THE MOTOR WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19965, 6 December 1926, Page 5

THE MOTOR WORLD.

By ACCELERATOR. (Continued from page 4.) HOW TO DISTINGUISH THE GOOD DRIVER. Good driving for the most part is the exercise of good sound common sense. The good driver is known by: His starting and stopping. His careful cornering. His keeping to the left of the road, especially on bends and over the crests of hills. His intelligent use of hand signals. His comfortable expression. His avoidance of all obstacles, however small, without endangering the occupants of his own or of other cars. His ease of handling. His courtesy in moving to the left of the road when an overtaking car signals to Pass. His protection of his engine; his use of the gears. His alternate use of foot and hand brakes. His thoughtfulness for pedestrians (he thinks for them). His skilful steering and his properly adjusted steering gear. His use of the brakes before, and not after, reaching a bend. OPEN AND CLOSED CARS. Briefly, it may be said that it is not quite so easy to drive a saloon as an open car—that is to say, it is not quite so easy for a beginner—an experienced driver will probably notice no difference. So far as the driving is concerned, a saloon is pretty much on a par with a touring car with the hood up; but, generally speaking, it is much pleasanter. It possesses a feeling of roominess, which is sometimes lacking when sitting under a hood. The ventilation is more under one’s control, and it gives better protection against the elements when that is required. In this matter there is not much fault to find with a touring car fitted with allweather curtains; but a gale of wind may cause the hood to rise a little and leave a gap between itself and the curtains, through which the rain may find its way. A saloon is, of course, rather heavier than an open car of the same type, and this naturally means that a greater use will have to be made of the gear-box. On hills, changes will have to be made earlier and more frequently, and it will become increasingly desirable to drop from top to second or third, as the case may be, at corners and cross-roads, making the change preferably before the crossing or bend, and changing up again as the car gathers speed. FLEXIBILITY AND WEAR. The despised coachbuilders of a century ago slung their rigid coupes upon flexible straps; our car bodies may be far lighter and their cost reduced to a minimum, but we still expect them to carry a part of the load which should properly be borne by the chassis itself. ■ The net result is that body wear is apt to make a car seem old after only three months’ use. Rain and heat can be counteracted, but perpetual internal movement would wear away a stone. High speeds over rough roads, high engine speeds, and high periods of vibration are agents of destruction. Car bodies have not the recuperative power which, fortunately, is a characteristic of the human frame. When it is made clear that a 14-stone passenger stepping into a car will distort the doors, and sometimes jam a gear lever, can it be wondered that the body weakens rapidly, and finally wilts to a condition when no amount of paint will redeem its appearance? Flexible paint is becoming popular, but it is no more than a halfway house to the flexible body, or the flexible supported bodv. so essential for comfort, silence, lightness of chassis, and slow depreciation. How can the desired result be attained? The factors of vibration, oscillation, and spring flexibility are important, but it. is useless to dwell on these aspects of the case if the body—or coping-stone of the whole structure —is itself rigid. The familiar fabric construction is undoubtedly a move in the right direction, but could not a synthetic rubber material be devised? It is not suggested that a simple and easy solution is at hand, but a combination of the deformable and incompressible characteristics of rubber, with the non-deformable and very compressible characteristics of wood fibre, might provide a plastic body impervious to slight knocks, air pressure, heat, and continual movement. FRONT WHEEL BRAKES.. Ihe front-wheel brake has had an eventful history since it first came into prominence as long ago as 1909, when it was fitted to one or two British cars; some idea of the interest which was taken in such a brake at this time is obtained from the heading of an article published in , the Motor, England, in November, 1909, which ran as fol-lows:—“Front-wheel brakes: Are they going to revolutionise car control?” The revolution prophesised in this heading has undoubtedly come about, but not in so short a period of time as was probably imagined by the writer of that article. However, it is none the less true that the front-wheel brake is so firmly established to-day as to be a standard fitting on about 80 per cent, of the makes of car sold in England, says the Motor. At the Olympia Show in 1910 quite a number of cars appeared fitted with frontwheel brakes, most of them being of British origin; one of the successful designs was that patented by M. Perrot, whoso brake is now so widely used. He was at that time designing for the Argyll Co. Despite the satisfactory service given by some types, however, the front-wheel brake was not generally favoured, this being partly due to the fact that it provtd to be a direct cause of certain accidents. Front-wheel brakes were first used for racing purposes at the Grand Prix held at Lyons in July, 1914, being fitted to the Delage cars, but any further development which might have followed was, of course, stopped by the outbreak of the war. After the armistice motor-car makers once again turned their attention to front braking, but it was not until the Olympia Show of 1921 that those mechanisms commenced to receive renewed attention. At this show front-wheel brakes were fitted to several of the Continental chassis exhibited, but did not appear in any car of British or American origin. During the five yeais which have intervened front-wheel braking has made rapid progress, reaching in 1924 a position such that front brakes were standardised on many cars and optional extras on as many more. By 1925 they had become standard fittings on 75 per cent, of the makes of car sold in England, and this year the proportion is even higher.