THE MOTOR WORLD

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 14 November 1925, Page 17

THE MOTOR WORLD

The g;ood work done by the South Taranaki Automobile Association during the past year was fully disclosed by the comprehensive report submitted at the annual meeting on Tuesday. Lt was an exceedingly good record of work done and an equally promising future for the activities of the association. It has proved itself a very live body and is deserving of the hearty thanks of the whole of tho motoring public. One little thing that is appreciated by visitors. ■ going through and commented on quite often is the provision of signs at the corners of roads, on bridges and at county boundaries. It is certain, too, that the “S.T.A.A. dangerous bend’’ at all danger points is extremely 1 useful and arrests even the motorist who goes over the roads frequently. It was good news and of great interest to motorists to learn that the report on the “Round the Mountain’ roading scheme will be proceeded with at ari early date. All will look forward to its realisation with keen anticipation. The Stratford Mountain House is to lie reopened after a period of “hibernation” as it were, and a celebration ■is being arranged by the Stratford Branch of the Automobile Association. SPARKS. The secretary of the o'tago Motor Club has received advice from the Canterbury Automobile Association that the Selwyn River is not fordable. There are now 2810 motor cycles in Finland. "V Superchargers on some American racing cars run at the enormous speed ot ~207000 r.p.m. An American gallon measure is approxieately four-fifths of an Imperial gallon. It is a dangerous practice to permit luggage to extend beyond the side ot the running-boards. In 12 months nearly 4000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured in road accidents in Great Britain. $ ’ It is estimated that 400,000,000 gallons of petrol are wasted annually at a daily cost of £'55,000 by idling engines in America. To equip a Polish motor car factory, orders for machine tools to the value of £75,000 have, it is stated, been placed with a Coventry engineering firm. A motorist summoned to appear in an English police court sent a blank cheque marked “Not to exceed one pound.” There is a sign in a southern Ohio village which reads: “men two oars come to a crossing both shall stop. Neither shall go until the other & gone.”

A motorist in England was driving with the windscreen open, when a wasp flew in and stung him, causing him to swerve into a ditch, from which the car had to be extricated by a breakdown car. “Yes, that’s the car for me.” “You won’t like it, old man; it has only three speeds.” “That’s the car for me; one less to change.” Mounted on an N.S.U. outfit, a German motor cyclist with * two passengers lately left Mannheim _ for a trip round the world. The rider hopes to cover a distance of 25,000 miles in eight months. ■ An enterprising Dublin ice cream merchant has recently purchased a Roval Enfield tradesman’s outfit for retailing his wares at neighbouring seaside resorts. Constable, after hard chase: ’’Why didn’t you stop when I shouted, hack there?” Driver, with only five dollars, but presence of mind: “I thought you just said, ‘Good morning, senator.” Constable: “Well, you see, senator, I wanted to warn you about driving fast through the next township.’

The Olympia (London) motor show revealed a tendency to brighter colours and finer coaehwork, including imitations of walnut and oak, inlaid with silver, to match the .bonnet-. Coloured hoods have appeared, matching the lady owners’ most brilliant hats and gowns. One oak-panelled limousine is fitted for a. bridge party, with dainty hanging lamps, with chintz shades and chintz curtains. Owing to ' the destruction of part of the course by a tornado, the Czechoslovakian Tourist Trophy race, which was to have been held last month, has been abandoned for this year. British machines were to have made a big bid for supremacy. When a funnel is not available an easy way to fill the storage battery is by‘placing the screwdriver over the hole and pouring the water slowly along the shank. The tool will • direct the water into tlie battery without spilling. When water is not at hand to help find a small pinhole puncture, a i good method is to use some cigar ashes or tyre talc for the purpose. With this on the ground inflate the tyre and rotate it a little above the ash lhe leak can he found by the disturbance made in the ash or powder. INADEQUATE PENALTIES. GOOD ROADS ENCOURAGE SPEED. Various journals have been inviting correspondence- on the subject of the prevention of accidents, and Mr G. R Ritchie, of Dunedin, who is at present visiting England, has something to say on the question.

<( As a visitor to this country,” he writes in a letter to The- Times, “I am more l than surprised at the number of motoring accidents. Such occurrences are bad enough in the United States of America and Canada, through which countries I lately passed. Greater discrimination should be shown in the issuing of driving licenses; also penalties should be made heaviei for fast driving, and pillion riding should be prohibited. Good roads encourage speed. I have recently driven in the outskirts of -London with the speedometer showing 30 miles an hour, and have boon passed by many ears and bicycles which must have been driven at 40 or 50 miles, llio pena.ties I have noticed for excessive- speed, and in many cases for causing bodily harm, seem totally inadequate —indeed, fre quently the driver’s license is not even interfered with. 'Such offenders with tn. are very severely dealt with; also, in many parts of the country, pillion nding is prohibited. ’ ’ GEAR CHANGING. THE WHY OF IT ALL. No doubt the time will come jylien the motor-car will not be ,the blnee geared vehicle of the present Type. AI ready some makers boast that then c i will do anything “on top and experiments have proved that this -is possibl. Cars with hiked gears have negotiated specially -selected hills on top so that Iven to-day we haye the car that can be used for all work on one gear (say C S Clancy in the Sydney Sun.) That i s sufficient for the car s tisement, hut all the same, presentday cars, especially the light, cars, <aic three-geared, and can only be used as such, though many drivers make the mistake of putting the car to a hill and expecting it to climb without changing down. That too, in some instances, is possible with the light car, but it is not altogether fair to the car. One great mistake often made by the- salesmen when impressing the novice is what the car will do. Probably it will do all that is claimed for -it, but it is not giving the car a fair deal. For instance you hear the salesman say that the car can do 30 miles on second gear irue enough, but who. wants to test the flexibility of the engine by tearing along at 30 in seebnd gear? ... ~ The npw driver of to-day as he is taught to drive by the seller of the car .’earns about one-fifth of what he should know about driving to get the best out of his car. The first thing taught i s . how to ch.£ingß gears, and., ol course, ‘tins conies with the steering part of the training. Naturally there is nothing in steel ing the car,“but it is a big item for the novice when, besides steering, he has to change gear. It then becomes very difficult. As a matter of tactsteering takes more of the attention of the novice than does gear-shifting. To the novice gear-shifting is just a necessary evil, and has very little to do with the driving of the car. Most novices have no idea of why the geius should he used at all, but they quickly find that a change is necessary when the car begins to rock and jump. But the quicker the gears are moved and the car is in top where it will not bo necessary to change again, the bettei for the experience. And with the idea of not. having to change gear again the novice bounds off into second and a« quick as possible into top. There he is content to move along until, with a dreadful feeling, he notices that it will he necessary to°slow clown. This he does, and so much so that the engine commences to labour. Hero the lesson is incomplete insofar as the instructor al'ows the pupi.|; to accelerate and pull along on the terrific strain that is placed on the engine. And this preliminary lesson shapes the destiny of the novice as a driver. On that abhorrence for

the gear change he goes out into the world with his car, and always he fears the gear change. In most cases he has never learnt the change down from top to second when in slow traffic. There has never been time to teach him that. How many drivers who have been taught when purchasing their car have learnt thoroughly the use of the gears? Very few, and it- is one of the faults of the modern driver that lie has little idea of the use of the gears so far as getting the best speeds out of the car is concerned. What- a wonderful advantage to the car when it is driven with judicious use of the gears! What freedom and noiseless changes, when the car’s pulling power needs a different or a change of gears! Proper gear change with accompanying acceleration and gentle manipulation can never damage the en-o-ine. .It is an art that should be practised at all times by the driver, and only a competent drive,r can enjoy the simplicity with which the car is handled when he knows the satisfaction to be gained from a. gentle change. Of course, with the gears there is this to be noted : One must have perfect carburetion and must understand relative engine speeds. The correct revolutions of the engine when changing down must be given quickly with the slightest touch of the accelerator, and if! the response from the engine is not perfect you may have great difficulty in getting a perfect change. ” The proper carburet!on which tunes the engine up to the. right pitch and allows the engine to tick over perfectly is most necessary, as the carburettor, which will not id 1 © the engine, and causes it to race, prevents at all times any chance of getting a perfect change. After all, though, this merely.amounts to tuning the carburettor, and often that is the work of a few minutes. With the attempt of the novice to get the car to pull on top when the engine is labouring, the clutch often comes in for abuse, for often when it is being allowed to come in as the engine is pulling away, it is made to pull by means of acceleration at the same time. This is disastrous, for it causes slipping and wasted power and should be avoided at all times. Yet how often do you -see the experienced driver making his car pull away on top out of heavy traffic, so as to avoid a change into second gear?

AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATIONS. A USEFUL SUGGESTION. A scheme to assist motorists who suffered breakdowns in the country, far away from telephones, was briefly outlined by the president of the Canterbury Automobile Association to the general council. Mr Nicholson stated that when finances improved the associations should enedavour to make arrangements with the Telegraph Department to erect ' telephone boxes, marked “C.A.A. ’phone,” on certain stretches of road or on other roads where motorists had to walk about six miles before reaching a telephone. If possible, the telephone should be installed in a roadside cottage. This would he of great benefit to members, and was similar to. the scheme put in force by the Royal Automobile Club.