MOTORING

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18544, 20 November 1925, Page 4

MOTORING

BY "ROADSTER."

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" Roadster" invites articles and paragraphs of interest to motorists for this page. NOTES, About 100 motorists who committed breaches of the by-laws during Carniyal "Week are to be served with summonses to appear at tho Magistrate's Court iu the near ftiturc. Trouble is often caused the City Traffic Inspectors by tho manner in whien tho bumper bars of a car obscure an identification piatc. In tome cases the bars aro in position before tho plate is attached, but in other instances the bars aro affixed in local parages. The matter is one which can ■, easily be remedied. All that has to be I done is to pux. the plates where they will not be obscured by tho bumper bars. The half-hearted manner in which a number of motor-lorry drivers observed the two minutes' silence on Armistice Day was the subject of comment by ma'nv citizens in Auckland (says the. "Star"). When the gun signal was given promptly at 11 o'clock all traffic was stopped and perfect silence would have ensued immediately but for the. fact that a number of drivers kept their engines running throughout the period. In one or two cases tho engines were shut off after .more than half the silence had passed, and tho effect was immediately noticed by those uearby. It is estimated that the sales of new cars which can be directly traced ■ t<> the recent Olympia Motor Show . total 200. "Tho tiino is not far distant, when there will bo a signpost on every byroad in tho county," remarked Mr Vv. O Green, chairman ot tho Egmont County Council, during a discussion on tho question of indicating county boundaries by signposts. He regretted (says tho "News") that the hnaneia position of the Council would, not penmt of all the roads being indicated by signposts at present, but he would stronglv support the proposal when finances permitted. When travelling m I tho north ho had appreciated having tho ] side roads indicated by signposts Councillor Sinclair considered that tno Council should at onco replace the signposts at the Elthani road corner, where ft is essential that a signpost should be placed. It was resolved to erect a post there, giving, the mileage from Mtham, Hawera and New Plymouth. Reference was mado to the fart that a previous sign had been destroyed, hut it was considered that as a reward of £lo> had been offered for fife apprehension of tho delinquent or delinquents on the last occasion, there would be no trouble on that score. While Carnival Week produced no serious motor accidents in Christchurch this year, it was not tho fault ot some, drivers who, casting discretion to the winds ono afternoon, coming back from i the races tore along Kiccarton road between North and South Hagley Parks j at a verv high rate of speed. No fewer than threo cars wcro concerned in an j attempt to take the lead, and in gam- j ing that doubtful distinction, the third car passed so close to another, which was standing at tho side of the road, that a distance of only about a foot separated them. A new motor-car speed record was established bv a Knight Sleeve Valve Type of engine on tho Montlhery track near Paris, September Ist, when a "Panhard Levassor" with a Knight type, 4'j-cvlinder,' sleeve-valve engine covered a distance of 115.36 miles in an hour. This is claimed to be the world s record. The previous record was 109.02 miles nn hour established by a straighteight Lovland Special. , The new record is of particular interest as it was established bv a Knight sleeve-valve engine of only four cylinders. ' When having trouble, shifting, stop and start in low. It's bettor than stopping in such a way as to require a nrcchanic to free a jammed gear. For some time past the electric tramway services of the Societe des Tramways do Teneriffc, Canary Islands, have suffered from tbo competition of motor vehicles in tho transport of both passengers and goods, which was rendered possible bv tho fact that tho road vehicles were"'not called upon to pay the same taxes as the tramway. The company have brought the matter to the notice of the Spanish Government, which, according to a report, has recognised the justice of the complaint, and lias decided to impose similar taxes and regulations on motor vehicles as on the tramways. N'cvcr install a 1»lt without a lock washer under tho nut o r a cotter pin through tho bolt. This practice is ai time-saver and oftentimes a lifesaver, v o matter how unimportant the particular bolt may seem to be. In view of the heavy annual loss made on the working of tho Pans municipal public transport concern a loss whieh naturally has to be made good out of tho rates, the Pans pubho often becomes a little restive over the number of free passes issued by the feocioto des, Transports en Commun do la Region Parisienne to its officials and employees. It is, indeed, almost impossible | to mako a hus or tram journey of any lenjrth in tho city without seeing at least one passenger produce a. free travelling card when asked for his fare. A famous Paris daily newspaper has recently made enquiries as to how many of these passes are issued, and has elicited the information that exactly 113.9-13 aro actually in use at the moment! Taking it at a moderate estimate, each of these free travellers makes, on an average, threo bus or tram journeys a day; this represents ft.054.870 journeys a month, or a total of 36,658,440 free .trips a year. If ono reckons each of these journeys as being worth 40 centimes, which is quite a reasonable estimate, wo arrive at a dead -loss to the transport concern of 15 million francs a year. When the clutch is engaged sec that there is a small amount of play between the floor board and the clutch pedal. "It requires only one-third the nurn.oer of bushels of wheat to buy a car to<lay as compared with tho number required in 1913," is the way farmers in iho United States are appealed toby motor salesmen. At the present time the average price of a car is 500 bushels, compared with 1482 bushels in 1913. This policy seems to have been particularly successful in lowa, where 500.7&3 farmers now own motor-cars. Driving a car at a speed between twenty and twenty-five miles an hour will save gasoline and money expended in repairs.