L’Auto

"“If one looks back at car racing, it can bé seen that great efforts have always been made; but the work involved is such a hard and thankless task that the car manufacturer, poorly rewarded and aghast at spending so much money on doubtful successes or lack of success altogether, seizes upon the first win that comes his way as a pretext for withdrawing from the struggle. “M. Desgranges has just given a striking explanation of all this in a prominent article in L’Auto. He also revealed another pretext used by car manufacturers—the interests of the customer. It would seem that they have no wish to burden the price of their cars with a hundred francs of racing expenses incurred nor to be distracted by racing, and so they leave those larks to young newcomers. “The real truth of the matter is quite different—the reason why a car manufacturer does not race is because, even by spending millions, even by employing his best engineers and mechanics, by using his best machines and choosing the best materials, he would not be sure of winning. “He is afraid of diminishing his reputation, and such a car manufacturer will only chance his arm in individual performances which prove nothing and which are given a lot of publicity ballyhoo, or another will only enter events he is certain of winning and which are given publicity with the help of periodicals and papers well paid for doing so. Such"