EFFECTING FUEL ECONOMIES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14639, 7 April 1948, Page 4

EFFECTING FUEL ECONOMIES

IMPORTANCE OF REDUCING SPEED THE ART OF COASTING EXPLAINED Substantial economies in fuel can be achieved only by two methods. The one entails a radical reduction of speed. At forty miles an hour, as most drivers are aware, the majority of cars consume twice as much fuel as their engines burn at twenty miles an hour. The other method is the free use of impetus, what has come to be known as “coasting.” It is a custom, in normal circumstances, more honoured in the breach than the observance, that it, is practised by very few motorists. Coasting down gradients is the most attractive and the most practicable form of coasting. Descending hills in neutral, especially if the country generally is of a hilly description, may be enormously economical. At the top of any long downgrade, the driver declutches, pushes the gear lever into neutral, and switches off his engine. The car slides down the hill in absolute silence —using gravity as its sole propellant, and consuming no fuel whatever! Speed is limited only by the severity of the gradient and by any other considerations—such as bends—suggested by safety. On a few British hills it has been remarked as much as 80 m.p.h. can bo safely enjoyed. There are two objections to the method. One is the risk of brake failure, and the other that a novice not too sure of himself might damage his gear-box in re-engaging a gear towards the foot of the hill. Thus, both brakes must be in firstclass order. Quite a minor mechanical mishap may suddenly deprive the car of its footbrake, and a number of cars are fitted with handbrakes designed rather for maintaining a car in a stationary position than in pulling it ud from high speed.

The expert driver can stop a car on a steep gradient even if its brakes fail completely —he can gradually get into bottom gear should he find at fifty miles an hour downhill that his brakes have failed—but he must be an adept at gear changing. The drawback of re-engaging a gear at the foot of the hill should be overcome in fifteen minutes’ practice.