Vivaldi Social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Vivaldi Social is part of the Mastodon network and is hosted in Iceland by the makers of Vivaldi Browser. Everyone is welcome to join.

Administered by:

Server stats:

8.2K
active users

John Arnold

_The Evening Post_, 15 March 1924:
SENSATIONAL MOTORING
N.Z. RECORD BROKEN
BY
ESSEX CAR
——
AUCKLAND – WELLINGTON IN
13 HOURS 19 MINUTES.
DRENCHED to the skin, plastered in mud, and shivering with cold, Norman Smith, better known as “Wizard” Smith, of Sydney, reached the Wellington Post Office at 6.34 on Thursday evening in an Essex racing car,…498 miles [800 km]…from Auckland in 13 hours 19 minutes…the new record has been achieved in the worst possible conditions as regards the weather,…slippery, mountainous, and winding roads…. the strain was necessarily enormous, and, although both he and his mechanic, Ben Campbell,… were in the pink of condition, they were both feeling the effects of the marvellous feat.… His car was a four-cylinder Essex, 18 h.p., two seater.…
[Details of incidents]
CAUSES OF DELAY
That Smith is capable of clipping at least 2½ hours off his present record may be believed from the…avoidable delays which occurred:—Attention to exhaust, 15 minutes; accident, 47; wrong turning, 18; punt at Mokau River, 17; bad roads and rain between Levin and Wellington, 30; motor-lorry on road between Paraparaumu and Paekakariki, 40—a total of 2 hours 47 minutes…
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/news