Th e Franco-Belgian Alternative-fuels Rally.
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4 third annual rally for vehicles using fuels other than petrol will be held from J-tily 9th to 30th next. This " BeEye des Carburanta " is a FrancoBelgian event organized by the Automobile Club de France, in conjunction With the Royal Belgian Automobile Club. The F.N.C.A. de France and the Office National des Combustibles Liquides also support the trial, which is intended to encourage the use of home-produced fuels.
The rally is a demonstration affair rather than a competition, as no average speeds are imposed nor is any classification made at the end of aie run. All vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines are admitted on condition that they employ a fuel which does not contain more than 50 per cent. of imported spirit. Fuels used in the previous rallies have included synthetic petrols, town gas, acetylene, " carburant national," which is a half-and-half mixture of petrol and commercial alcohol, charcoal, wood, compressed fuel tablets, etc.
The route to he covered this' year is a long one, as may be seen from the list of towns to be visited en route, starting from Paris :—Meaux, Soissons, Leon, Rheims, Charleville, Mons, Brussels, Liege, "Luxembourg, Briey, Metz, Sarreguemines, Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Belfort, Epinal, Nancy, Chalonssur-Marne to Paris. A distance of 1,500 kilometres will have to be covered in all, over the roads of Northern France and Belgium, where vehicles will have to take the rough with the smooth, as these roads are, to put it mildly, not always of the best.
The consistent use of fuels declared at the start will be checked by officials of the organizing committee, not only at the end of each day's run, but als* on the road, as surprise examinations are to be made from time to time. Consumption tests will also be made in order to obtain evidence for a technical report on the rally. Vehicles will be expected to make demonstration runs on petrol only, in order to prove that petrol may be used in them in the event of their particular fancy in the way of fuel being unobtainable. In the case of vehicles using petrol for starting purposes, such as those fitted with gas producers, a maximum of 6 litres may be carried by lorries above 3 tons, 3 litres for smaller lorries and camionettes, and 1 litre only in the case of tcoring cars.
The fuel question is still a very serious one in France and the search for petrol substitutes goes on steadily, for the price of imported spirit remains exceedingly high. Petrol actually costs nearly twice as much in France as it does in England.