STREAMLINING.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20225, 1 May 1931, Page 4

STREAMLINING.

NEW DESIGNS COMING. According io reports from England, laboratory tests and lessons learned from Hiotor-raoing and speed trials have convinced some of the world's leading designers of motor-cars that scientific streamlining of cars will bo one of the moat important developments of the near future. Wind-tunnel tests have proved conclusively that niotor-cars which are narrow in front and have the coach typo of body, which is centuries old, otter so much resistance to the wind that nothing approaching maximum efficiency can bo obtained. Manufacturers, however, are not prepared at present to make the radical changes which experts in design have satisfied th6m shoulu be made* They are afraid that the public would not readily accept the vehicle of the new type. The correctly streamlined car, tiifcy consider, must be slowly evolved. The principles of streamlining are carefully observed by makers of aeroplanes. The largest portion of the aeroplane is at the forward end, and the body gradually tapers off to a narrow tail, behind which there is little vacuum to retard the progress of the machine. The air slips past easily, offering the least possiblw resistance. Last year the unorthodox Burney car, produced in England, with its power unit in the rear and a body shaped like an inverted boat, created world-wide interest. The advantages of placing the engine at the rear, ensuring- a shorter and more efficient transmission of power, And eliminating the nuisance caused by engine fumea in the car, will