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Show FUEL ECONOMY TEST IS MADE I Sixteen Cars Make Run From Los Angeles to Yosemite Valley Transformed by the fates from an economy run into a dyed In the wool reliability contest, tho sixth annual Los Angeles to Camp Perry, Yo-t,emite Yo-t,emite Valley Economy run offered tie motoring public an opportunity I to judge with all fairness the stamina as well as the fuel economy ot tho Iminy motor cars entered in the e ent. Sixteen curs left Loa Angeles and the samt sixteen checked in at tho I Una I control in Yosemite valley with only one slight mishap to mar an lothervise perreet performance on all 'scores One entry' lost a rear wheel In making a sharp turn and a new I wheel wa rushed out und the car continued on Us way From Los Angeles to Fresno, a distance of 2 mile., the course is all la paved boulevard, but twice in this 1 stretch the jroad winds upward to an I elevation of" more than 4.200 feet, A hundred and fifty miles Is oer the smooth valley floor where tno sun beats down relentlessly. From Fresno into Yosemite, the route took the cars by way 61 Raj -mond and Grub Gulch, iiamcd only for ghost cities that struggled in vain for an existence and crumbled away under the storius of winter and the heat of summer. One hundred and tWelves miles Is tin distance and sixty-live miles of this is over dirt roads, winding upwards, always upwards, up-wards, over a series of vaulting 1 ranges, soaked for days by a pouring 1 rain and torrents of water from melting melt-ing snows. The hard grind from Fresno into the Yosemite '.alley told on many a contender. Mileage averages went to snMsh on every side. Just outside of Raymond the muddy road were encountered Chains were employed by all but three of the entrants in spots tho axles were dragging out of sight In the soft slusn dunk cases and low gasoline tanks were men-' men-' aced in every mile. Steep pitches j that took all of a car's power under 1 tho best of road conditions had to be 'surmounted with wheels spinning 'and searching for traction. An elevation of 6,300 feel was reached and then an abrupt dip down : into the canon of tho South Fork ' of the roaring Merced river to Wa-1 Wa-1 wona, then up again, almost vertically verti-cally it seemed, grades from 14 to 20 per cent barring tho way, to Chinquapin, Chin-quapin, 6,900 feet high. I And then from Chinquapin the almost al-most impassable roads wind downwards down-wards to Inspiration, 1,700 feet above the floor of tho valley. Irom which ! point tho road drops down an almost perpendicular cliff in a three-mile elido to tho government control station. A gravel road traverses the valley from this point up to Camp Curry whore each oar waa officially checked In and its consumption of fuel, oil and water officially measured and the results computed. Awards are made in regard to the ton miles established by the cars. To determine this it la necessary to multiply mul-tiply the mileage by the actual 1 weight of the car with passengers and tanks loaded to capacity and divide di-vide by the number of gallons of gas- lolltie consumed on the Lri multiplied by 2,000. |