belt and chain drive, and 19 had all belt drive. This looks like the very rapid introduction of chain drive, and the equally rapid death of belt drive. The only point is that the two leading facts taken together seems to rather contradict them- selves. Where a chain-driven machine is concerned, it is generally considered that a two-cylinder engine, with its more even turning movement, is more suited to the chain than a single-cylinder engine; yet here in the junior race we find that single- cylinder engines and chain drive gain a victory over twin-cylinder engines, and of belt drives; but on looking more closely into the fact one finds that of the 30 machines to finish, 14 were chain-driven and only five of these 14 were single-cylinder machines. Of the remaining 16 machines, half were belt-driven and the other half were combined belt and chain-driven. The two-stroke machines, of which so much was expected, did not come up to the expecta- tions by a very long way. Pike on a Levis took 12th position Soresby on a Peco," an engine which was making its T.T. debut, came in 21st, and Jenkins on an "Ivy" two-stroke, was 27th, whilst Veasey on a "Levis," the last two-stroke machine to finish before the course was closed, only took 30th position. The re- maining three two-stroke machines entered did not finish. One could only say that the two-stroke machines did better than last year, for then only one machine out of the three entered managed to finish, gaining 12th position, the two other machines being knocked out in the first round. It is curious that these machines did not put up a better performance, especially as they are among the lightest machines in the race, and also seeing that their bigger brothers, the Scott machine, have done so well in the senior races the last two years and again this year, but perhaps a comparison is hardly fair, as the bigger machines have two cylinder engines and water cooling. May be this is why they are more successful in a long all-out run. An interesting feature of the race and the sign of the progress and increased relia- bility of motor cycles as a whole during the past twelve months is the fact that whereas only 22 machines out of 44 starters managed to finish last year, this year there were 30 finishers from 49 starters. As a matter of fact there appear to have been far fewer serious breakdowns this year than ever, which rather leads one to believe that the T. T. has lost a great deal of its usefulness and instructiveness so far as the present type of motor cycle is concerned. Possibly the makers may have learned some points in connection with chain drive, carburation, lubrication and gear problems, but in the main there is nothing very novel incor- porated in the build of any of the machines in the junior race, and therefore there are no new features to be tested, as for instanqe there was when the two-speed gear first made its appearance in the T.T. So far as the 1914 junior race is concerned, the countershaft type of gear seems to have come out with flying colours, as the majority of the machines to finish were fitted with this type of gear. As the average speed is hardly likely to increase very much in future years owing to the difficulties of the course, and indeed no useful purpose would be served if it were increased, as the T.T. already is an excessive strain on all parts of the machine, which would never have had imposed upon it in the course of ordinary riding, the question of fixing a fuel limit in the future should be seriously considered by the A.C.U.. for by adopting some limit the interest in the race would be greatly increased, and, further, this would tend to develop the most economical machines and at the same time cut down the average speed now attained, which is thought by many to be far too dangerous already.

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THE MEAIf LITTLE BILL.

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