MOTORING WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 116, 12 April 1930, Page 14

MOTORING WORLD.

NOTES. ’ In future solid tyres for motor vehicles will be prohibited in Norway. In Spain only the Royal family can have its cars painted blue, while in China red cars are prohibited. • Following the 1 example set by London, Paris lias installed a turntable for motor-cars in a narrow street. When a car is smelted down at the end of its day of useful service its value, according to an American expert, is 15s. A feature of -a wealthy American’s motor-car is a specially constructed horn which, when sounded, emits the word “Jump!” instead of the usual noise. . It is suggested by a Newcastle magistrate that pedestrians alighting, from front exits of tramcars should be taught to pause, before crossing the road until the tram has moved. A drastic move has been made by tho authorities in Vienna to overcome the traffic congestion problem. All horsedrawn vehicles are to bo prohibited in , the inner city. It is stated that this measure is found necessary by reason if the increasing number of cars which block the, streets of the old city, more particularly in the evening when the offices and shops are closing. In order to further Australian interest in British car, manufacturers’, products, Lord Wakefield of Hytho lias consented to the “Golden Arrow',” the famous machine which holds the world’s land speed record, making a tour of Australia. It arrived ,at Fremantle per the Orama on April 1, and will be on view in all the large towns; it is understood that on its return to England the car will bo formally handed ov;er, on behalf of Lord Wakefield, to the South Kensington Museum authorities.

0 ROAD SENSE. 1 THE RISKS OF OVERTAKING. T f Before the advent of the automobile, road rules and courtesies wero punctiliously handed down, and there was a f code of behaviour, not written, but u:ii- - versaily understood. With tire coni--3 ing of the automobile things changed (states a writer in uti exchange). The 1 same rules applied —they apply to- • day—but there arose various and numi erous contingencies not known to the ■ horse-drawn vehicle driver. The Licyclo was the instrument which extended road usage to the multitude, and was then the fastest vehicle on the road. ' The cyclist represented the ■ npw road user drawn from the populace, from the class which liad never I before had charge of a vehicle, on the i public highway Being a peculiarly . vulnerable and fragile vehicle, the ■ rider of it had to conform, and con--1 form quickly, with the accepted usage. 1 In many cases ho had to sink his .full rights, because neither as an individual nor as a class was he strong enough to enforce them. But the cyclist gained road senso in a way which was not possible in the ease of any other road user. } Road seuse comes of road use. It can come in. no other way, and any kind of extended road use will give road sense to any but the really careless and inconsiderate. The first lesson, taught by sheer force of self-pro-tection, of course, is to keep to tlie left. The beginner generally hugs tho left side of the road closely, but ho soon finds it more comfortable tnd easier to drive well on tho crown tf the road, away from the side camber. Once he has learned this and is of a normally fair-minded type, ho will allow the other driver the same room for safely. He will not crowd him into the side camber. RoSd sense will also be developed concerning such matters as the apparent positions of two vehicles, their relative rates of travel and where they may be expected to pass or overtake one another. AVlien overtaking with an oncoming car in view the correct judgment of the relative speeds of the three cars is most important. One can determine whether there will, be time to overtake and assume the left-hand position, before the Oncoming car is met. This provides the acid test of road sense. Generally the good driver will hold back. The inexperienced fellow may “go for it.” The point to remember is that the driver about to be overtaken may upset all'calculations Ly accelerating, in < which case this may lead to a particularly tight corner. The safety of the overtaking car is entirely dependent on the driver of the left-hand vehicle. He is master of the situation and can easily baulk dnyone who wishes to pass without having any legal : responsibility for it, since the chance < was not taken by him. ... Real road sense comes to one s aid an ] any contingency on the highways— : counselling the driver to “safety i first” and deterring him from taking .i any unnecessary risk which may involve two or three cars in an accident, s

THRILLING FLIGHT OVER AFRICAN JUNGLE. TO SAVE LIFE OF ANGOLA WOMAN MISSIONARY. PILOT FORCED TO LAND IN DENSE FOREST. Advice has just been received by the Vacuum Oil Company Pty., Ltd., of a thrilling flight from Johannesburg to Angola (Portugueso West Africl) made by Lieut. J. R. King to save the life of a woman missionary in Angola. An urgent message had been despatched for an anti-hydrophobia serium. Lieut. King set out on Iris 6000 mile journey with .the serum carefully placed in his inside pocket. At one stage of his journey he ran almost out of petrol. Below were thousands of square miles of dense jungle. He came across a little dried patch of river. bed, and nosing his machine he made a safe landing. So close were the trees on either side that he could almost lean out of the machine and touch them, l’ho next day, natives arrived. on the scene, and with their aid the machine was dismantled in order to make it portable. After covering 14 miles, they reached a clearing, which Lieut. King considered wodld permit him to take off when he had some petrol. A porter was sent to Lubango and in due course returned with a supply of fuel. When King arrived at Lubango, the Portuguese Governor of this territory ordered an army of native convicts to clear and level a length of dried up river bed so that King could take off, and with his tanks and cockpit once more full of fuel lie departed on the last lap to Malange. ' At Malange, the package containing the serum for the dying missionary woman was put on a small hand trolley and reached the mission station by terrestial transport over the last few miles of its romantic journey. The finest view of Africa that Lieut. King obtained in that 6000-mile journey was the great estuary of the Congo. At the placo where he commenced to cross, the river was so wide that he could not see across it. Studded with great islands, dark equatorial vegetation and steaming with the mists from the swamps on both banks, it was an unforgettable sight. Lieut. King’s flight must be one of the most remarkable in- the history of aviation. ENGINE DECELERATION. While touring car speeds are on the increase and curs travel quite fast m safety, the owner should not be unmindful of the best method of ing speed at cross-roads, on approaching bends, and on other occasions, for an enormous amount of wear and tear can be avoided if the necessary reductions in road speed are effected by the aid of engino deceleration alone, leaving the brakes. to serve as the final retarding effect and for use in sudden emergencies. ■■■ Considered in the light of design and construction, it might be held that the braking system should be constructed in such a manner that no undue stress should fall upon any part of the chassis or transmission, however violently the brakes may be applied; butj as every motorist knows, numerous examples of twisted axle-shafts, strained splines and badly worn universal joints have been due to perpetually harsh treatment oil the part of car drivers with regard to brake manipulation. Brake design has improved considerably in recent years, but occasionally one encounters examples of touring cars in which the actual adjustment of the brakes varies with the load carried in the' car, so that if the brakes are regulated to work properly with one or two passengers up, they may be found to drag when the car is filled to capacity. . _ . A car possessing ’this defect is a source of anxiety, because if adjusted for full-load operation the brakes may not come fully into action when .the car is light, and, on the other hand, additional stresses may be imposed upon the engino and transmission by dragging brakes when the car is fully loaded, should the adjustment be regulated for the maximum braking effect for light loads. This may ontail frequent adjustment of the brakes for varying loads which, though in:onvenient, is the only safe plan to follow with an imperfectly designed brake lay-out. THE CAR KEPT WARM.

o New Zealand does not possess so 1 many motorists who suffer from thee car-that’s-got-so-cold-it-won’t-start as England, but a small invention recestly l patented there relieves everyone of the - anxiety of having a garage too cold to p make starting easy in the winter moml ings. in this scheme an electrical immer- • sion heater is fitted transversely in the sump, so as to be covered by the oil, and is connected to a switcr on the dash. Combined with the switch, there 1 ie a plug by means of which the wiring | can be connected to the electric mains , when the car is in its garage. The i switch is provided with three positions whereby different degrees of heating can be obtained in accordance with weather conditions. By using this device the oil is maintained in a warm and fluid state so that when started in the morning the engine can at once be revved without any risk of bearing failure or damage to the pistons and cylinders. The inventor found that the conduction of heat from the oil through all the metal parts of the en- 0 gine is such that the water in the jackets is warmed and kept in circulation, so that there is no danger of freezing. In one experiment the inventor placpd two gallons of oil. at 41 degrees F., in the crankcase and H gallons of water at 40 degrees F., in the radiator. Tho heater was then switched on to the “three-heat” position, and the temperatures were again measured after three hours. It was found that ' the oil in the sump had been brought up to 85 degrees F. and that the temperature of the water was 57 degrees F. at the top of the radiator and 62 degrees F. around the combustion heads. In tho case of a car run into the garage at night with the engine hot it is clear that quite a small heating current would suffice to maintain the oil and water at a considerable temperature. y