Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30211, 16 August 1963, Page 7

Auto Gossip

by

A.J.P.

NEW ADDITIVE A new type of oil additive which is claimed to be even more effective than molybdenum disulphide has been announced in Britain. The additive has been shown in tests to be seven times as effective as molybdenum disulphide under some conditions, and about 12 times as effective as ordinary oil. It has i silicone base, and during tests an additive-treated car was driven for 360 miles with no oil. Runs of up to 60 miles were undertaken, and “hardly any ill-effects” was the claimed result. Bores had no score marks, rings were still free in their grooves and bearings and journals were still in good condition. One bottle of the additive is claimed effective for 10.000 miles. In the U.K. it costs 17s 6d. DEFENCE LEAGUE The Motorists’ Defence League, which has been formed in Britain to protect motorists against what has b<_en described as the “savage and unjustified” regulations and restrictions imposed by the Minister of Transport (Mi Marples), now has a membership of several thousand, including racing drivers, lawyers, doctors, and others from all walks of life. Even some of the car firms are, at their own expense, advertising for new members for the league. One firm says in an advertisement it is not advertising its list of cars because it feels that first things must come first, “ . . . and the preservation of the rights of us all to use the roads of Britain free from persecution must come before the sale of a car.”

RESIGNATION CALL So unpopular has Mr Marples made himself in Britain that a recent poll showed 97.4 per cent, of motorists were in favour of his resignation. At least two publications have editorially called for him to resign, and one motorist recently showed his feelings by uprooting a parking meter and throwing it through the Ministry of Transport window! MISTAKES MONTH Mistakes in publications never seem to come singly. This month one publication described a rally in the North Island which ended with "acceleration and breaking tests.” It must have been a rough event! Another (Australian) publication describes the New Zealand driver D. C. Hulme as an Australian, and says welded tubular chassis are now “ . . . universal in racing cars." Neither the very successful 1963 Lotus nor the so-far less successful 1963 B.R.M. use tubular chassis (they are monocoque construction), and D. Hulme, who has been nearly unbeatable in British and European formula junior events, is definitely a New Zealander. SEVERE REACTION One fault which deserves a severe reaction from the authorities is that of failing to give way while breaking into the traffic stream. This happened on the road to Porters Pass last week-end when cars turned on to the main road off side-roads at a very low speed, directly in front of rapidly-approaching streams of traffic. I saw several accidents avoided only by very heavy braking down the traffic stream, and I had reason to bless disc brakes on two occasions. Drivers overtaking dangerously forced me into the shingle twice.