The Motor-Car Race

Sometimes a quite simple statement of fact, if worded in an unfamiliar manner, will cause considerable perplexity. Here is an example, and it will doubtless puzzle some of my more youthful readers just a little. I happened to be at a motor-car race at Brooklands, when one spectator said to another, while a number of cars were whirling round and round the circular track:--

"There's Gogglesmith--that man in the white car!"

"Yes, I see," was the reply; "but how many cars are running in this race?"

Then came this curious rejoinder:--

"One-third of the cars in front of Gogglesmith added to three-quarters of those behind him will give you the answer."

Now, can you tell how many cars were running in the race?

H. E. Dudeney, Amusements in Mathematics (1917) · No. 391