MOTORDOM

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 March 1936, Page 4

MOTORDOM

NEWS OF THE ROAD

(By

“Gearbox")

MOTOKING in LONDON. “BUS TRAFFIC NIGHTMARISH. ’ “Discussing plans last year in Australia for my trip abroad, I blithely told my friends that I intended buying a car and doing the sights of London in comfort in this way,” says a writer in the “Sydney Morning Herald.” “Arrived there, I dashed’ around busily, hearing one minute that Great Portland Street was the best huntingground for cars and-the next that somewhere else was better, until at last I just wandered around in a daze, asking innumerable London policemen where I was, and eventually returning to my hotel laden with stacks of motor firms’ cards. However, t a friend came to my rescue, and finally I became the proud owner of a very shiny -and well-behaved sedan. “So taken up was I with the problem of selecting the best bargain in London and' trying to discover a nice, honest salesman, who would see that all the tyres were new and such necessarily important details, that I completely overlooked the possibility of my being terrified at finding myself in the middle of lines of fearsomelooking London buses. These bus drivers know their bushiness and sit up, it seems, on the top of the bonnet and pityingly, as I found later, at one’s hesitating efforts to take oneself from one end of Oxford Street to another. It appears, too, that I was ignorant of London’s traffic laws. Also, although I was suitably armed with lots of pretty maps and impor-tant-loking instructions, actually I had’ not the faintest conception of the way to anywhere. “All these things, and many more, diet not seem to enter my calculations, until one morning I awoke and found myself an owner-driver, not in Sydney, but in London. It was a grand feeling, but somehow or other five minutes later my glorious confidence fell from me, and I was assailed by horrible doubts as to my motoring capabilities, and such things as angry policemen and rules loomed distressingly large before me. However, I suddenly thought of my little brown book, called’ the Highway Code, and felt better.

“As time went on, I became daring, and had some* delightful days in the country. It is indeed the finest way to see the beauties of the English countryside and to explore all the fascinating little old towns. The roads are excellent, but invariably the main street, which always seemed to be called ‘the High,’ is very narrow, and when laden with heavy bus traffic is nightmarish. It appears to be impossible to escape these towns, and the difficulties which beset me there outweighed the pleasures of lovely green fields and country sights. “By far the worst danger of all is the bicycle traffic. . These things, which wobble about so alarmingly, are as numerous as flies and as hard to get away from. On the Great West Road, which one takes to get to Oxford, Windsor, and many other, places, bicycles abound. I have often had three or four of them abreast in front of me. It is impossible to pass them, because they simply won’t move. There is talk of a separate track for cyclists, and until they build this motorists will be annoyed by these greedy road users. “Unless you are an expert motorist, with a good 'sense of direction and nerves of steel, don’t buy a car in London for pleasure.”

DRILLING AND CUTTING GLASS. The drilling or cutting of glass can be carried out successfully by amateurs, provided a few simple precautions are observed. When it is desired to make a hole in a flat sheets such as a windscreen, the glass must be placed on. a firm, level surface and rest upon a piece of cloth, felt, or blotting paper. There are two common methods of drilling. For making small holes the most convenient implement is a drill with a triangular point. Such a tool can be improvised from a triangular file, whose faces are ground down until a sharp point is secured, but care must be taken not to dull the cutting edges. This bit may be used' with an ordinary brace or small hand drill, and it is essential that a suitable drilling compound be employed. An approved mixture is one of turpentine and camphor. Great care should be taken in starting the drill, so that it begins to cut at the precise spot where the hole is required, and it should be rotated swiftly and without undue pressure. Wh’en the glass is half bored it should be reversed' and drilled from a point on the opposite face immediately opposite the hole on the other side. In this way a conical aperture is produced, and the hole can subsequently be made true by means of a small round file, which shotild be moistened with turpentine. The, operator must bp. patient throughout,' and never seek to speed up the’ work by applying too much pressure'or forcing the “bite”’of the cutting edges. When larger holes must be made in sheet glass, workshop equipment is needed.

The actual cutting is done by carborundum powder, which is made into a paste with thin oil. The bit consists of a length of brass or copper tubing of the same diameter as the hole required. The tubing must be absolutely straight and one end faced true, so that it. bears evenly on the glass at all points. This bit is used in a bench drilling machine, and the glass is laid beneath it on a felt pad. In the early stages the drill should not be rotated fast, and it is advised that the same process of penetrating the glass from opposite sides should be followed.

For trimming glass, a glazier’s diamond is. preferable to a steel-wheel cutter. The sheet is laid upon a soft, level surface, and a ruler should be uspd to guide the cutter.

MINX MAGNIFICENT. LATEST HILLMAN MODEL. The Hillman Minx Magnificent, which has just been placed upon, the New Zealand market, justifies every claim of the manufacturers. A recent run revealed that the new car is truly magnificent in every respect. test was made on good roads, bad roads, stiff hills and. awkward bends, and the Minx proved that Hillman engineers had evolved some wondeiful new features. This car is ceitainly the world’s first light car on real big car lines—big in everything: beauty, comfort, performance, mechanical refinement— except running cost. Looking at the Minx one could not but be impressed by its truly modern streamlining, giving it a real big car beauty. The new car had extra wide doors and no running board to impede or soil trouser legs or stockings. One just stepped right inside, slipping freely into the seat without any contortion, whatsoever. A feature to be specially noted is the absence of wells in the floor of the rear seat compartment. Each passenger—back as well as front —sat within the wheel-base, admittedly the most comfortable place on a car, just as amidships is when afloat. The body of the Minx proved exceptionally roomy, allowing four six-footers to ride in comfort with legs completely outstretched, and with plenty of room above their heads. The interior of the car was the last word in stylishness and good taste, the Minx Magnificent being luxuriously appointed in every respect. It was noticeable that the new Minx travelled with the silence associated with a big car, speeding easily and noiselessly along, due to a special new-type silencei' and capacious air silencer to carburettor —refinements usually found only in the most expensive cars. The controls were near at hand and greatly facilitated, every operation. The wide-vision windscreen is of the opening type, affording maximum ventilation in hot weather. The fore part of the body was completely insulated, making it impossible for fumes and heat from the engine to enter the car. The car was next tried out for speed to test the “plus-power” engine. There was not a moment’s hesitation. The car leapt to life. It was a glorious feeling as it raced along with a willing smoQth power far in excess of what was previously considered the limit. An honest 65 miles per hour showed what the > car could do. The petrol consumption worked out at 35 miles per gallon.

; BIGGER CARS DESIRED. r , Motorists in Britain are said to be buying bigger cars. Au analysis by ’ horse power of the new cars sold over I twelve months show an increase, de- . finite though small, in the number of ' cars of medium and high horse power compared wfith the two preceding J years. Total sales have bounded up. . They were 178,482 in 1933, 215,656 in 1934, and 266,517 in 1935 —an increase ’ of'49 per cent, in three years. In 1933 ; there were 15,288 cars of 17 horse- , power and’ upwards sold, or 8.7 per ’ cent, of the total, and in 1934, 20,527, or 9.5 per cent. Last January the new reduced horse-power tax came into j force, and this year large cars have [ numbered 33,109, or 12.4 per cent, of the total sales. Nevertheless, the "baby” still remains by far the most popular category, and this year the “eights” have regained the pride of place which in the past two years they had lost to the “tens.” No fewer than 1 77,017 eight horse-power cars have been bought, against 69,949 “tens” and 31,485 “twelves." Among the higher; I powered classes the 24. 26, and 30 . horse-power cars show the largest in- ’ creases. An analysis of sales by I makes shows that there are far more , 12 horse-power makes than any other, . twenty-three different manufacturers . competing in that class, and only six ’ in the 8 horse-power and 15 in the 10 . horse-power categories. ’ LAND SPEED RECORD. Reports that real efforts were to be i made in U.S.A, to recapture for ‘ America, the world’s land speed re-' , cord of 301.129 m.p.h. held by Sir Malcolm Campbell (Blue Bird-Dun-, lop) are now beginning to take de- , finite shape, according to the Dunlop ' Bulletin. The Daytona Chamber of I Commerce is offering the big prize of £20,000 to anyone who can beat Campbell’s figures on the famous Daytona Beach in Florida, the scene of so many wonderful motor car records. Until Sir Malcolm forsook the Daytona Beach and made his epic drive, at a speed of over five miles a miqute, on the dry bed of the Bonneville Salt Lake in Utah, Daytona figured as the world’s centre for the automobile Blue Riband record. Now that Utah has won . the crown for the fastest natural speedway, the .Daytona people realise their loss and apparently are prepared to spend big money to regain the record for Florida. This effort, says the Dunlop Perdriau Bulletin, is fore-doomed to failure, for such an experienced hand at ultrahigh speed driving as Sir Malcolm Campbell, has shown that the speed capabilities of the Bonneville Lake bed are far ahead of the Daytona Beach. To attain 276 m.p.h. on the last-named speedway in March. 1935, Sir Malcolm had to face ami take extreme risks, while according to Campbell, 315 m.p.h. would have been possible at Utah, had further attempts with the “Blue Bird’’ been persisted in subsequent to Sir Malcolm’s great drive. For this reason, Daytona is hardly likely to come back into the picture as far as this particular speed I record is concerned. I However, it is not from this direction that danger of eclipse of the I existing record is likely to come. A. I Jenkins, the holder of many U.S.A, motor records and a racing driver who has already proved himself an outstanding man at the wheel is, it is' credibly stated, to attack the record on a special 3600 h.p. two-engined machine, being designed and built in America to tackle the existing figure. Jenkins is endeavouring to obtain the loan of two special engines, the property of the U.S.A. Government, with the object of gaining the automobile Blue Riband for America. Other Americans in L. Moore and 11. Fengler have, it is reported, secured the finance required to build a two-

engined machine with front and real wheel drive to tackle the recoid. Rudolf Caracciola. the champion driver of Germany, is also a possible contender, and as he recently paid a visit to the States, it is quite on the cards that Germany may ‘have ambitions in this direction. One thing is certain, if Dr. Porsche and the AutoUnion or the famous Mercedes-Benz firm backed-up with a Government subsidy, make up their minds to try and gain the record for Germany, then Britain’s hold of this classic record would bo in jeopardy, for this combination practically swept the boards in the premier long-distance speed' events of Europe .during the last year or (wo. All told, Germany spent I ,£350,1100 to attain its objective . It; certainly looks as if there may be some serious attempts to > loosen Britain's and Sir Malcolm’s grip on this much coveted record ere the present year funs out.