MODERN MOTORING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 25, 31 January 1928, Page 17

MODERN MOTORING.

THE MURIWAI MEETING

SOME FAST CARS COMPETING

THE HANDICAP EVENTS.

All arrangements are now complete for the seventh annual race meeting of the Auckland Automobile Association at Muriwai Beach on Saturday. The first race will start at 1.30, and the others will follow at short intervals. All the southern and the four Australian competitors have arrived, and will be on the beach to-morrow trying out their speedsters. The beach is firm and fairly dry, the roads are good, and a big attendance is expected. The principal interest centres in the race for the New Zealand Champion Cup, and better time than ever is expected to be registered. The speed of last year's winner, the Stutz, was 82J miles per hour. The same car registered 84J m.p.h. in 1020, the next best being the Sunbeam's 80 m.p.h. in 1925. Over 100 miles should be necessary to win on Saturday. The two big races, the New Zealand Cup and the Light Car Cup, are scratch races, the handicap events being as follow:— One and a-half Mile Sprint.—R. Taylor (Bugatti), H. Carter (Mercer), G. Meredith (Sunbeam), and A. Roycroft (Bugatti), scr; G. Henning (Sunbeam), C. W. F. Hamilton (Sunbeam), H. K. C'utten (Miller) and R. B. Wilson (Stutz), 3s; A. East (Bugatti) and H. Curlett (Chrysler), ss; H. Blythe (Bugatti), W. Rook (Chevrolet), Hoyes Motors (Buick), C. W. F. Hamilton (Alvis), 15s; N. Newcombe (Austin) and Te Kuiti Motor and Radio Company (Essex), 20s. Twelve Miles Open. —R. Taylor, A. Roycroft, H. Carter and G. Meredith, scr; R. B. Wilson, H. K. Cuttcn, G. Henning, and C. W. F. Hamilton (Sunbeam), 10s; H. Curlett, 40s; C. East. 455; H. Blythe and W. Rook, 90s; C. W. F. Hamilton (Alvis), 100s; Te Kuiti Motor and Radio Company and N. Newcombe, 120s. Touring Car Race, two miles.—E. N. Valentine (Chrysler), scr; Hoycs Motors (Buick), 20s; H. Hayes (Rugby), F. Anderson (Pontiac), and J. Brooks (Ansaldo), 255. PETROL AND MILEAGE. Just as the motor car has increased in value for the buyer during the last decade, so has motor fuel. Tests show that the average petrol of to-day will give 25 per cent more mileage than that of 1917. "This improvement is due to the development of the cracking process," said an American expert recently, "which is producing spirit of a far superior quality to that produced by the earlier and more simple methods from crude."

AMERICAN ROAD ETIQUETTE,

We are coming to the realisation that courtesy as well as pavement is needed in our streets, declared Bud Landis, in the 6 National Motorist." persons who would not think of rushing ahead of you to the dinner table without an encouraging smile or a friendly jab in the ribs, think nothing of scraping 10,000 miles off your spare tyre with their bumper, or permanently waving a couple of your fenders with no more of an apology than a dirty look. Instead of the familiar hail: "Neighbour, neighbour, how art thee?" of hoss and buggy days, it has become the custom of our highways to greet oncoming drivers with a cheery "Get over, you sap!" While there is nothing particularly rude in calling a perfect stranger a sap, and seldom brings about any greater unpleasantness than a punch in the nose, it lacks, nevertheless, the warm-hearted sincerity of "Do you own the road?" or the more .common "Do you want your half in the middle?" THE WARNING DEVICE. A certain amount of attention has to be given to any form of warning device in order to maintain its performance. In the case of the bulb-operated horn it will most probably be found that dust deposits on the reed. The bulb should be detached and the reed carefully cleaned by inserting a fine piece of paper between the vibrating blade and its holder. Great care must be exercised that the reed is not bent in any way. With the motor-driven type of electrical horn very little attention is required beyond cleaning and lubrication. If it is desired vary the note of the horn, the eccentric bearing of the motor should be loosened and the driven rachet moved with reference to the diaphragm, when a higher or lower note will be'obtained. If the horn is of the diaphragm type, the attention necessary is to see that the platinum points of the vibrator are clean and flat, and are not adjusted too far apart. CARRY SPARE OIL ON TOUR. The motorist who is undertaking a tour of 600 or 700 miles should remember before leaving that the oil in the sump will require additions to keep up the level. It is a good idea to carry a quart or half-gallon can of the chosen grade of lubricant, as a garage selected at random might supply an inferior brand. If the car has been run 400 or 500 miles since the crankcase was drained, it is wise to renew the oil in the sump before taking to the road. Once away from home there is a tendency to neglect lubrication until the end of the holiday. DANCING NOT POPULAR. A dance is a place where you go with your girl, pay 10/ for a t good floor and the best music, aiid then sit outside all nifht in a car.

BOYS AND BICYCLES. The American boy is by no means obsessed by the motor car; the humble bicycle still finds a place in his fancy. Witness the doings of the boys in the following report of their Jay in the capacity of "city fathers" as reported from Kansas City:-

"Sweeping reforms in local city government, with public improvements for the people—particularly bicycle traffic arteries—were demanded by the new regime established at City Hall here. '"There was a suspicion that the bicycle boulevards were for the benefit only of boys and girls of the city, but what did it matter! The new 'city government' v.-as in and out in a day. And during that day running a city became 'serious business' for more than thirty young business men who descended upon City Hall as part of Boys' Week observance.

"It was the boys' innings in government. To the new policies proposed, city officials mildly assented, but intimated that it might be left for some others, perhaps the officials themselves, to say whether the policies should be carried out after the boys' day was over." NAME YOUR FUEL. Only a novice would appear capable of pulling up at a filling station and ordering "petrol"—ignoring by that order the brand or grade of fuel best suited to his engine. Unfortunately tli* fault is practised by many motorists, even frequently by "experts," whose belief in the perfection of the modern car leads them into the error.

And an error it is which has the result frequently of damning a highly efficient fuel owing to the car into which it was filled being wholly untuned for its use.

With the wide variety of petroleum spirits now on the market, the new motorist may be excused if lie is somewhat bewildered as to what brand he shall adopt for use in his car. It may be accepted, however, that, while some spirits are better than others for certain uses and for certain engines, there is no bad spirit of the branded type on the market. The branded varieties are all good, sound fuels, which will, if properly used, give good results in any engine. The particular point which the motorist must bear in mind is that the setting of the carburetter has a definite l)caring on what brand of spirit may be best to use. It is quite possible that with one setting a certain spirit may give better results than another, while with another setting the value of the two may be reversed.

It is, therefore, to be recommended that, if the best results are to be obtained, it is wise to stick to one brand and one setting of the carburetter until an alteration in performance is desired. The reason is not far to seek. While two brands may give good results, one may require more air than the other, and, if used with a normal setting of the carburetter, may cause undue soot, and even carbon deposit, and so e\cntually lead to over-lieating, misfiring, and other troubles, which may be traced to inefficient or incomplete combustion. Having found a spirit and a setting which gives the best results, the user would ■ e well advised to stick to it and buy the same brand whenever and wherever it is procurable. This is not a difficult matter nowadays, when our main roads and country routes are so well equipped with petrolfilling stations supplying all the brands on the market—often several brands from the same service station. But care should be taken to see that the pump is marked with the brand which it serves. A PLAYFUL PARADOX. In fining a stone-deaf motorist one pound for driving without a license the magistrates comment was, "This is a case where a license should never be granted, says "Contact" in "The Motor." Some magistrates are hard to please And topsy-turvyism mocks At sense in cases such as these, For here's a sort of paradox! Admitted that the man, who ought To have a license, ought to pay A fine because he hasn't bought A license; that's as clear as day. ere ' tlie *>eneh says, is a case Where the defendant never ought To have a license. On the face fi? A h .! 9 remark > one might have thought That there might he a doubt about Whether he really ought to pay The damage for not taking out * What lie ought not to have, tlioy sav! ESCAPE. We are told that "this .war's world output of motor cars will run into millions." We are glad of this hint, and will try our best not to be one of thosa millions.

THE NEW FORD. Latest American papers contain pictures of the new model A Ford, which has recently been on show at the various centres in the United States and Canada. When the mail left about 5000 new cars had been produced, less than 0110 each to the Ford dealers throughout the States and Canada, and it will be several months before any are available for New Zealand.

In each city thousands of curious persons disregarded the inclement weather and patiently bore with traffic congestion to see Model A Ford on the day it made its debut.

Now Ben Andrew, brother of Mr. John W. Andrew, the local Ford retailer, was in Canada, and together with several heads of the Ford concern was given a run in one of the show cars, afterwards being permitted to drive it, the first one to do so, outside of the Ford officials. Mr. Andrew is quite enthusiastic about the new car, which he describes as a beauty. It has a wheelbase of 103Ain, a track of 56in, road clearance 9iin, tyres 30 x 4.50, 3-speed transmission, 4cylinders, bore 3Jin. stroke 4sin, horsepower 40 at 2200 r.p.m. FREAK CAR FOR SHORT-DISTANCE RECORDS. We learn that a driver, very prominent in speed events, is contemplating building an amazing car with the object of breaking short-distance standing start records (says "The Motor"). The design is revolutionary in the extreme, and, amongst other things, provides for front wheel drive with four wheels in front and steering by two wheels at the rear. An ingenious transmission system has been evolved which, it is stated, may stand up to one mile all out—and again it may not. The achievements of this "freak" will be awaited with calmness but interest!

WHO SHOULD GIVE WAY? The French code de la route specifics that one piust give way to traffic coming from the right (this is the same as our rule), but there Is an exception to this, that if travelling on a route nationale the other driver must give way. It • was thus, a few weeks ago, wo encountered another driver, who was approaching a road junction on our right. Were we, or were wo not, on a route nationale? Evidently the other driver was also uncertain, because if we were on a secondary road there was no need for him to wait. Quick decisions were called for if there was not to be a collision, and in the end we both stopped. Later it was discovered that both roads were routes nationales. Such rules have their disadvantages! SCORCHING SMALL CARS. Why is it. a>ks a London writer,that on a broad road the light cars, as a rule, go at the greatest sjK-eds? I noticed the other day the majority of the big cars going between twenty and thirty,'"while many of the small ones were bein« pressed for all they were worth. A small car "all out" ai forty or fortvfive seems much more potentially dangerous than a high-powered vehicle at the same speed. Avoidance of accidents depends largely on reserve power enabling an emergency spurt and ability to drop to a minimum speed. In both respects a small car driven to capacity is hampered. NEW PERTH TO SYDNEY RECORD. Two West Australian motor cyclists established a new record on their HarleyDavidson outfit last month from Perth to Sydney, by covering the distance— 2S.iO miles—between the two capital cities in 6 days 2 hours 26 minutes.