MOTORING WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 291, 7 November 1929, Page 4

MOTORING WORLD.

NEW FEATURES TO ATTRACT PEOPLE. REMARKABLE STRIDES IN DESIGN. In the history of automobile development there have come at certa»u times new features winch have attractde many people, and accelerated the desire to buy a car. Witness the change from open car models to closed. The advent of the closed body gave the automobile at that particular time a stimulus, or selling feature which has not lost its power to-day. The selfstarter provided .a second outstanding feature. It increased the market by putting the automobile within reach of women drivers. A lady with a crank in her hand starting the engine was not a very appealing argument for women to drive oars. _ Next came cord balloon tyres. Besides reducing the cost of tyre unkeep, they added to the comfort of motoring and also enhanced the car’s appearance. Amongst the new features to attract the attention of the car ..buying public to-day are the gear-changing devices which have. been introduced by some of the leading English manufacturers, chromium plating, and the front-wheel drive principal, which is being .tested by one or two companies in England and America. If one looks back at the cars of the last four or five years, it is easy to see that development has very largely taken the lines of body design, simplicity of operation, and of saving the owner trouble in maintaining, his car in good order. The strides made during this short time by automobile engineers have been phenomenal.

COMFORT AT THE WHEEL. As the problems of driving an automobile multiply, questions of physical fitness and readiness, which were scarcely considered a few years- ago, are pressing to the front. Provided that the driver’s seat is correctly adjusted in its position in relation to proper handling of throttle, brakes, and steering gear on the part of the individual driver, an upright position is best. It is not possible to keep fully alert after hours of driving, slumped into the sent with the chest compressed so as not to admit the free entrance of air into the lungs and the spinal column subjected to continuous strain. It is not necessary to fall into an incorrect posture in order to effect that change of position which .affords relief from sitting in one attitude. To cultivate a good posture in driving may be a little difficult at first and entail some muscular strain until the body responds and it becomes second nature. The use of drivers’ seats which can be adjusted to the size of the driver and afford support to the back, and which make it unnecessary for one to . adopt, unusual attitudes m the control of. the car, is not only a factor for health, but also for safety in driving.. It requires less expenditure of strength and nervous energy, to drive a oar in the correct posture than when the driver permits himself to slouch. The driver who sits up straight is more alert and in a better position to respond

to emergencies which require quick thought and action on congested roads, DEFENDING SPEED RECORD. Mr Kaye Don, the English racing' motorist, who is going next year to Daytona, U.S.A., to defend England’s; title to the world’s fastest speed record, established by Sir Henry Segrave, has .recently tested various ex-; perimental developments which Mr Louis Coatalen, the world-famous designer, proposed to incorporate in the car now being built for the record attempt. Among them was an improved system of braking. With this system the driver was able to pull up his car from a speed of nearly 150 m.p.h. within 500 yards. Rapid acceleration and good breaking are two of • t he most important features in connection with any .attempt on the world’s speed record. At Daytona, for example, Sir Henry Segrave -equired about six miles in which to stop his car in safety at 231 miles an hour. ' The new car is being built for a speed in excess of 280 m.p.h., so that without very wonderful braking the 15-mile straight course on the sands at Daytona would not give a lopg enough run for such a car to pull up in safety. THE CLOSED CAR. The trend of automobile design of recent years has been toward the closed model, there now being in use more of this kind than of open models. The problem of. ventilating closed oars has been given a great deal of attention by designers, due to the fact that a few cases of death by monoxide gas

poisoning have occurred beoauso of lack of proper ventilation. Besides this, it is a well known fact that the air within a closed car during the winter months is not as fresh as it might be. A very good rear window ventilator has been invented recently in U.S. A., which consists of a metal frame mounted in the rear of automobile bodies to take the place of the fixed window glass which is ordinarily used. In this metal frame there are two plates of glass, the upper one being supported by a metal flange,* which extends across the top and sides, and the lower one being supported by metal flanges on each side. These two are adjustable very much in the same manner as are ordinary windscreens. Adjustment is effected by means of a rod which is raised cr lowered to tilt the glass plates outward or to close them. RUSSIAN CARS. ' The £1,000,000 tractor plant at the mouth of the Volga in Southern Russia. which will be built by the Russian Government, is the beginning of a fiveyear industrial development plan, involving a siim that ' will exceed £20,00D,000. Resides the Stalingrad plant, which will have annual capacity of 40,000 tractors, the Government plans a motor-car factory capable of - produc-' ing 100,000 units annually, and a motor truck; plant with an annual production of 10,000 three-ton trheks, besides other factories of similar character.