THE ROAD OF RECORDS 61 



was proceeding down Hand Cross Hill at twelve miles 

 an hour when some essential part of the gear broke 

 and the heavy vehicle, dashing down-hill at an ever- 

 increasing pace, and swerving from side to side, struck 

 a great oak. The shock flung the passengers off 

 violently. Ten were killed and all the others injured, 

 mostly very seriously. 



Meanwhile, amateur coaching had, in most of the 

 years since the professional coaches had been driven 

 off the road, nourished in the summer season. The 

 last notable amateur was the American millionaire, 

 Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who for several seasons 

 personally drove his own " Venture ' coach between 

 London and Brighton ; at first on the main " classic ' 

 road, and afterwards on the Dorking and Horsham 

 route. He met his death on board the Lusitania, 

 when it was sunk hv the Germans. May 7th, 1915. 



VIII 



Robinson Crusoe, weary of his island solitude, sighed, 

 so the poet tells us, for " the midst of alarms." He 

 should have chosen the Brighton Road ; for ever since 

 it has been a road at all it has fully realised the Shakes- 

 pearian stage-direction of " alarums and excursions." 

 Particularly the " excursions," for it is the chosen 

 track for most record-breaking exploits ; and thus it 

 comes to pass that residents fortunate or unfortunate 

 enough to dwell upon the Brighton Road have the 

 whole panorama of sport unfolded before their eyes, 

 whether they will or no. throughout the whirling year, 

 and see strange sights, hear odd noises, and (since the 

 coming of the motor-car) smell weird smells. 



The Brighton Road has ever been a course upon 

 which the enthusiastic exponents of different methods 

 of progression have eagerly exhibited their prowess. 

 But to-day, although it affords as good going as, or 

 better than, ever, it is not so suitable as it was for these 



