RUNNING THE CAR IN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 23

RUNNING THE CAR IN

On some new cars in England now the wind screen bears a big label with the following rubric: ''Speed must not exceed 25 miles an hour for the first 600 miles." With this as a text, "K-.C." in "The Manchester Guardian" writes :— "It is a needed warning, and in this particular case it represents the attempt of the manufactuers to counteract a very human weakness, one common to all' of us whether we are old hands at the wheel' or whether we are enthusiastic newcomers, possibly a little excited at handling our first car for the first time. It is a weakness, for there is no moro subtle temptation in motoring-. than to let out the car on a speed burst when conditions are favourable, and the majority of us do' it. The good driver, however, knows not only when to do it but when to stop, which distinguishes him from other types, and it may further he said that no seasoned motorist presses-his-engine merely for the sake of the excitement of speed. He has long since'passed that stage. He has "by this i time cultivated road' sense, which is the art- .of- handling his' cai-1 in relation to other moving traffic, seen and unseen; He' has also cultivated engine sense, a subtle quality which'tells-him when his ■engine is labouring, or when it is well on top of the work he is givng it. He is the man who nurses his car; yet also he is the man who can overdrive a new car equally as badly as' a novice; One reason for' that is that he has become accUstomed to moving" along at a pace more-or less standard to- him, and once at. the wheel he- drops into his normal driving." THE LIFE OF THE OAR, It cannot be over-emphasised that the treatment given a car during; its first few hundred miles largely determines ;wh'at N its life is going to be. It has to be nursed if hereafter it is to give sweet,, efficient' service, and- givel it' for years: In this runirig-in period the owner must exercise restraint. Not- for .him the long speed- burst along the wide, straight, empty road, not for him that good- average touring speed which we :all- seek to get these1 days. He has got a robust thing in his.hands, but it is yet in its infancy, and must be gradually ■hardened.to the work that it will be put to. There are, possibly, aluminium pistons that at this period will not stand overdriving'; there are. bearings that must be tuned to "sit" properly -and not set up. overheating. The whole of the machinery of the car has, by careful handling, to be won to a state of cohesion and united effort. On this handling, on- the attention given to the machinery depends the satisfaction the owner is going to get out of it—depends, too, his outlay upon it. In the early days of motoring Henry Ford issued a fine slogan, one applying not alone to the care that stream from his works, but to almost all. "Treat your'car;" ho-said, "as you would treat a -horse.".',. There is solid sense in those words, and- they are applicable to-day I although' we have made big motor engineering, advarices since then. They - .3're>;'',in, fact, more applicable, for we t liaye developed the high-speed engine, whereas the early type of prime mover had by no means a high rate of Tevolution. We are to-day-attaining better results with lighter parts; 3000 revolutions for road work is no uncommon thing in our modern engines, so that there is greater need' to treat them, as Ford advised, as' we-:would a horse. Carefulness- in these early stages and attention regularly and thoroughly given are what are needed. THE REWARD OF PATIENCE. It is trying, of course, especially to . the experienced driver, when a speed stretch-of road, opens up,- when a car / he knows he- can beat whips past him challenging^, and there is plenty of room to overhaul and shoot past him in turn, or when he wishes to speed up his passage along the road. But he knows, none better, that to overpress' his- engine during, those first few hundred- miles spells trouble later, if hot disaster, and he eases the pressure : of his foot on the. accelerator. The . new 'hand, who has much'yet to learn both in the matter of road sense and engine sense, has. yet to assimilate this . 'lesson. It is drummed into him every year' when about Easter time he comes1 on to the- road in numbers; the man who- sold him the car' will tell him of . it;_ the warning label, now generally being adopted, will constantly remind : Hini-of it; yet year after year the disappointed novice turns his car' into the garage for repairs or a tune-up :long before the process should hay been necessary. That sudden, subtle temptation has come to him, and he has yielded too often. It is a ease of succumbing too often, for, let it. he said, a very occasional and a very short speed burst won't hurt things, and can be made a sort of safety valve. But he should do 200 or 300 miles before he tries one, which means' no- more- than two or three days on thel road, a period1 he can spend in laying, ; down the foundations for a good stock of road sense and for acquiring complete: 1 control over his machine. The novitiate period is. one calling for patience; _ for self-control, but the' . novice will have ample reward for it later. He will have a machine the little,- fine individual points of which, he learns to know, so that it will respond better1 to his- handling than to : any other driver's, and he will have a' sweet-running1 and dependable engine. These are", things wtirth cultivating, for the engine is the life of the car, and a. dependable engine is the soul of enjoyable motoring. There is much more to learn, ■ too, than tho careful driving of the engine. . Some little skill goes into the use of' brakes. To rely on the brakes in alb j circumstances is foolish and increases- | their rate of wear. The finished driver leases off his engine so soon as- he sees, : brakes might be needed, allows the car. ■ gradually to decrease pace, and then . applies tho brake either as a further ; check or to bring the machine to a.standstill, but always, real emergencies' exceptotl, in such a manner that he does' not brake forcibly and fiercely-against; the _ power of the engine. * The acquiring, of this accomplishment is part and parcel of the running-in period, . and it lays do^wn habits 'that, once thoroughly grounded, are*, never lost. They are part of the training of the-, icentlemnnly driver, a species' somewhat ! rare to-day.