THE MOTOR WORLD

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 14

THE MOTOR WORLD

MOTOR NOTES.

Very marked success has followed the energtic efforts of the Hawera enthusiasts, qfficers of the South, "Tara- 5 naki Association, in their endeavours to spread the movement for union c among motorists, which is essential if their interests are to be safeguarded and forwarded as is desirable and es- • sential. Opunake and Manaia linked up, but the greatest success was reach- c ed in Eltham, where local enthusiasts * arranged a capital meeting and much ( keenness was evinced. The number of motor-cycle imports ‘ into India during the last- five months , has been 583, as contrasted with only . 380 in the similiar period a year ago. . It was, cabled last week from Eng- \ land that the well-known English racing motorist, Gapt. M. Campbell, had , negotiated % 'flying mile on the beach • at Tenby in the mean, time of 26 1-5 • secs. ddHe-drove a 12-cylinder car. Tra- , veiling, with theavjuid, he unofficially - .attained'the wonderful speed of 168 , miles per hour. The above mean time j jus ( t eclipses .the record, for ; Campbe]r in:1923. qu The Fano© Beach, - in Denmark, negotiated a flying niijp , in 26.1fsecs. A flying niile has been ‘ covered;lin' 10.97 secs by S. Haugh- * dahl in' 1922 on Florida Beach (U.S.A.; . —equal to 180 m.p.h. RELIABILITY TRIAL IN SOUTH , ' AFRICA. ' On August 24 a most interesting 1 trial was staged in Johannesburg by 1 the Rand Motor-cycling Club, riders i competing foivthe Hendee Vase, donhated by the Indian Mbtor Cycle Co., of America. - The twelve machines which entered ' were all equipped ;WsJr side-cars, and,;_ajs. most of .'them were of the 500c.c. persiiasion, Vthey ajfly demonstrated the ability; of this class of machine to undertake serious sidecar work. The average miles per hour of the winning machine was 42. J. Pattison was “awarded a special prize for remarkable performance, and also the novice prize. ’ MARYSVILLE RELIABILITY TRIAL The second of the two important annal reliability trials held by the V.M.C.C. was run on September 25, over roads that were sodden with rain. The course stretched from' Melbourne to Marysville and back, running from Clifton Hill to Heidelberg, Eltham to Kangaroo Ground, Yarraglen to Healesville, thence from the Black Spur to : Narbethong and Marysville, altogether a distance of about 122 miles. Competitors were classified in four divisions, solo and side-car in over and under a . given capacity. The number of entries was 61, and of 49 starters 44. reached the turning point at Marysville and 40 finished the course on time. The roads on the whole were reported to be better than during the last year, although they were sticky with rain that had fallen "during the previous days. That part of the road which runs, between Yarraglen and Healesville is little better than a> bush track, and it was rutted deeply with mud and proved troublesome to the riders. GETTING INTO LINE. NORTH AND SOUTH ISLAND BODIES. EFFECT OF CONFEREE OF,. This week’s conference between the North and South Island Motoring Associations marks a big advance on previous gatherings, in that the two organisations in the two islands hdve come into full accord on the Motor Vehicles Bill, and have establishes a ■quarterly conference between the North and South Island executives with a view to joint ' action on matters affecting the interests of motorists generally throughout the Dominion, writes “Spotlight”'in the Dominion. A curious feature t>f the motoring movement'in the South Island, as compared'with the North, is the superior organisation that has been effected in the South, although so far as official estimates go it has only about four mqtpr ■ vehicles for every six in the

North. Somehow or other the South Island seems able to get-,on Its Automobile. Association executives men with more leisure to attend the moveable quarterly meetings of the South Island Motor Union held in different centres through the island, and to devote their time’ to trie affairs of the local association. It is a shining example demonstrating what can be done in working up an association Tn an area not containing an} 7 very large centre of population, .slid m proportion to the total number of motorists in its district it is probably the liveliest association in the Dominion.

The Auckland A.A. is ahead of ’Wellington A.C. in membership, hut neither of the organisations is anything like as strong as it ought to lie. Wellington badly needs to rope in on its committee, a few more members_ with the necessary leisure and inclination 1 to make a hobby of the work. Unfortunately ’Wellington organisations of all kinds find the population here seems to consist very largely of the busy business man able only to dash into a meeting and out again. The business man’s practical knowledge is very valuable on such bodies, but unless there is a sufficiently large bunch of enthusiasts to carry on and get detail work done in the interval between meetings, it means that too much is left on the shoulders of an overloaded secretary or more or less allowed to, lapse. The amount of ’ work that requires to be done in the interests of motorists is steadily growing, and until W.A.p. I is financially strong enough to solve its difficulties by. making its secretary a. full-time official it might find it helpful to try the experiment of. giving its j new committee and sub-cpinmittee this year a seasoning of ■ tlie younger generation of • 'ipotprists who are not so loaded' np ’with'business r aiid other in-, terests as their older confreres. FIND. THE WONDER PLAGES OF 1 NATURE. ' I (Anierican exchange). Wonidii *& • it. be delightful if you owned a private movie picture film: of. the world—one that you could switch on and off ap will? Or a radio where you could listen in to the great bird orchestra of bushlaiid? You have both, metaphorically' speaking, within your reach —"buy a motor-cycle or preferably ,a motor-cycle and sidecar. Astride its saddle on highways, Holidays and'during week-ends you can see the whole of the country-side pass before you like a gigantic moving picture show. You can climb hills, look out over valleys, visit falls, caves, fishing streams —go anywhere in fact where there is a road and where there isn’t ! one. You can ride along the narrow bushland tracks, or take a camping outfit and spend ■army days with the living creatures of "the bush. .

A motor-cycle opens out a new world to you—a. new life. In fact, you stay-at-homes who rest and rust during the week-ends don’t know what iiving really means. Get out and about and see your own State; see other States. Go over the hills, along winding river roads, through picturesque valleys; all th© while unfolding new delights, new scenes, and new thrills with which nature abounds. All out of doors is yours to invade with its alluring attractiveness. The adventure of it—one feels oneself something of an amateur explorer these days on a motor-cycle. ' Add the alluring part about motorcycling is that you actually see the country as you are going through—not an inch; or so here and there, as through train windows, but the whole panorama' of it. The mountains that have something to give you; the babbling stream that radiates happiness and progression; the giant gums on the hillsides and the whit© mists in the valley that wireless their message of peace and contentment to you. You may not know exactly what it is they say, but you feel it and know that it is good. Until you are a motor-cyclist youi don’t know the charm of foiling over the highways through endless changes of landscape. You don’t know the thrill of distant unencountered hills nor the strange emotion that vibi’ates within you as. you dreamily contemplate the blue valley and tiny lakes that flash like polished silver in the sunlight. These are the: emotions

that- niake you feel bigger, stronger, and more satisfied with life. They take you out of the rut cf your humdrum everv-day existence. No one need be discontented or bored with t, life these days. Imagine all this free- • (loin of the open road; the means to \ go anywhere with chum or wife o,r sweetheart. Then add absolute inde- 8 pen deuce of the railroad, perfect com- *■ fort,, frpsli air. no jostling crowds, no f disagreeable odours and the lowest cost f known for transportation, and the sum s of it all will give the remedy for bore- c dom and discontent —the motor-cycle \ ap’d sidecar. r A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. ‘ The sergeant and the constable were ( standing side by side oil point duty at ( a busy road junction. A heap big , motor-cycle arid side-car, carrying two knuts, approaches at speed, and is genially waved down its desired turning. As the outfit passes the peelers it sheds a very expensive tyre pump on the ’ard ’igh road. ' Constable (fortel: “Hi!” Sergeant (fortissimo): “Ho; you ' there!” Motor-cycle accelerates at speed, and disappears in a cloud of dust. Seregant (sotto voce) : “Wonder what 1 they’ve done!” All men are born free and equal, but most of them get married. God made the country; man made the roads; and the devil made the detours. ' Slow thinkers used to live longest; but now the automobile lias changed all or this. According to the Washington Star, happiness has to be cranked, while trouble has a self-starter. | THE QUESTION OF DIMMING. At the annual conference in Wellington on the question of dazzling headlights remits were carried protesting to the Minister against certain , motorists being prosecuted for not dimming lights. The union considers, j that the practice of dimming, except in well-lighted streets, should not be encouraged, for grave danger lies in suoli practice, owing to the human eye not being able to refocus sufficiently quickly to meet the '■ altered light. Motorists will agree as to the danger in difficult parts of roads, especially where hilly,. but it is essential that some means must be found to protect the motorist who has only medium headlights. “PARKING 20 MINUTES.” 1 Writes “Focus” in the New Zealand Herald :—■ Life is growing very difficult for the motorist. There was a. time when sootv plugfi, choked carburettors, blocked jets, carboniferous cylinders, broken sprngs, punctured tyres, leaky valves, and watery petrol were the . chief of his worries. All these evils , might descend upon him at once, even , on the day he stripped his g°nrs. but • the chances were against it. He could ■ generally depend on encoun.tei’ing s them, one at, a time, so that his'existr ence was full of interest, and he had » no time really to ivorry unduly aboutc the . condition of the roads, or the - essential sheepishness of the average I pedestrian. Now, however, he has his r days darkened and his nights made 1 horrid, by speculating on the probable form and dimensions of the licence " fees and other exactions soon to be 5 collected from him. Let him venture , forth a.t night and wit at ■ happens? ’ Every little while he sees looming k ominously in the distance a red lightseeming to be saying, “Driver, , bo--3 ware, driver take care; danger is near, , so beware.” Now as he glides neace--5 fully down street, be meets flaring 3 notices, “"Parking 20 minutes.” No i longer, if haled before the court, will ; it he nnv use for him to say be did b not know how long he could park t without being impounded. EVen if l be pleads be Ims no watch, or cannot 3 ted the fne'\ the presiding magistrate r will probably nrov'e unsympathetic. 1 Whnf. is more, the notices do not sav ■ whether be may park, or most nark r for 20 minutes. These litt-Ie points ’ r are rarely made clear to the worried * motorist. Yes, life is growing very ' difficult for him.

THE BEST DRIVERS

lii ■ vieiv of the fairly general imression that women drivers are less eliable and more reckless than men. ; is somewhat illuminating (writes ‘Forms’’ in the Herald) to hear a- reassuring opinion expressed by an exerieneed official of the Auckland City Jouucil’s traffic, department whose .uties entail the daily comparison of cores of official drivers’ tests. He is lie of the staff with whom the nerous 'beginner comes in disillusioning ontaet. when he essays forth to earn lis or her driver’s certificate, and. lthough the proportion of women [rivers is substantially smaller than nen, it may he taken that lie lias ac[uired a. fairly accurate standard of omparison between the respective ■apabilities of men and women lrivers. “I can scarcely agree with that dew.” he said, when referred to the >pinion expressed hv an English cornier to the effect that women drivers instituted a. higger potential danger m the road than men. There are, >f course, nervous women and nerroue men. hut the proportion is not mduly overbalanced one way or the >th.er. The official went on to sav that ,vh.ile it was usually considered idiat vomen were naturally nervous and excitable compared with men. the fact •enmined that the comparatively few vomen who took up driving were of a bore or less self-reliant type. “When ■ vomen come to me for certificates,” le ■said, “'they usually come after having had a good deal of practice. Men. ic-wever, will sometimes come with itt-Te or no practice at all, and trust to m-k and good fortune to bluff it :,h rough. “The best drivers I get are young non and young women —not irresponsible hoys and girls—hut young people if resource and capacity to learn. T 'ffen find that thev are a-s reliable in ~iVht eorhers as the most experienced lrivers. There are a few Auckland lirls. too, wbb are expert drivers of the best type—curls who have acquired a repntatimi among motoriimpeople for their adept ness on the road. “If -you want to know who are th" worst drivers,” the official concluded “T will tell you. They are the dd men. You would he ’surprised at the number of old, men who try to get a drive r ’s Certificate. Only the othel- - I. was caught-in the-clutches'of an dd man of 65, who 'same to nie for a ticket in a- brand new sedan. Through l'he entire test. I was in deadlv fear of my life. We took comers at dangerous angles and at twice the s.reed taken in going along the straight; in traffic-con crested street® th«j experience was r>. nightmare; and -o-hen T had to withheld rpv sanction for the issue e.f a. ticket he actually suggested he should do> the test over again. I told him I could not. uu-ipr any consideration, accompany him.” A USEFUL ACCESSORY. THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR, The “rear-view” mirror is a * most useful and important little accessory, which does not appear to he used; by motorists as much as it should. We refer particularly to that type of mirror which is fitted to the centre top of the wind-screen frame, and by its U3e one is able to see what is at the hack of the car without the necessity | of having to turn round; in other words, you can keep your eye on the road ahead and at the same time see clearly what is coming behind you. These rear-view mirrors are fitted with a universal joint so that they may be adjusted to any angle, whereby according to the height of the windscreen, the position of the driving seat and the stature of the driver, a clear vision of the road at the back of the car may be had. Such a mirror is just as satisfactory whether the hood is up or down; for, shpuld ’the hood he up, the mirror is so adjusted that the Tbaclc curtain light domes directly within its rangb of vision ; thus an uninterrupted view of the road at the back is at all times visible. By the use of such a device many an accident has been averted, for, when used to driving with a rear-view mirror, the motorist habitually looks into it (sees into it out of the corner of his eye, as it were), and when once a motorist got used to one he would certainly never attempt to drive without it. The centre wind-shield type of mirror is a vast improvement on the old type of small framed mirror, which was affixed to the right-hand screen standard; as a rule, the glass was a sniall. one, usually round or oval, and consequently 'the field of vision was limited. Eater again the spotlight was provided with a small rear-view mirror, but this was constructed: of a round convex glass, which gave a distorted image; so much, that in viewing anything in it approaching from behind one moment it was a tiny speck in the centre of the mirror, and the next moment it entirely covered its face, thus the proximity of the approaching car was very often, misjudged and might have easily resulted in an accident. There are several makes of this new ! ‘centre-wind-shield’’ type of mirror (which are usually of rectangular shape, about six inches long by about two inches wide); some of them clamp on to the screen frame by nieans of a set screw or screws, and others are permanently liolted on, hut are fitted with a universal joint and are consenuently adjustable at will to any desired angle.