LAND SPEED RECORD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21168, 28 April 1932, Page 15

LAND SPEED RECORD.

PARTY again at beach. EARLY ATTACK PLANNED. After nearly five months' waiting, Mr. Gorman Smith and his racing car aro back at the Ninety-Mile Beach in readiness to attack three wcrld's speed records this week-end. The driver hopes that the revolving windscreen made and fitted in Auckland will enable him to drive at gpeed on a wet beach, as he expects that any s a,ic ' or watc: thrown on the screen will be removed instantly by the felt ■wipers, giving hiri clear vision throughout. Reports received from the beach earlier in the week stated that the surface was in fair condition. The sand bars which formed in February and prevented an attempt then have now disappeared completely and the Irttach is said to bo fairly smooth with the exception of a slight washout near the 13-mile peg. Mr. Smith plans to attack tie world's 10 kilometres and five miles/ records on Saturday, and the land speed record for one mile on Sunday. He returned to the beach with his staff last, week-end, taking the Enterprise with him. It is considered likely that, the car will be slowed to a certain extent by having to run on the wet sand, but Mr. Smith hopes the engine will develop sufficient power to allow him to succeed in spite of this handicap. Departure of Officials. Officials of the Auckland Automobile Racing Club, Limited, together with Mr. Kelvin Cuff and his staff of timing experts, will leave for Awanui North by motor-car this morning. They will arrivo this evening, and will complete the necessary preliminary work to-morrow. On this occasion there will be necessary nowhere near the great deal of preparation involved when the party first went to th« beach in January, as every detail has been carefully' planned. Local residents will supply the necessary help in flagging the course, and it is most unlikely that the tedious task will have to be repeated several times to no purpose, .is was the case in the past. The officials hope the whole venture will be concluded in a few days, and are anxious for Mr. Smith to - succeed in the attempt he has been so long prevented from making. AIR WHEELS FOR CARS. The development of a new form of pneumatic tyre for private cars and commercial vehicles by the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company is an interesting move, in that an attempt has been made to do away with the ordinary road wheels as such, and in their place to use pneumatic tyres mounted to all intents and purposes directly on to the hubs. Actually Email wheels of approximately 13in. diameter are used. The new tyre, a set of four of which are at present in daily use for test purposes, is constructed on the lines of the balloon tyre. It has a cross-section of 9in., with only 101b. to 15!b. inflation pressure, with the result that a cushioning or shock-absorbing effect is obtained far above that of the orthodox type. A short run on the car over unmade roads showed it possible to drive quite fast over potholes and kerbs without any jp.il ;.hock or discomfort being felt. On main roads the car handled quite normally, and the large tyres seemed to have no effect on the steering. There was no undue tendency to roll on corners. At the moment the air-wheel is in the nature of an experiment, and will only be proceeded with as a commercial proposition should sufficient interest be displayed in it- by car manufacturers and the motoring Public generally. BUILDING SILENT BODIES. The. works of an English steel company have an interesting test for bodies, known as a shake test. Periodically a body is taken at random from the production lines; in its finished state, upholstered and fitted with non-splinterabl e glass, it is mounted on a chassis frame and conveyed to the shaker; a vicious instrument, capable of imparting 100 earthquake shocks per minute. Diagonal corners of the body are fixed solid, and the other diagonals are reciprocated to different amounts at different speeds. Thus, one corner will be lifted three inches very quickly and the other four inches more slowly. The body is tortured for 12 hours or more before it is released, inspected, and found unhnrt. One body, indeed, was subjected to no fewer than a million shakes before it was fitted to a works chassis. Since then it has covered 20,00} miles—in silence. SCRAPPING OLD CARS. Several plans ar© now before the motor trade in England for scrapping old cars, according to the Motor. In one scheme it is proposed to destroy 10,000 in the first year, 15,000 in the second and 20,000 in successive years. In the Ford method of dealing with old cars, a flat, price of roughly £4 is offered for cars of a certain Age. These are scientifically dismantled and the scrap recovered, the value of which just about defrays the cost of the scheme. Cars of a certain age, depending upon how they were built and their original cost, are no longer safe to use, and it has been suggested that if they are not compulsorily scrapped they should pay an extra tax. This was the proposal of a well-known Continental car manufacturer, who fixed tho time limit as seven years. A SOURCE OF FUMES. "Fumes which enter saloon bodies from the back can ,be even more troublesome to eradicate than those which enter from under the bonnet," said Mr. George Lnnchester, the designer, in England recently. Referring to the topical question of streamlining, Mr. Lanchester pointed out that cars, unlike boats and aircraft, did not always travel head-to-stream. There , was often a cross-wind or a quarter-wind with a velocity of round about 30 fii-p.h. The speaker also pointed out that ft rear-engined car, while quiet, so far as its occupants were concerned, was apt to iseem very noisy to anyone overtaken.