Brooklyn Life from Brooklyn, New York • Page 26

26 BROOKLYN LIFE. Photographed for Brooklyn Life by F. A. Walter. MR.

BURTON T. BISHOP IN HIS NEW MODEL T. FORD TOURING CAR IN EASTERN PARKWAY. 4 I motion of the enterprise are men who wish to be known as promoters of the sport of motor racing, but, judging from their tight-fisted policy last Saturday, which was everywhere apparent, from the crowding of the official press stand with outsiders to the hindrance of the reporters to the careless crowding upon the course, it is their intention to make the Parkway yield good dividends. It would seem that a little more consideration for the general public would do much to further increase the popularity of this splendid race course.

THOUGH their efforts were not crowned with victory, the showing made by the Chadwick and the two Knox cars was very creditable. The former held the lead for several laps and had it not been for magneto trouble would doubtless have finished well up in the front. Both Knox cars, being of but forty and fifty horse-power rating, won approval by their "consistent performance. The Thomas, driven by Salzman, also put up a consistent fight for the lead, but met with unfortunate delay in the eighth lap. All the cars in the race were delayed from four to five miles per hour as a result of the rain which fell at daybreak, rendering the course so slippery that anti-skid tires were a necessity The first three cars to finish the race were equipped with Michelin tires, while the fourth had the Diamond tire equipment.

THAT great contests like the Vanderbilt Cup Race stimulate interest in automobiling goes without saying. Any one who has made a study of motoring will answer emphatically that they are beneficial to the sport and industry. In the international competitions it becomes a question 0 national pride. Every autoist wants to see his favorite car win and still more does he want the car from his native land to gain the prize. But automobiles are things of steel and gasoline, and cheers do not win races.

The result of all this is a stimulating of the designing and building 'department of the game. A performance such as that of Robertson's Locomobile or Lytle's Isotta in the Cup Race is only possible as the result of years of study and experiment. It is easy to see the evils of racing the danger of injury or loss of life, the expense and the expenditure of nervous energy. Yet racing brings about the competition which urges the manufacturer further on the road to perfection in his product. Contests of all kinds from one-mile speed trials to Glidden Tours are therefore to be! commended in that they cause to be built cars which can withstand unusual strains both in speed and endurance.

And the layman is benefited in that his own car will be capable of speed when required, will possess safety always, and will em- -body all those improvements which the maker has worked out in those years of study spent in the effort to "beat the other fellow." THE members of the American Motor Car Manufacturers' Association drew lots for their spaces in the Grand Cen- tral Palace Show some ten days ago, Jhe importers of foreign cars who will exhibit having first been provided for, and the work of preparing for the opening on New Year's Eve will now go rapidly forward. This year the Palace exhibition will be known as the Show," as only at the Grand Central Palace will the public have an opportunity of inspecting the latest models from the Paris Salon. As the Paris, show is held in November, many of the American agents ex- pect to ship the entire Paris exhibit of their factories, practically intact, to the New York show. Here all the latest fads in coach and bodybuilding seen on the boulevards of Paris, as well as the latest mechanical novelties embodied of the Parkway. The last machine struck had its rear axle twisted and was otherwise damaged, while the racing car was put out of commission.

Fortunately no one was killed, though a young man in the jam of the cars had a limb broken and Florida was badly shaken up. ROBERTSON'S victory was, indeed, a popular one. His driving in many races previous had earned him fame and his popularity had been still further increased ty the great performances through which he put his. Locomobile in those fast practise spins. In the race he not only won but made the fastest lap of the day-r-his third in twenty minutes and seventeen seconds, or at the rate of sixty-nine and two-tenths miles per hour.

His sixth lap was made in twenty and one-half minutes and his seventh and eighth in twenty minutes and thirty-six seconds each. His average for the -first seven of the total eleven laps was at the rate of sixty-four and one-half miles an hour. Lytle's fastest lap in the Isotta was his second, which he covered in twenty-one minutes and thirty-four seconds, or at a speed of a little less than sixty-five and one-half miles per hour. In "the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race the fastest lap was made by Hemery, the winner, at the rate of sixty-eight and forty-two one-hun-dredths miles per hour, but Lancia in his Fiat machine covered the circuit of twenty-eight miles at the rate of seventy-two and eighty-eight hundredths miles per hour, the fastest round made in any of the Vanderbilt Cup contests. Wagner, who won the 1906 race, made a lap of twehty-hine and seven-tenths miles at the rate of sixty-five and eleven hundredths miles per hour in his no horse-power Darracq, and "Joe" Tracy, in a ninety horse-power Locomobile, did the same distance at a speed of sixty-seven and sixty-six hundredths miles an "hour, which was the fastest work done by an American car in.

the. classic automobile event until Robertson's performance on Saturday last. THE question of the success of another Vanderbilt Cup Race and of the Long Island Motor Parkway has certainly been answered in the affirmative. At the close of the race the donor of the cup, who also acted as referee, pronounced it the most successful event yet run in America. The results seemed to demonstrate to him not only the speedy qualities of the Parkway, but also its safety under conditions far from ideal.

sixty miles of Long Island's speedway as originally planned will now no doubt be completed. That there were no fatalities to mar the day's sport will argue greatly in the speedway's favor. But so far as Saturday's clean record is concerned it was due more to good luck than good management. It was truly the worst managed race seen in this part of the country so far as keeping the course clear is concerned. The Irish Volunteers, who were supposed to keep the crowd back, with the assistance of "hundreds of deputy sheriffs and constables," were next to useless, for they lacked the power to make an arrest.

The military men did the best they could, but the constables and sheriffs were certainly children of a press agent's imagination, for they seemed conspicuous by their absence. Considering the high fee for entry and the enormous prices charged for boxes and seats in the grandstand and parking space on the private property of the Parkway, it would seem that a sufficient sum could have been expended to properly police the course. The incident' at the close of the race which so nearly resulted in tragedy seemed to fall little short of being inexcusable to the motor enthu-i siasts who came to see the race. Those interested in the pro i -1 1 .).