MOTORING 



249 



sider this the best showing made by any 

 American team, and we have perhaps taken 

 a longer step forward than we realize at 

 present. 



In everything that has been printed about 

 the race after its completion, nothing has been 

 said about the sportsmanship of Mr. Muir 

 and Dr. Thomas, who were the only private 



American cars. To those not understanding 

 the situation it may be said that the race 

 this year was held over mountainous coun- 

 try, and the pace was so terrific that the 

 tires could hardly stand up for more than a 

 single circuit of the course. All of this was 

 anticipated by the French, Germans and Eng- 

 lish, who had large corps of tire repair men 



CHIEF GERONIMO AT THE WHEEL. 



owners to enter racing cars in the big contest. 

 There were eighteen starters, three of them 

 American cars, yet two out of these three 

 were entered by private individuals. Surely 

 their enthusiasm should have some recog- 

 nition ! 



American manufacturers have realized 

 thoroughly what an expensive and difficult 

 proposition it is to build racing cars of any 

 kind, but to design one or more cars specially 

 for this race, and to send the same abroad 

 at great expense, to fight against a forlorn 

 hope, is more than they care to tackle. Mr 

 Muir and Dr. Thomas deserve praise for 

 their patriotism, and if there were more 

 of this sort of thing we would have a better 

 chance to win the coveted international 

 trophy. 



One thing more should be touched on, and 

 that is the progressiveness of the Diamond 

 Rubber Co., who sent a small force of repair 

 men to France to take care of the tires on the 



on hand. When a car came into a control, 

 and it looked as if the tires had worn a 

 little, the repair men went at it, four to each 

 wheel, gashed the tires, ripped them off the 

 machine, and put on new ones. In one case 

 all four tires were taken from a car, new 

 ones put in and inflated — all in four minutes 

 and 50 seconds. It seems incredible, but it is 

 true. 



The machinery of automobile racing cars 

 has become so reliable that tire trouble is 

 more to be feared than anything else, and 

 this the Diamond people appreciated when 

 they sent over a corps of men, who will re- 

 turn laden with experience which will be of 

 vast benefit to them and thus to American 

 cars in the coming Vanderbilt race. The 

 slaughter of time in the Gordon-Bennett race 

 was something terrific, and to the uninitiated 

 it may seem absurd and unnecessary, but in 

 reality it is just such strenuous testing of 

 tires which enables the manufacturers to im- 



