Testing Braking Power

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6837, 19 April 1932, Page 9

Testing Braking Power

Owners of cars arc prone' to leave tho braking of their cars until it actually goes wrong instead of testing the system at intervals to make sure everything is right. The appended table will give a very fair idea as to how efficient the brakes are. Calculated on a co-efficiont adhesion of o.B—a figure seldom exceeded in practice—the following may be regarded as a good standard of stopping distances on dry, level roads, four-wheel brakes being employed :

A flight of wild pigeons ditched a ear and caused tho driver to be seriously injured in a road accident near Ljubljana, Slovenia. Tho pigeons roso suddcnlv in a cloud iti front of tho car and beat against the windscreen. Tho driver, unable to see through the cloud, drove into the ditch and was severely injured by splinters of glass from the broken windscreen.

Almost without, exception the framework of the modern car body is of selected timber. British experiments indicate, however, that the all-metal body may shortly be expected. Striking success has been achieved by t-ho replacement of the timber frame with a frame of a new aluminium alloy, which is both lighter and stronger than timber.

At 10 m.p.h., car stops in tin. At 20 m.p.h., car stops in 17ft, At 30 m.p.h., car stops in 371ft At 40 m.p.h., car stops in OS ft. At 50 m.p.h., ea.r stops in 150ft At CO m.p.h., car stops in 150 ft At 70 m.p.h., car stops in 213 ft At SO m.p.h., car stops in 20011