Motor & Cycle

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7871, 5 August 1911, Page 18

Motor & Cycle

Particulars to hand from London show that the Standard Chassis .Car Paco recently held on the Brooklands Track was a distinct success. The event resulted in a win for an amateur driver, ilr C. Cathie, who drove a 12 h.p. fourcylinder Star (bore 80. stroke -J2O millimetres) and covered the 2k miles in 4l\. 55min. 9 l-sscc. A Singer, driven by G. Tysoe, -finished second in 4b. 57min. 255e0., while another Star, .driven bv It Lisle, was close up, third. Twentyfour care started, eleven of which negotiated the 277 miles under sis hours. The event under notice was the first longdistance track race restricted to standard types of moderate-powered cars held in England, and the fact that, so many cars maintained an average speed of over fifty miles an hour speaks well for the efficiency of the present day moder-ate-powered' car. The winner’s speed averaged 56 j miles an hour. Mr Cathie covered 57 miles in the first hour, 100 miles in Ih. 45min. 42 2-7.:ec.; 113 miles 653 yards in 2h.; 167 miles 1613 yards in 3b.; and 224 miles 617 yards in 4h. The speeds achieved by the leading oars were far in excess of what meet of the competitor's anticipated.

An incandescent system of car lighting is being marketed in England, petrol vapour mixed .with oxygen being used with splendid results. The gas is mixed in a small carburetter, the oxygen gas being supplied from a steel cylinder and projected through a special burner on to an incandescent disc. This, new light is known as the Oxy-petrol, and is said to bo more reliable, brilliant and cleaner than the acetylene gas _ which is now generally used by mdtoritfts.

English motorists last year paid •£500,000 in motor taxes, in addition to £150,000 for petrol dues. This ,sum has been placed to the credit of the road boards, and is to be expended on road improvements.

The Champs Elysecs, the great Parisian thoroughfare, affords useful da'ta as regards street wear. It is divided into three distinct roads —the central for motor oars, and the side ones for other vehicles. It has been found that wood pavement stands the motor cave admirably, but the surface of the side roads weans rapidly under .horse traffic. Also the portion used by the motorist exclusively needs practically no cleaning, while the oil and grease drippings nrotect the surface from wet. According 'to a contemporary, for every two square yards of repairs on the motor track, there aro eight square yards on the horse section. It attributes the destruction by, horse traffic to the pickings of the horses’ hoofs. It is estimated that 50,000 vehicles pass down the Champs Elysecs daily, 30,000 -of which are motor cars.

E. Burman,. the crack American speed motorist, who holds the world's flying mile oar record of 25.1 seconds, has lost the honour of having travelled faster •than any other man in the world. The record has been won by Vedrines, a well-known European aviator, who recently flew from ,Dijon to St. Lawrent-les-liacon, 72 miles, in a little lees than thirty minutes, gravelling at the speed of 150 .miles an hour. Vedrines had a gale of wind behind him, but his flight was .of such a hair-raising character that ho does not intend repeating it.

The reliability of the present day motor cycle was well demonstrated in a recent 21 hours’ motor cycle run held by the English Motor Club from London to .Edinburgh—a distance of about 100 miles. Out of ninetysix motor cyclists who started only eight failed to complete the journey, and several of those were put out of the run through accidents. Prom an efficiency standpoint the run was easily the most successful yet hold in England.

The Dunlop Rubber Oompony have decided to organise a relay sporting contest nest. Easter (April, 1912), in the shape ,of a relay despatch race from Adelaide to Sydney. The event will bo run in two divisions—a relay of cyclists to bo pitted against a relay of motor-cyclists, the ride to bo carried on day and-night until a despatch from Adelaide is carried over 1,149 miles of the country, and delivered' to . the military authorities in Sydney. The motor cycle section will probably bo handicapped to concede at least 34 hours’ start to the cyclists, which means that the first despatch should be up near Color dine (Victoria) —some 368 miles away —before the first motor cyclist leaves Adelaide.

The cycle division will be divided into sistyfour relays, ranging in length from 10 up to 33 miles, two riders being appointed to each section, so that, all told, 128 cyclists will be required for this part of the undertaking. The motor cycle rel'avs will probably range .from 50 to 100 miles in length, depending on the. nature of the country to be negotiated, and hero again the despatch bearers .will rido in pairs to preclude any possibility of a breakdown in the line of communication. Kis estimated that there will he about 20 motor-cycle relays, and the best 40 motor-cyclists in South Australia, Victoria, and Now South Wales will bo selected for the task—and they will want to bo good to overhaul the big start that will bo conceded to the cycle brigade.

To overtake the cycle despatch before it reaches Sydney it is anticipated that the motor-cyclists will have to maintain an average speed of 25 miles, for the cyclists will probably be scheduled to average for the whole journey 164 miles an hour, the speed maintained in the big cycle relay rido organised over the same course by the Dunlop Rubber-Com-pany in April, 1909, when the 1,149 miles were negotiated in 69 hours 35 minutes. In that event 375 miles was covered in the first twentyfour hours, and 455 miles in the second, so that it will bo seen that the motor-cyclists will have no easy task sot them. As a sporting event, the relay match should provide one of the most interesting and instructive contests yet held in Australia.

Care of the Motor. Care should always be 'taken in adjusting the contact breaker screws of a positive make-and break type of contact breaker to see that the small locking screw, which is provided in the splitend of the screw-supporting pillarm is properly looked after the adjustment is made. Jt should be noticed whether locking up this screw affects the adjustment of the contact screw, as this sometimes happens. When the contactmaking sci aw is not properly locked up the constant tapping on it of the trembler blade, always works it farther back. After every run the air . ,tnbe valve nut and all the securing belt nuts should be gone over with great care in case any have worked loose. If this has happened they should be tightened with a pair of pliers. The loss of a bolt or nut may cause a long delay on the xoad.