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Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 25 June 1927, Page 15

MOTORING

HIGHWAY CONDITIONS.

CARE OF NEW CARS.

THOUGHTLESS MOTORISTS.

NEW TYPES OF CARS.

WELLINGTON TO Al INLAND. The ilijigiliwiay between Wellington and Audclami is 6iuo.w«.ng signs of wear, and. in .seme placets is bla.diy pot-holed. Between -Weldingitoiu and Raekakainki new lo'iinaitiiion is being delayed, and the suria.ee is not pleasant. Lonuicnous vary from good .to fair u*' far as Mew Rlynipntih, aillter which, the surfaces ibegm to .show signs of detenio.ilat.km. From Lbn.ga.pormu >Mokau maintenance seems to. ibe neglected and bad .pot-holes make unpleasant aiding. The Mohan River bridge is progressing favourably, and ia. tew months wilt see the old punt a tli'iing of the past (writes “Focus” in the “Mew Zealand Herald”). A large gang ns keeping the Awakino Valley Road in reasonable repair, but some very targe metal is .being laid, and this does not at alt conform with modern methods ojf road making. Once out of the gouge itself, unpleasant; potholes again appear, and the surface is neglected to Mahoenui. lire portion on to Auckland varies from fair to inditterent, land last week the most neglected parts of the road were the AViaipa Oounty’s sections appriaohing either sii.de o.f Hlaimilton, the Ngaruawahia-Taupiri Road under the j U'iiisd|iotiori of the W aikato. County, and the Huntly Town .Board s area. The uanrow .road .south of J iangiriri (s being widened, and this should be fit for traffic next .summer. Good work is being done lait Mercer, and the liaising and widening of the narrow strip ‘behind the station us being done without interfering with the present traffic route. Strange methods .seem to have been adopted at the Manurewa overhead railway bridge; unnecessary holes were at the end of tfie concrete approaching the bridge. Although receiving a subsidy for the maii.ntenan.oe of the two chains of rood north of the Win bridge, the Manokau county is not keeping the road in good repair, and an improvement could be easily effected. Tabling the roads as a whole, much improvement can be noted on the trip to Wellington, but, judging from the various systems of maintenance adopted, motorists will require some very definite assurance of an improvement before they will agree tq a new motor tax.

DANGER OF HIGH SPEED'S

One of the worst things that can be done to a new ear l.s ito make premature tests of its utmost speed and power. .New oar parts, anti particularly engine pants, require working in, by reason of their very newness. Fresh from the factory they are neoessarily tightly adjusted, and only constant work of the oearings against one another will bed them together with the perfection of the .sweetly running machine that has done upwards of 10U0 miles. With every mile of its running the oar will improve until it is in the pink of condition at the end of 500 or 10CK) miles of caret'lll driving. Maximum speed should be about 20 miles per hour on the level, or 25 miles per hour on a down-grade. it is not much use travelling at a moderate speed over Havel roads if one ojieiis the throttle fully on a hill m order to maintain the same speed. Some expensive ears are fully “run in” by'being driven a considerable mileage in road tests before delivery. But i u the eaise of moderate-priced oars this is not usual, owing to the fact that the expense involved would Immediately send up the price. ft is therefore necessary to. resist the temptation to' drive the evil' all out lor the first few hundred miles, otherwise the engine wilt be likely (to .suffer. Advice to this effect is often printed on strips of paper and stuck to the windscreen as a gentle reminder. On Morris ears, in-steiad of leaving it to. the judgment «f the purchaser. a. washer .is placed in the in till cit.ion .pipe, which, restricts its available diameter. Thus, if the accelerator pedal be pressed down a.s far ns possible, the effect i.s only that of a. half-open, throttle. As well ia.s keeping down the maxinium speed, this limits the hill-climbing powers of .the car, and makes an early change necessary. If tin; driver leariTs in consequence to change down early when climbing bills, it'does good in this way also. After a certain, number of miles the washer can be removed, and the car will be in first-rate condition.

STEAM OMNIBUS. Following the design of a steam oar. an American company iia.s .produced a .steam driven omnibus of orthodox .appearance. The vehicle is driven by a five-cylinder rotary steam engine, and the isteani generator works at .a .pressure of .from 4001 b to 6001 b per square inch. Distillate fuel oil or kerosene is used for the burners, which are lighted electrically. The speed of the bus is regulated by a foot, throttle. 'The engine and boiler are housed .so that it is danpu.vsilble to distinguish the vehicle from a regular .petrol propelled bus. Tihe advantage, claimed for steam propulsion is that it eliminate.'' the clutch and gearbox. A very smooth start is always .possible by merely turning on the full pressure, and a flexible drive at all times saves the wear and tear to which a. bus i.s subjected in the course of its dozens of steps to the hour.

TESTS IN ENGLAND. P'.ilion riding is often described as being dangeious and even suicidal, but it -e .'j.grunoaint that the.se bold assertions have never been backed up by any valid ’Statistics. TlJie lact tma.i pillion raleas rue .involved an minute percentage of .tiie total number of motoring r,j-xlen ts cannot be accepted as an indication that the .sport is perilous, or as a .sound reason why it should be made illegal.

With a view to iprovidiing some tiangJuja proof that there is .Little element •a danger .in (tins, the cheapest, torn), ni transport. for two, an KngLish club i enantly held a reltiaibiility trial for solo madid lias carrying piMiio.ii passengers. 'lilie mute contained .several sections or .greater .sieve riity than the average i.ider would .be Likely to encounter under normal touring condiitioils, and, in spite of this, fact, .about' 93 .per cent. o.i the start ere, who totalled over 100, o<mph'.te.d the course. One of the regulations for the trial concerned pililiimi equipment, and thus wars very strictly eutorced. Jr provided that every competing miaohiine .should be rifted with a pair of foot-boards or footrests wiitli.i.il easy reach ol the ipaiseenger, and tjha.t machines should be equipped with a ipitliiiQn .seat, or unsprung, .securely fixetl to. the frame. A fill-flier requirement wtrs that all passengers must i i.de ,astride. qdie.se regulationis are all excellent ami -.should Ibc -foMoiwod by ©veiny touri.st wiio liras to take a. p&Hsen&er on the cannier.

STOPPING AT BLIND SPOTS

Many novious at the wheel require. Lo have drilled 'into tlieun the error of their ways. Glue very common faulting exhibited by the novice who has not yet acquired a proper rr.i.vd sense is that i.l * stopping by 11 1 e wayside at points where, .bus- isitac.onary veiuiole cieates a leal danger to trailic. Take, for example, the case of the driver who. finds that, say, a good view of the surrounding country tian be obtained from the near side, of the road either oil or close to a blind corner on a. narrow road. As a writer in the “Motor” .slays in discinsisaig the point, no old hand wiitih. the least regard for the safety either ojf his own car or of the vehicles of others would dream of halting in such, a dangerous place; yet the novice—purely thruogh failure to tin. nk—.is often found innocently admirung tihe .scenery, .possibly even making a pi.tunic meal, juslt round a corner or cui.ve that cfliMs for the utmost caution on the part of everyone negotiating it. The obstruction claused by the stationary car is serious for two reasons: if it is on the “far” si.de of the blind spot, there iis si .risk that a vehicle .approaching round the corner may coane upon and collide with it before there is time for the driver of the moving car to swing out towards the other side of the road; also, drivers .approaching the corner from the side on which the car is ..standing are forced to leave their own side in order to pass the stationary vehicle. For a. moment or two they are inevitably .tin the track of cars coming towards them and hidden from them by the. corner, and a .collision is far from improbable .in tihe event of a vehicle ai.riviLng round if lait the critical moment. Should .such a catastrophe take place the novice would seldom realise that it Is his action that has brought it about.

MEETING DOMINION’S NEEDS.

MAKES TO SUIT THE ROADS

“Too little attention has been paid lo trie needes of the Dominions, and if Mew Zealand conditions are similar to these of Australia, i am satisfied the British oar manufacturers should, evolve models which possess, features not incorporated in the majority of tiie popular-priced products now attempting to compete with foreign ears,” said Sir Archibald iioyd-Carpen-ter, head of the British motor (delegation, in an interview with a -New Zealand Herald representative. Sir Archibald .said the British car ..'Ouid hoc be sweep i ugly criticised. Some makes had achieved reputations lor durability under rigorous conditions, and the delegation had encountered some remarkable conflicts of opinion, rie had met Government officials in V ictoria responsible for a fleet of 25 British cars operated under the most difficult conditions, and the upkeep costs over five years had revealed such economies that the. official favoured British cars for every purpose. On the other hand the delegation had met people who. said they would not “touch another British car with a. pair of tongs.” Such controversy had not clouded the salient |K»in:ts on which tiie delegation sought enlightenment, ami, if New Zealand used its cars, in the same manner as Australia, it could not be denied that most British cars r.o be used here required more power, better springing and larger bodies.

GRADE METRES. A very interesting nst r el accessory has recently made its appearance in the motor world in the shape **of a gradient meter, a useful dashboard fixture instrument, by means of which it is possible to tel! at a glance, the steepness of any road which is. being passed over. The works of this instrument are rather interesting. Jt is flash-fitting, with a moving sca’e, which < hows the figures through a small window in the dial itself. A small lamp is enclosed at the rear portion, so that the instrument may he sufficiently illuminated for night driving. Black figures show a rising gradient, ami red ones arc used to indicate a descent. The mechanism itself is on. the pendulum principle, and the method in which this has been applied i.s very clever. The main controlling pendulum is suspended so that it free to take, up a vertical position. It is. obvious that such a pendulum would sway about if uncontrolled and gtive ifnaccuiiaite readings, but this has been prevented by fitting a unique damping device.