MOTORING

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20214, 17 April 1931, Page 4

MOTORING

"Roadster" invites articles and paragraphs of interest to motorists for this page.

PANGER OF FOG. From now 011 winter fogs will present a danger to motorists —a danger that persists in some localities, right through to the middle of the spring. Heavy night fogs are met with frequently on parts Of the-road between Ashburton and tho city", and the Springfield district suffers, at times, from this menacef One is apt to consider earnestly the advantages of the lefthand drive on these occasions, the side of the road being much more easily seen than from tho middle of the road, where the driver finds himself with the standard drive. With left-hand steering the necessity for crawling is eliminated and almost twice the speed may be made. ■ ABUSE OF OODE. New Zealand has not yet adopted tho practice of signalling, on the .part of pedestrians, when they intend to ( cross a road; and, from what is said by a writer in "Tho Light Car" (England), it seems, thpt the system is liable to abuse. The writer says that he saw a man deliberately threading his way across a busy street, with traffic moving in both directions, the while he held up his hand authoritatively. An instance is also given of a band of young hooligans who amused themselves by staging miniature traffic hold-ups in j much the same manner. NEW REGULATIONS. Motorists give their general approval to the new regulations which are to come into force on June Ist in regard \to drivers' licenses. They agree that the tightening up of the conditions, and the step towards greater efficiency on the part of drivers is a means to_secur-. ing greater road safety. One driver stated yesterday that no reasonable motorist could be un'willing to co-oper-ate in any scheme that would protect him from persons not physically fitted' to drive a motor-vehicle. CobuNCt THE OIL. One of the problems that high engine speed and large power output have brought into being is that of heat dissipation. Most oils bocome thin rapidly fcnd lose some of their most valuablo lubricating qualities. The problem of keeping the oil cooler is unquestionably 'important, and for some time it has been receiving the attention of,many of the world's leading automobile manufacturerfe. Already Borne are making provision for using a section of the radiator for cooling the oil in the same' manner as it cools the water, and there appears to be no reason why something of this nature should not become standard in all motor-vehicles in the near future. In Australia, with its high summer temperatures, definite advantages would be gained by, fitting oilcoolers to cars and trucks. • BAIN ON WINDSCREENS. Bahl on the windscreen is always a source of considerable annoyance to motorists when driving, especially - at night, and maybe the cause of an accident unless the speed of tho car is materially reduced. Although the driver" may, be able, to "see the road fairly well. by the aid of the screenwiper, it is most disconcerting to the passengers, • whose .vision <- has been greatly limited. A good .plan to overcome, the trouble is to use vaseline. -If the screen, while quite dry—it is useless otherwise—is well smeared with vaseline the rain will float in a nonwavy and quite transparent' film, and there will be no distortion of the vision. The flssential thing is to see that,the screen is quite clean and perfectly' dry before applying, the vaseline. A good rubbing withsilk handkerchief is'the best preparation. The blade of {he screen-wiper should be quite, clean, gnd should not \ bear too* heavily on the glass; It should just glide over it.'

NOTES. V : < S ' V i f:./-•' A 'cause of'-niany- raofcottaccidents"' ip the' failure of ( a driver about to pjull "out from the., kerb to, make, sure that nothing is approaching him from the rear. '• The mirror, of course, is - a valuable metijut towards eliminating, this risk, but' Wine have, a tendency, ito make an object appear -much closer than it is. i. Similarly other give the { illusion of distance. The safest method is,' of course, a, glance to the reair. "There; have never . been as many motor' accidents in, Christchurch us there are .at the ..greseniTtime," said .a .motorist of long'standing to "Kosp- ' s'ter" yesterday- "The punishment! j nieted out to negligent drivers should be piad© more severe. The greatest j '.penalty a man can receive is the bus-, j pension jof his lic&hse. ' ; Even if the i term isf only a ; the culprit i ■ inconvenience acutely." j During the last, .three months the> | Nelson Automate has ] ,added 860 new' Members to its list ,as the result of 1 a campaign, and the membership is now, over 1000. For a long time the "Association 'consisted of only 500 members. The/ North Otago Motor Club nas 'forwarded to - the South Island Motor Union a remit to the effect that an effort be made to ensure a ,more gen-r eral practice of the dipping of head'lights by cars approaching' each other ,at night. ■ Mr W. A. Thiele, who lias been employed as a salesman by the iodd Motor Company, 'and Previously by Adams, Ltd., has joined the staff ot "the Car Disposal C 0.,, Ltd., as salesman. Mr Thiols .is well known m motoring circles and in the early days took an active part in, all branches or motor-cycling.-

■ Alleging that the coach-builders had made a mistake," an motorist is claiming ,£IOOO damages from a French concern, because the body ot the car specially built for him was so. small that he could not ehtor it aijc" he was obliged to go to his daughter's wedding iii a hired car. " Passetagers on a Linwood tram-car the other day* were- astonished to< see a small car approaching Worcester street from the direction of St. Johns Church and continuing ohwardß at a speed that made an accident appear inevitable.,- Neither vehicle slackened speed, the tram conductor probably assuming that the car would stop at the correct 1 moment. It continned on, however, and crashed intcfc the tram. One of the passengers was the Chjot 'City- Motor-.lnspector, Mr H., Magintosu, who made investigations and found that the "left door of the motor-* I car totally obscured the view to the i left. More of the matter will probably be heard in she Court*

Much lias been heard lately about signals in the City and on the railway orossincs, and many improvements have hLn suggested. Demonstrations were enven in England recently of a new device for controlling road traffic by nieht Signalling lamps showing red r.r crreen are held in the hands of tJie officer on traffic control duty. When ho raises his arms the signals are automatically lit, and when he,lowers them the lights go out.

Figures issued by the Ministry for Home Affairs, Northern Ireland, show that for the third quarter of 1930, the 12 h.p. ear was an easy winner in popularity'in that country. Next followed vehicles of 8 h.p., 13 h.p., 14 h.p., 11 h.p. and 10 h.p. No other size of car numbered more than one thousand adherents, while of all the Korse-power ratings above thirty only one even reaches double . figures—a striking commentary on the influence of taxation on design.

In a high-speed endurance test of exceptional severity at the Montlhery Track, near Paris, an 8-li.p. Singer Junior was set to run for 24 hours at full speed, the drivers, Messrs G. E .T. Eyston E. A. D. Eldridge, and P. Brewster, takilTg the wheel alternately. The test waS run under the auspices of the Automobile Club of France, whose officials sealed the bonnet before tho start, so that no adjustments were made. Stops were made approximately every 200 miles for petrol replenishments and; a change of drivers, and in'less than' 20 hours 1000 miles had been covered. The speed was increased slightly towards the end of the run, and in the full 24 hours a distance of 1210 mileß was covered at an average of 50.7 miles per hour. The car was a standard, fourdoor saloon, with full equipment.

On some cars the auxiliary controls such as the ignition advance, strangler, and so on are operated by means of stout brass wire running in copper tubing of a fairly small diameter, Unless the "wire is springy it is apt to jamb in the tubing, and if pull-off springs are provided for the controls—as they should be with controls of this description—it is much better to have flexible wire through the tubing. Bronze pic-ture-wire, consisting of several strands of pliable but strong bronze wire and one core strand of steel wire, is an excellent substitute for stranded steel wire. A large reel can be bought for a few pence, and the tensile strength is amply sufficient.

"WIZARD" SMITHS RAGING CAR.

attack on the world SPEED RECORD. SECRECY ABOUT ENGINE, (VBO3C OUR OWN COXUUtSPONDEJIT.) , SYDNEY, April 9. The wonder car that. is being constructed in Sydney with the object o£ making an attack on the world record held by Sir Malcolm Campbell is Hearing completion, and in its unfinished state it has been one .of the wain .«s*, tractions at tbe gjreat Easter Bh'dw. ; It is practically certain that the car mil | be ready early next month, and that the attempt on the Tecord will bo made on the Ninety-Mile Beach, North Auckland, New Zealand, at the end of May. The car, known as the P. H. Stewart Enterprise, after the man who nas financed the undertaking, is a marvel of detail, and every precaution has been taken to guard against any mishap that is considered possible. Ono expert says: From the point of view of insurance against possible _v capsize, maintenance of course, steadiness of power application, and reliability 01 every section, the car seems to be as perfect as human brain can conceive. . The Bteering and gear-box are both designed by Mr B. J. a Sydney motor engineer, formerly of New Zealand. The steering gear is housed in a substantial box anchored firmly between the central chassis member and the back of the secret Napier Lion engine. The steering column and gear# are carried v securely on several bear- ■ inns, and the complete shattering :of the external case, it is. stated, would not impair the efficiency of the gear.- Each front wheel will be steered separately by a sturdy steel draglink, while> the two front wheels will be kept in their correct relative positions by a track rod, ensuring that Bven if one draglink failed the car would stilj be controlled. .The' car is lower than either the ■ Golden Arrow or the -Bluebird and will have considerably less head resistance than either of them, thus ensuring a lower centre of gravity, and eonsefluently improved stability. Whereas Sir Malcolm Campbell's head was about 48in from the ground, the hew car, will be only 38in, and this will be the Jughest point when > the car is ready to take.the course at the Ninety-Mile Beach. • Little can be seen of the Napier Lion engine, as the conditions under which it was loaned by ithe,: Imperial 'Government included one of absolute secrecy regarding its dimensions,- power, and design. It is generally known that it has twelve cylinders, which are arranged in three, banks of four each; that it is supercharged and remarkably light in. proportion to its power.- It -is known that the engine! vis at least as powerful, as the Bimilar type 1 used by Sir ■ Malcolm Campbell, - but „ nothing definite in that direction " can be divulged.' "The experts, including Mr Norman* 1 Smith, who will drive the machine, are'confident that the engine will give ample power to obtain the object for which the par' was built—the beating of the world's land speed record by a decisive margin.

IMPERIAL AIRWAYS. EXTENSION OP SERVICE. The Imperial Airways, which have been twining a mail and passenger, service' between London and Alexandria (Egypt) have now decided to } ex- i tend this service from Cairo to Cape Town, to form an adjunct ' to their already existing service from London to India. ■ The section from Cairo to Khartoum will be the first to be operated., Three Aimstrong-Whitworth Argosy aero--: planes, each powered with thr6e Siddeley Jaguar engines', will he used. These three ■ machines -will- he ,-transferred from, the European service. The Vacuum Oil Company is making Supplies of mobiloil'? available at various depots along the route. A Dutch, service .between Holland and Java' hits just been, inaugurated, and a model F-12 machine,'feguipped with three Pratt and Whitney Wasp 4.25 h.p. engines, left a'few-dap ago on the ten days' flight fwwn Holland; to Java. The route follows the main airwave route to Australia for the I' greater part of tho journey.