Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31463, 1 September 1967, Page 11

Auto Gossip

by ,

A.J.P.

Stop Warning As city traffic becomes heavier, brake lights that are in good working order become even more important Short following distances and sudden stops are inevitable in city traffic, and the warning given by brake lights is vital. Even if most drivers were willing to give hind signals, which they obviously are not, in many cases there simply would not be time for them to do so.

Faulty Make a survey any time you are driving through the city, and you will find that many cars, trucks, and even buses have brake lights that either work incorrectly or do not work at all. Usually the drivers are completely unaware of this, for few check their brake lights often. New Vehicles

Even new vehicles are not always free from brake-light faults. I have seen new cars on which one brake light and one indicator lit up when the brake was applied. On others the brake lights winked and the indicator lights worked as brake lights. I have even seen a new car in which signalling a right turn resulted in the right front and left rear indicators flashing: a sure way to confuse other traffic. The driver wondered why others seemed so agitated when he made a turn. Colours Most drivers agree that the colour of a car can make a big difference to its visibility in bad conditions, but it can make' a difference in good conditions too. The other day I was driving on a twisting, tree-lined hill road, and suddenly realised that I had failed to see an approaching car until it was only 15 or 20 yards away. The car was light green, and very muddy. The chrome was too dirty to show up, and the paint blended in perfectly with the surrounding spring greenery. The car could hardly have been better camouflaged. At Dusk The “camouflage” problem can be quite serious in the long summer twilights, too. This is why the drivers of some cars may have to switch on their lights earlier than others. A grey car can be almost invisible against a grey road, and a dark green car will blend perfectly into a plantation background. Pas-

tel blues and greens also tend to blend, but white cars usually stand out well. They are less visible than dark cars in mist or fog, though.

Plies How important to tyrebuyers is the number of plies in a tyre casing? According to the tyre companies, not very. What counts is what the plies are made from, not how many of them there are. For instance, it is possible to produce a tyre with six full piles of mosquito-netting—it would be a six-ply tyre, but hardly a safe one. In contrast, a tyre with just two plies of the latest materials, with cords of proper tensile strength, can be highly satisfactory. And, say tyre companies, the fewer the plies, the less the heat build-up. The less the heat build-up, the safer the tyre at speed. A racing tyre looks very thin in cross-section, but it will keep going safely long after a sturdy, thick-walled tyre has disintegrated from heat build-up. Quote of the Week “The more one goes into the question the more difficult it becomes to find anything in favour of these minute cars, other than that a small extra number of them could be squeezed into a given road area.”—The “Motor” on the suggested very small city-cars.