Mrs. George Thrupp, of Cadogan Square, has been driving ever since 1896. Her favourite cars are the Renault and Mors, in which she has toured in Great Britain and on the Continent. She has won prizes in driving competitions. She was, in fact, one of the pioneers of motoring for women, and her youngest boy, Roger, was the first baby to have a “motor christening.”
Other names of motoring women that occur to one are those of Mrs. Edward Kennard, the novelist, who is equally at home at the wheel of a 40 horse-power Napier car and in the saddle of a motor-bicycle; Miss Hunter Baillie, of Cirencester; Mrs. Mark Mayhew, Miss Schiff, Mrs. Claude Paine, Mrs. Nicol, Mrs. Weguelin, Mrs. Charles Jarrott, and Mrs. Edge. No doubt there are other names which at the moment have slipped the memory but which have as good a claim as these to inclusion in the catalogue of distinguished women motoristes. The list is long enough, however, to show the ardour and success with which women have applied themselves to the mechanical details of automobilism.
THE COMING OF THE SMALL CAR
A good Car at a low Price—Lessons of the “Small Car Derby”—Some notable Small Cars and their Cost—Comparatively low Running Expenses—The Car of the People
One of the latest and most notable developments of the motor industry is the prominence of the small car. It is obvious that the number of individuals who can afford to pay from £150 to £230 for a motor-car for purposes either of pleasure or business is enormous in proportion to the number of those who can afford to pay more. Motor manufacturers have never been blind to that fact. It is only in recent years, however, that they have seen their way to meet the demand with satisfaction to their customers and profit to themselves. The small car has come, and its merits are so considerable, the pockets to which it appeals so many, that its popularity is assured. It is not a very rash prophecy to declare that in a few years’ time it will be the vehicle most commonly met with on the high road, and its manufacture the mainstay of the motor trade.
In France, where the possibilities—commercial and practical—of the small car were first foreseen, the great motor race of the year, the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club de France, is now preceded by a Grand Prix des Voiturettes, and the result of the 1908 contest is a striking illustration of the speed and reliability of which some of these little vehicles are capable. Of the forty-seven voiturettes which went to the post, twenty completed the course of 286 miles in a little more than seven and a half hours. The winner, a car driven by a single-cylinder De Dion engine and weighing little more than twelve hundred-weight, covered the distance in five hours and three-quarters—an average speed of nearly fifty miles an hour; while the second car, a single-cylinder Sizaire, which was only six minutes behind at the finish, covered one of the laps at an average speed of more than fifty-three miles an hour. Speeds such as these are happily not lawful on English roads. I point to them only to illustrate the power that the motor manufacturer has succeeded in obtaining from a single cylinder of less than four inches bore, and the excellence of design and material which has enabled him to produce a little vehicle, weighing a good deal less than a ton, yet capable of withstanding the shocks of rattling over 286 miles of country road at racing speed.
The race for the Grand Prix des Voiturettes and other recent trials have amply demonstrated the speed and reliability of the small car. They have shown that for sums ranging from £150 to £230 the manufacturer can make a car which, for all practical purposes of everyday use upon the road, is the equal in speed and trustworthiness of a car costing from three to five times as much. The 8 horse-power De Dion, which costs £225 15s., went through the International Touring-car Trial of 1908 with flying colours. It covered 1800 miles of arduous road work in capital style, and by shedding one of its passengers it even managed to climb the terrible two-mile slope of the Kirkstone Pass. The 9 horse-power Sizaire, the engine already referred to as having accomplished the fastest lap in the Grand Prix, costs 190 guineas. There are many other cars, British and foreign, not less reliable and equally moderate in price: the Phœnix, for example, a twin-cylinder car, costing £140; the Jackson De Dion, costing £220; the Pick, a four-cylinder 14-16 horse-power car, costing only £165; the Rover, costing from 100 to 200 guineas according to engine-power and finish; and the Vauxhall. When it is remembered that cars can often be bought second-hand but in first-class condition for about two-thirds of their original cost, it will be recognised that motoring need not be the exclusive privilege of the very rich.
It is not, however, in the comparison of first cost so much as in that of the cost of maintenance that the small car appeals to the man of moderate means. Generally speaking it may be said that as compared with a full-powered car the small car uses little more than one-third the quantity of petrol per mile travelled, and that its tyres cost only half as much and last twice as long. A gallon of petrol, which will propel a big car 12 or 15 miles, will propel a little Rover or Phœnix from 30 to 40 miles. Here is a statement of the actual cost of running a 6 horse-power Rover for eleven months over nearly 6000 miles of country roads:
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Tyre Repairs | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Petrol | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Oil | 18 | 0 | |
| Sundry Repairs | 4 | 12 | 5 |
| Total | 19 | 13 | 2 |
The car belonged to a doctor who had to make frequent stoppages on the way, so that the consumption of petrol was higher than it would have been with continuous travelling. Nevertheless, the cost of running the car works out at about four-fifths of a penny per mile—less than third-class railway fare for one person. This is, no doubt, an exceptionally low figure. Another user of an exactly similar car has found the cost of running 3400 miles to be as follows: