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20 for cooling the cylinder. On the other hand, the steam motor requires for the horse-power hour about one kilo of fuel and ten kilos of water. The stops necessary to replenish are, therefore, much more frequent with the second of these systems than with the first.'

Since these events speed in races has constantly increased. In the Paris-Dieppe race in July 1897, a small Bollée carriage, a sort of tricycle with rear driving-wheels, made the run at a mean speed of about twenty-six miles an hour. Almost the same record was made by the first contestants taking part in the Paris-Trouville race, 105 miles, in August 1897. In the great race, Paris-Amsterdam-Paris, in July 1898, made in several stages, Charron, running a Panhard two-seated carriage, attained a mean velocity of 27·77 miles. Finally, in the Versailles-Bordeaux race of 1899, one stage without stop, the mean velocity attained by the winner, Charron, on the total run of 351 miles, was 33·30 miles. On certain quite lengthy stretches of the course, the mean speed passed thirty-eight, and at some points reached forty-five to fifty miles an hour. This carriage, from the establishment of Panhard and Levassor, weighs about a ton, and carries an equipoise motor of from twelve to fifteen horse-power.

Having traced the history as far as this interesting event, I must refer the reader for further information to the chapters dealing with the work of the automobile clubs and the records of races and trials.

It would not be out of place for me to make a few remarks concerning those all-important factors which go to make the sport of automobilism a success.

Tyres.—It is impossible to refer to pneumatic tyres without recalling the firm of Michelin et Cie. With iron-tyred wheels it is impracticable to drive quickly without destroying, in a very short space of time, first the wheels and then the carriage.

With solid rubber tyres slightly more speed is obtainable, but the pneumatic is the only one with which, at present, it is possible