gte (c gifufie

A Splendid Season.

WITH the passing of the next few weeks the season’s racing will have come to an end, and adherents of the sport will disconsolately scan the calendar’s sparse fixture list. But, viewing the months that have gone in retrospect, few will say that the fare provided has been other than good and sufficient.

It was said some years ago, when mass-production was spreading throughout the motor industry, that the cheap family utility vehicle would seal the doom of sporting motoring, that the automobile would soon be looked upon solely as a means of transport. Never’ was an assumption or prophesy wider of the mark. In all the numerous events which have taken place during the season, public interest has been of the keenest. People endured hectic hours on boat and train to see the Le Mans race. Some went by air. The course of Italy’s famous Circuit races, the Targa Florio and Monza are flanked with cheery crowds, as ever. In England, the attendance figures at Brooklands, on a” big “day, rival those of any other entertainment, and the revival of Shelsley Walsh, a few weeks back, provided sufficient evidence to prove the popularity of the hill climb. Phoenix Park, though not yet a classic, is on an assured footing; as for the Ulster

T.T., it need only be said that the crowds there were estimated at half a million.

The Future of Gliding. JUDGED by the number of clubs which have sprung up in England during the past six months, gliding is quite definitely a popular pastime. Whether it will continue to be depends on what is achieved in the near future. For many it is still a novelty, and up to now, it has attracted not only people who have had no aviation experience, but many pilots and ex-pilots of powered aircraft. For the former, learning to fly on these engineless craft entails a lot of hard work and perseverance. The in evitable crashes, though not serious to himself, may dis

hearten the beginner. Only the apt and genuinely enthusiastic ab initio will reach the stage when he can safely pilot a sailplane. As for the “old hand,” it is to be feared that the ordinary training glider will not amuse him for very long, and unless the club to which he belongs can provide him with a soaring machine, his interest too will flag. It therefore, behoves the committees of the thirty odd clubs now in existence, to look well ahead. In no other sport is team work, the team spirit and organisation of more importance than gliding.