HIGH SPEEDS

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HIGH SPEEDS

Sir,

I read with interest a letter from ” Member—A.R.D.C.,” Melbourne, Ans., published in your June issue, in which he doubts a Mr. Thompson being able to do the trip of 126.2 miles from Melbourne to Ararat in 2 hours 10 minutes.

As I did not see Mr. Thompson’s letter, I am a bit hazy as to how the objection arose, but according to ” Member’s” own statement the road is good and there are no towns to mar speed.

If Mr. Thompson is any kind of a driver and the Master Chev. any sort of a Chev., the 2 hours 10 minutes is quite believable in spite of ” Member” and any amount of his friends. ” Member ” probably knows the New South Wales highway from Goulburn to Sydney. It is 136 miles. I have a 1929 Standard Buick tourer (Silver Anniversary model) and left the G.P.O. Goulburn with two friends at 9.50 a.m., arriving in Sydney at the G.P.O. at 12.20 p.m. (2i hours). This time included two stops and the last twelve miles was through heavy mid-day traffic. The Buick isn’t tuned up specially for speeding, although

I look after its innards.” Perhaps ” Member ” doubts that. He can write my two friends or come along next time I am down that way. My home is 250 miles from Sydney and the Buick does that pretty regularly In from 5 to 5i hours, depending on catching the punt across the Hawkesbury

River. A friend of mine here with a Chrysler Airflow does the trip in 4* hours, but I’m not a speed hog. The roads are excellent of course but I don’t like to see ” Member ” doubting Mr. Thompson’s ability with his Chev., apparently because ” Member ” owns a more expensive car than the Chev. I would like to see a crowd of the English racing and sports-car enthusiasts out here for the Round Australia Race next year. They would have a wild time with every make of road for about

9,000 miles. Concrete, bitumen, dirt, black soil, red soil and cart tracks and possibly no tracks at all. It should be exciting and an excellent advertisement for the cars that get through. Perhaps some of us, out here, will be able to show your crack English drivers a thing or two when it comes to “timber topping” per car.

I have only lately been getting the MOTOR SPORT but it makes me envious of those who get round the country side “flat out” more or less. I would like to be with them. I am, Yours etc.,

New Member—N.R.M.A. Sydney,

N.S.W., Australia.