MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2443, 23 April 1915, Page 9

MOTORS & MOTORING

[By Clutch.}

Join the Club! It is not necessary to go far afield to discover bow Wellington lias lagged behind for want of a little co-operanon among motorists in their own interests. Unly a small minority of car-owners have in the past made any eifort to do anything, and the consequence is that while road improvements, etc., ol' special interest to motorists aro steadily being secured elsewhere, little progress is made locally, The Wellington Automobile Club has decided to make a vigorous effort to arouse motorists from their lethargy, and the club's now secretary, Mr. H. J. Stott, has supplied some interesting information as to what is being done. To start with, tlio oomniittee, at a meeting this week, resolved to offer free membership for the balance of the olub's financial year, ending on September 1, to all motorists now enrolling, and steps are being taken to get into touch with owners and bring undur their notice the advantages to be derived from maintaining an active wganisatiou to look after their interests.

The club's annual subscription is a guinea, and members joining now will thus not be called upon for a further subscription until September, 1916. Mr. Stott's office is at 12 Panama Street, and those who wish to see motor matters pushed ahead in this district should make a point of getting in touch with him.

What the Club Is Doing. Tuesday's meeting of the committeo of the Automobile .Club was presided over by Mr. T. Young, and there were also present: Messrs. G. G. Sherwood, G. M. Bnnk6, W. Pryor,. G. Magnus, and Dr. Gibbs.

The secretary reported that the danger posts donated by a member of the club some time back aro now being erected between Pahautanui and Waikanao, the necessary permission having been obtained from the local bodies. By un understanding arrived at last year tile erection of signposts is in tho hands of the Motor Cycling Club. A number of letters from members were dealt with. One request was that steps should be taken to have the road at the top of rhe Paekakariki Hill widened sufficiently to enable cars to turn conveniently. The writer pointed out that as matters stood it was practically impossible to get a large car round. It was agreed that the matter deserved attention, and the secretary was instructed to write to the Hutt County Council.

Another member expressed tho hope that the olub would do something to direct attention to the bad 6tate of many of the City streets. Thorndon Quay, the' principal exit from the City, was mentioned as a notorious example. It was decided to write to the City Council on tho subject.

A subscription was received from a member, who wrote expressing his satisfaction at the removal of the Petone motor hurdles, and congratulating the club on, the success of its long agitation against them.

Some discussion, ensued as to the position at the Upper Hutt, where the I'own Board had placed an even more objectionable typo of hurdle across the main road. These were right across the road, and have a height in tho centre of three inches. As they rise suddenly they formed dangerous obstacles to cars. The club has been instrumental in having these blocked, so that cars can travel safely over them at the i.vorage speed.

The secretary was instructed to keep in touch with the secretaries of the motoring associations adjacent to Wellington, with a view to procuring the latest information as to the state of the, roads for the use of members. Manawatu Corge Road. •As the Publio Works Department is putting men on to cut off some of the worst cornors on the Manawatu Gorge Road, motorists using the road should proceed with caution while work is in progress. State of the Roads. Reports as to the state of the roads' were recently received by the Wellington Automobile Club from several other associations.

Iu Haivko's Bay, according to Mr. Hetley, secretary ; of the local association. the main roads are generally good. The'centre road, from Norsewood to tCopua is stated to be now the best to take in preference to either the road from Makotuku to Takapau or that from Norsewood to Kopua.

Taranaki conditions were thus summarised by Mr. G. G. Grover, late secretary to tho Taranaki Association: — Hawera to New Plymouth, road in good order. New Plymouth to Eltham via the coast, road fair to good.except between Opunake and Rahotu,' where the surface is rather rough and pot-holey. New Plymouth to Uruti, road very good as far as Waitara, from Waitara to Urenui road good to very good. * Beyond Uruti towards Mokau and Awakino, road • moderate and impassable in wet weather. Motorists should drive slowly ill New Plymouth borough, as the roads- are in a had state pending the tramway construction work, and in some places there are holes big enough to break the springs of a car at 20 m.p.h. The roads from. Blenheim to Christchurch and Blenheim to Nelson are stated by the 'secretary' of the Marlborough Association to be in fine trim at present barring a patch of gravel here and there.

Coming to bur own district, there is a good deal of, new metal down in patches on the Manawatu Road between Johnsonville and Porirua, with occasional patches between Porirua and Paremata. Motorists from country districts making Wellington after dark should look out for the patches of metal on tho Hutt Road. Nightmare Country (or Motorists. Southern motorists have no idea of what Aucklanders have to put up with in the way of, bad roads. The only route south from Auckland goes over the notorious Rangiriri clay hills, about 10 miles out, and this stretch is quite innocent of road metal. At Easter, owing to the. bad weather of Good Frid;>y, numbers of motorists who had attempted a run into the Waikato were bogged on the Rangiriri Hills, and to add to their difficulties found it next to impossible to obtain accommodation in this sparsely populated stretch. The "New Zealand Herald" states that even after the week's fine weather following Ea.ster, the road on the hills was found to bo in a very bad state, the heavy rain having worn the soft surface into all manner of holes and ruts. Tires to be Standardised. At present there are approximately fifty different size's of pneumatic tires on the British market, it has long been evident "that this needless diversity in sizes has tended to confusion and difficulty in obtaining tiros, and also to making tires moro costly. In 1913 t'he Tire Committee of the .Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders succeeded in establishing twenty-three standard rim sizes, and it is now announced that the same body has agreed to tho following eleven sizes as sufficient to cover all Home tire requirements:—7oo x 80, to fit 650 x 65 mm. rims; 700 x 85 and 710 x 90, to fit 710 x 90 mm. rims; 760 x 90; 810 x 90; 815 x 105; 820 x 120; 880 x 120; 895 x 135; 935 x 135; 015 x 175.

[t is evident, the "Autocar" remarks, that these sizes partly ignore colonial requirements, as there is nothing larger than 935 mm. It would seem that there Should have been at least, one size over .1.000 mm.* but we understjmd that tli«

idea is to leave the colonial sizes .alone for the time being, so that, apparently, apart from the eleven British standard*! given above, colonial buyers will also be able to have 1010 x 90, 1020 or 1080 x 120, and 1000 or 1050 x 150 mm. Some tire makers, too, consider 875 x 105 and 015 x 105 as colonial sizes.

This reduction in the number of Brifcish sizes of tiros is, of course, a natural sequence to the standardisation of rims. At. the time the Society of Motor Manufacturers standardised the twenty-three rim sizes they -scarcely had the credit they deserved for the simplification they had biought about, as, quite apart from the invaluable interchangeability of the rims and tires, some idea of the needless confusion which was then existing may be gathered from the fact that one tire maker alone sent in a list of fifty-eight sizes of rims. Again, it follows that tho twenty-throe rim sizes then standardised will now be reduced to ten, as two of the new standardised tire sizes fit upon the same sized rim, so that eleven different sizes of tires can be accommodated on ten rims. Hints and Tips. To get the best service from acetylene lamps the spent carbide should be cleaned out as soon as' possible alid the container thoroughly dried before refilling. It may seem that the advice to clean out the generator soon after the lamp is used causes waste, but this is not the case. _ The spent carbido should be emptied into a wire sieve and the dust riddled out. A simple way to do this is to take an old carbide tin and knock in the bottom of it a. number of holes about l-Bin. in diameter. When the contents ox the container have been put in the tin, the lid' should be replaced and the tin wll shaken so that the powdered spent carbide drops out. In refilling the generator a little new carbido should be put at the bottom and tho "reclaimed carbide at the top.

The rapidity of formation of carbon deposit depends on so many factors tliat it is difficult to give any simple rule to minimise it. The particular design of the engine, and the arrangement of the lubrication system have an important influence upon it. Assuming that the piston rings are in good order so that no excess of oil gets into the cylinders and that the quality of the lubricating oil is the best there' should not be any abno'rmal formation of carbon deposit. The car ought to run 3000 miles at least without requiring the cylinders cleaning. A rion-smoking exhaust is a fair indication that the cylinders are not being over-lubricated. Care should be taken not to drive on an overrich mixture as this in itself causes a certain amount of carbon deposit besides overheating the engine and burning up the oil. Here and There. Legal lighting up time for motor-cars nnd motor-cycles:—To-day, 5.13 p.m. Next Friday, 5.1 p.m. Advice from New Plymouth is that the Taranaki Automobile Association, formed only last year, is .virtually defunct. Other motoring associations in the Dominion have come near petering cut, but have recovered with a little nursing, and it is to be hoped that this will be the caso with Taranaki.

Tho executive of the Auckland Automobile Association is taking action in regard to tho erection of sign posts in various country districts. Recently the association has contributed towards tho erection of posts at different places, and a continuance of this polic.y will bo of much assistance and appreciated by the travelling motorists.

Apparently, Auckland is not tho only place where there are no roads fit for motoring.. Tho secretary of the Automobile Association has recently received a letter from the Automobile Association of China, the headquarters of which are in Shanghai, and the secretary of that body -states that the motor radius of that town does not exceed 18 miles.