59G AUTOMOBILE EACES. 



Signal Corps, U. S. A. Over a mile was allowed to the chauffeurs to 

 get under wa}^, and about a quarter of a mile to slow up after passing 

 the finish line. The race was a contest by some of the best chauffeurs 

 in the world for the 1-mile record. 



At his first attempt Fournier, in his iO-horsepower Mors racer, 

 sped over the mile in the remarkable time of fifty-two seconds. Not 

 content with this performance, he returned to the start for another 

 trial, and succeeded in reducing the record made but a few minutes 

 before by one-fifth of a second, Foxhall P, Keene, in a Mors carriage 

 exactly similar to that of Fournier, covered the mile in fifty-four 

 seconds, American-built vehicles were not much behindhand, A. C. 

 Bostwick, in a ttO-horsepower Winton gasoline carriage, made the mile 

 in fifty-six and two-fifths seconds at the first trial, and in one minute 

 three-fifths seconds at the second trial. 



Good as the road undoubtedly was, it was not altogether free from 

 slight, almost unnoticeable depressions and projections. At a speed 

 of '26 miles or even 30 miles an hour an automobile will ride over a 

 slight elevation with no appreciable effect. But at the enormous 

 velocity of nearly 70 miles an hour the carriages could not yield to 

 the slight, scared}^ perceptible hollows, and at times every wheel 

 would be clear of the road. And yet, despite this peculiar effect, they 

 kept their course with remarkable precision arid with no evident 

 oscillation. 



The vehicles driven by Fournier and Keene were both 40-horsepower 

 French gasoline carriages made by Mors. That a gasoline carriage 

 would make the best record was inevitable. But no one foresaw that 

 an electric car would also lower the previous world's record of one 

 minute six and two-fifth seconds made by Winton. The carriage in 

 question was designed and driven by Mr. A. L. Riker, and was a dis- 

 tinctly American type of machine. It was a racing machine pure and 

 simple, an electromobile reduced to its lowest terms, a wheeled frame 

 and a batter}^, with seats for two men arranged in tandem. Current is 

 derived from 60 cells of the lead-zinc type, giving a maximum voltage 

 of 130 and a discharge of 100 amperes. The battery weighs 900 

 pounds, and the entire carriage 1,850 pounds. With a start of only 

 one-quarter of a mile Mr. Riker covered the mile in one minute and 

 three seconds, the armatures of his motors making about 3,300 revo- 

 lutions per minute. The exact power of the vehicle has not been 

 deterjuined, but Mr. Riker informs us that the horsepower is between 

 15 and 20. When it is considered that the French carriages of Four- 

 nier and Keene were equipped with motors rated at 40 horsepower, 

 Mr. Riker's performance is all the more remarkable. At the same 

 time, it is but just to the other vehicles to state that while they were 

 all capable of long-distance touring, the electric machine was capable 

 of maintaining its maximum effort apparently for only a single dash 



