MOTORING NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 144, 22 May 1925, Page 11

MOTORING NOTES

None of the old excuses for not owning a car apply to-day. Before the war there were plenty of people who used to say that they were waiting for tho arrival of the £IOO car. To-day if we write down tho purchasing value of the pound to its proper figure their dream has nearly come true, while the price of many cars is now well below their pre-war cost and covers an equipment which would have meant expensive extras in 1914. One can buy serviceable vehicles, fully equipped, at astonishingly low prices, as compared "with those available a few years buck. Still a better value for money is olFered by purchasing a second-hand ear, taking advantages of the high initial depreciation during tho first year a car is in use.

Apart from the astounding value in cars to-day—fancy buying a well-equipped, luxurious saloon for a few hundred pounds, or a touring car to hold four persons at from £2OO to £3OO. Running costs are also cheap. The consumption of petrol by the up-to-date efficient automobile engine has been materially reduced thus helping to bring down the upkeep costs. Improvement in engine lubrication have made the consumption of oil negligible, whilst pneumatic tyres are better than they have ever been and cheaper, plus giving big mileages. The advantages of owning a car are now so apparent, and the cost of purchase and upkeep so reduced that the ownership of an automobile is now well within the reach of hundreds of thousands of Australians who have not yet experienced the pleasure of owing and driving a car. The growing popularity of motoring in the Commonwealth is reflected in the fact that during the yaers 1923 and 1924 some 120,000 cars were sold in Australia, more, than the total number of automobiles sold in "this country from 1900 to the end of 1922.

The choice and use of oils is an important one to owners of motor cycles and the following remarks from “Motor Cycling” (Eng.) will bo of interest to many motorists in this country: — Motorcyclists in the novitiate stage may well be divided into two classes; those in whom the mechanical instinct is now about to blossom, and those—-luckily by far the smaller class —to whom machanical things make no appeal. On the question of lubrication, about which there is always great doubt in the mind of the novice, a member lof the second class should adhere rigidly to the advice given by the makers of his machine or engine, for, should he succumb to the temptation to experiment, the results may very well be disastrous. The mechanically minded man, however, need not consider himself bound to observe the, advice given by . the makers in quite so strict, a sense. He will by instinct, no less than through warnings in the Press, turn away from the temptation to use i!i unknown or unsealed oil on account of its lower cost. But he will probably also realise that in the matter of offering advice a manufacturer’s position is not a little difficult. No hard and fast rules can be laid down, at any rate, as to the quantity of oil required by the engine, since this must obviously vary with the conditions; and as a rule the maker knows, but little of the load carried by a rider, or the speed at which he rides, or even the number and steepness of the bills easily encountered.

iii those circumstances the manufacturer is forced to recommend clients to give their engines normally an amount of oil which the testers have found sufficient for fairly arduous work, so that the risks of a seizure shall bo minimised. Realising this, then, the intelligent, rider may well take as a starting point the maker’s recommendation, and may then proceed to discover for himself the amount of oil best suited to his particular machine under his local conditions. Reverting again to tho brand of od, even a rider of long experience should not depart from the advice of the maker. It is a matter of considerable skill to blend an oil for an air-cooled petrol motor, on account of the wido variations of temperature that occur in different parts of an engine. The lubricant must bo so constituted that, it is not too viscous when the engine is cold, nor too fluid when hot; and it must not easily turn to carbon, or lose any of .its properties at high temperatures. . ~ The big oil concerns have a world-wide reputation for excellence in the blending of oils, and no doubt also many of the smaller companies produce an excellent lubricant; but tho testing of such oils is obviously best left to the- makes of the engine, for, should they find that a certain oil decomposes or burns away very rapidly at high temperatures, it would hardly be safe to use it on the road. Once a violent seizure has occurred in a petrol engine, even tho renewal of tlio parts immediately affected will not invariably restoro the pristine silky running and flexibility’. ' . Over this question of lubrication wo often feel that there hangs an unnecessary cloud of semi-mystery. The manufacturer, for his own protection, recommends a certain brand of oil, and sometimes places a small notice on the tank or elsewhere drawing attention to the oil that should be used. This does not mean that this is tho only oil suited to the engine. On tho contrary, the corresponding grade of another brand would do equally well, but it is important to remember that a different grade of the brand recommended might be quite unsuitable. In oils, the character of the lubricant is paramount, the make—so long as it is well known, being of secondary importance.

A device for electrically signalling the direction in which a motor car is about to turn has been patented by a Blenheim resident. The danger of children driving toy trucks and rolling motor-car tyres up and down the streets and footpaths was commented on at a sitting of the Juvenile Court at New Plymouth. The comments arose out of an information laid against two boys, who were charged with riding on the footpath in a box fitted with home-made wheels. The Magistrate (Mr A. Mowlern) said lie hoped that all parents would take notice of what the inspector had said on the matter, and that they would see that the trolleys, hoops and tyres were kept off the streets. It was a childish practice, but a dangerous one neverthelesss, and the offenders in this case were admonished and discharged.

FRENCH GRAND PRIX. NEW RULES FOR EUROPE’S BIG RACE. Two of the new recently-issued regulations for this year’s French Grand Prix race, the classic automobile road event of the world, are causing much discussion in Europe. In the first place, the length of the race is to be increased from 500 miles to 621 miles, or 1000 kilometres; and in the second place, no mechanics will be carried on the cars, though these will still be twoseaters. One mechanic for each car will be stationed at the replenishment pits, while his weight in the car will bo represented by ballast. Little criticism* has been directed against the increased distance, though some people consider that it will place too great a strain on the drivers and thus mcreaso the danger. Quite a storm of protest, however, has been raised oyer the proposal to remove the mechanics. In an ordinary road race the mechanic is by no means an idle passenger, l'or, in addition to keeping an over-watchful eye on the large arrav of instruments and gauges on the dash of the modern racing car, he has to watch the road behind to see if other cars wish to overtake the one on which he is travelling, and to exchange the necessary signals with his pit attendants. The critics say that the driver alone cannot possibly undertake these duties in addition to his own. Possibly, as regards a race on an ordinary road circuit they are right, but in this ease the race is to bo run ot Montlhery, where the course is partly race track and partly specially constructed roadway. Every car must be equipped with a mirror to enable the driver to see if another car wishes to pass him..

The Grand Prix is to be run in July. and for months past an army or workmen have been engaged in preparing the new course.

SOUTH AFRICAN REGISTRATIONS. PROVINCIAL CONTROL. Some interesting information regarding motor matters in South Africa is contained in a letter received by Mr J. S. Hawkes, secretary of the Canterbury Automobile Association, from the Transvaal Automobile Club, Johannesburg. The letter states that motor conditions 'in South Africa are governed provineially and that each province of the union 'has its own particular Motor Ordinance. Giving particulars of the registration fees charged in respect of a car, the letter states that the following registration fees and taxation obtain there :

Transvaal, £2 14s 6d; Orange Free State, £3; Cape Province, £6; Natal, £lO plus £3. The municipal vehicular tax amounts to los per wheel.

U.S. TRAINS "HIT." MOTORS COMPETE ON 500-MILE ROUTES. Motor-bus competition is proving a serious matter for trams and trains in New Zealand, but it is not nearly so formidable a rival in the Dominion as the big United States railroads are finding it. A recent issue of the New York Evening Post mentions that the Far West supports along highways (which railroad taxes have helped to build) established bus services between cities in some cases from 400 to 500 miles apart. This, of course (says the Post), is none too good for the railroads serving the territory. The moderate climate lends itself to the successful operation of the commercial motor-bus, and for this and other reasons relief through lessened competition is viewed as remote. From the viewpoint of the transcontinental traffic executive the loss of revenue sustained in passenger service this season may not be repeated to as great an exteut next year. This season the transcontinental railway lines made a play for greater patronage through the creation of additional de luxe train service to .Southern California, and the first day the Southern Pacific's Sunset Limited left New Orleans it went out in two sections. The slump came almost directly, however, according to traffic men, and the rains which have ended the drought came too late materially to improve the situation for the current season.

Some idea of the inroads made in the passenger business of the transcontinental lines may be had from the January reports. Southern Pacific reported passenger revenues of 4,512,369 dollars, a decrease of 532,428 dollars as compared with the same month last year.f In the case of the Union Pacific, gross passenger revenue amounted to 2,387,767 dollars, a decline of 200,163 dollars from January, 1924.-. The chain of hotels maintained throughout Florida by the Florida East Coast railway, has served capacity crowds since the start of the season, according to the company’s figures. Atlantic Coast Line’s business, to judge by latest reports, is bcfoming along with everything else down there. Meanwhile, the transcontinental traffic men are planning ahead to next year, hoping to win tlieir erstwhile patrons back to their first loves aud confident of their ability to accomplish this end,