THE MOTOR WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21539, 11 January 1932, Page 4

THE MOTOR WORLD.

By ACCELERATOR.

FIXTURES OTAGO MOTOR CLUB. {Motor Cycle Section.) January 19. —Monthly meeting. January 23.—Social run. February 6. —Night trial. February 16. —Monthly meeting. February 20.—Acceleration test. March 5. —Secret trial. March 15. —Monthly meeting. March 19. —Sports afternoon. April 2.—Speed judging. April 16.—Club run. April 17. —Monthly meeting. April 30. —Gymkhana. May 7. —Treasure hunt. May 17. —Monthly meeting. May 21. —Club run. June 4. —Tidal. June 18. —Sporting trial. June 21.—Monthly meeting. UNITED STATES RACING. More cars than ever before are being prepared for the 500-mile race at Indianapolis, which is due to take place on May 30 next. In consequence, the organisers of the event have decided to increase the entry fee to 200 dollars, and to raise the qualifying speed from 85 m.p.h. to 100 m.p.h. In the 1931 event only two- of the 40 cars which started showed less than 100 m.p.h. in the qualifying trials. Already Harry Miller, the famous Los Angeles designer and constructor of frontdrive racing ears, has announced that he is building a four-wheel-drive car for the event. It will have a 16-cylinder engine, all four wheels will be independently sprung, and the transmission system will include a hydraulic clutch, which appears to be on similar lines to the Daimler fluid flywheel. The car is being built for a Detroit doctor, and after the race the frame and propeller shaft are to be lengthened and the chassis fitted with a saloon body. Miller has also designs on the land speed record. He plans to build a car with a duplicate engine of one already built for Gar Wood. It has 16 cylinders and is stated to develop 1800 b.h.p. at 6000 r.p.m. Complete with magnetos, supercharger, and other components, it weighs 16351 b.

DANGER IN OVERLOADING. " This is a time of the year when motorists are inclined to expose themselves to greater danger than at other times," states the Canterbury Automobile Association in warning drivers against overloading. “ The holiday period,” says the association, “ with its carefree spirit, is a time when the average driver is inclined to be taken off his guard by many distractions, and it is necessary, therefore, to stress the importance of the utmost alertness when at the wheel, because of the greatly increased traffic and other factors. But one form of carelessness is overloading, a point which deserves further emphasis, as many instances of overloading have come under notice in the last day or two. This fault is particularly pronounced near the beaches, motorists allowing_ a mistaken sense of kindness to outweigh discretion. It is highly dangerous to fill any vehicle beyond its capacity, even if a slow place be observed, but the risk is accentuated by the practice of driving at the accustomed speed, regardless of the strain on the tyres, steering, springs, and braking system. The responsibility , lies with the driver to make sure that his vehicle is not overloaded. Passengers do not realise the risk which they take and joyfully crowd into a car. It is much better to make two trips in safety with a reasonable load than make one dangerous trip with an overload. The questions of ecenomy and damage to the engine and the vehicle generally through overloading are infinitesimal beside the risk to human life, of course.”

KEROSENE IN PETROL. The following is an interesting article which appeared recently in an Australian newspaper. It is a warning to motorists to use only the well-known brands of petrol if they wish to safeguard their cars. Petrol is distilled from crude petroleum by boiling, the vapours being condensed into “ liquid gas.” Many motorists have the belief that all petrol is simply the product which results from the distillation of crude petroleum between two boiling points. This is incorrect, as the refiner must skilfully group his boiling points, or fractions, in a manner that will ensure that the resultant petrol will vaporise easily and completely, and burn compare tively steadily without knocking. Poorly refined petrol contains heavy kerosenefractions, and it is only by scientific refining that the correct proportion of fractions can be arrived at.

The presence of gerosene fractions in petrol is not easy to detect except by laboratory tests. One writer recently suggested that kerosene could be detected by the stain left on a piece of blotting paper sprinkled with petrol containing heavy kerosene fractions, but this is not the case, as some high grades of power kerosene will, if placed neat on a piece of blotting paper, evaporate and leave no stain. The motorist does not discover that he has been using petrol containing these kerosene fractions until considerable trouble has resulted. It is no exaggeration to say that an engine can be severely damaged, if not entirely ruined, through the use of a poorly refined petrol. Although it cannot be said that all cheap petrals sold under little-known brand names contain kerosene fractions, the motorist should not, in the interests of his engine, take chances that might mean rapid and costly depreciation. The big petrol distributing companies are naturally jealous of the reputation of their products, and they take elaborate precautions to see that the petrols marketed under their advertised brands are always of the highest possible stndard. One company alone employs over 30 chemists, whose work is very largely that of ensuring purity and uniformity of its products. ECONOMY IN FUEL. While summer will give to most cars a slightly better fuel consumption, due to hot weather causing engines to run slightly hotter, it willl pay every owner to give his car a brief overhaul before starting the summer driving season.

This overhaul should he made with the view of increasing fuel economy, and should be started by cleaning mud from interstices of the radiator, using a wire, and then hosing with a good pressure ot water.

This should be followed by an adoption of the following 14 rules for overhaul and economy driving:—

Adjust carburettor for best idling. Clean spark plugs or renew them if they have been in for 5000 miles running. Decarbonise engine. Grind in valves, then test compressions for worn or broken piston rings. Align wheels and keep tyres up to correct pressures, and have them equal on each axle. Adjust brakes so that there is no binding, and adjust front wheel brakes with the wheels turned on full lock.

Make sure that all bearings in the transmission and on the wheel hubs are free and undamaged. Check over fuel pipe links for breaks, leaks, or loose unions. Drain and flush gearbox and differential, and fill only with correct summer grade oils. Make certain throttle closes fully for idle running. Use only correct grade engine oil. Avoid driving with retarded spark, or with choke partly operating. Avoid racing the engine and too rapid acceleration. Do not allow the engine to idle

[ltems of news—short descriptions, of tours, the state of the roads, etc., comment, or inquiries will bo welcomed by " Accelerator.’ J

too long nor too frequently. In long traffic hold-ups stop engine and re6tart._ - Careful adherence to these rules will give maximum economy for any car. PETROL SUPPLIES. The world’s position as regards motor spirit is indeed a peculiar one. In America a deluge of oil has resulted in prorationing, despite which crude oil is selling in U.S.A. at a price about a fourth of the cost of production. Then Russia has vast supplies, for which she has practically no domestic market, and is with a certain measure of success penetrating other national markets. In the meantime other nations are striving to produce synthetic petrol, to make themselves independent of the flood of oil that the earth is vomiting up in various parts of the world. England has long visualised producing her own petrol needs by hydrogenation of coal, but little progress has so far been made. A recent announcement by the Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.—one of the largest organisations of its kind i n the world —states that they have now succeeded in producing petrol of a quality equal to the highest grade spirit on the market at 7d a gallon. The stage has now been reached that justifies the_ production of synthetic petrol in Britain on a large scale, and the company plans to erect a huge plant, capable of manufacturing over 200,000 tons of petrol per annum. The scheme will involve an outlay of about £8,000,000, and when the plant is in operation will give employment to 2000 men, and in addition 3000 miners will be needed to raise the coal. It is claimed that a satisfactory profit can be made on the undertaking even at present ruling prices. Apropos of petrol distillation, it is interesting to record the result of some recent French experiments carried out in connection with the production of fuel alcohol from bananas. From one class of fruit 19J gallons of pure spirit was obtained per ton of bananas, while from New Guinea bananas nearly 21| gallons per ton was obtained. Whether cultivation of bananas for production of alcohol alone could be made a payable proposition is a different matter.

LAND SPEED RECORD THE NEW ZEALAND EFFORT ELABORATE PREPARATIONS. Mr Norman ("Wizard”) Smith’s pending oa the land speed record has attracted increased attention during the past week. The attempt to break the record will be made on the Ninety Mile Beach as soon as conditions are favourable. of this column have been kept fn touch with the progress of this effort. At the present time a large official party is at the beach awaiting the hour when Mr Smith declares the conditions to be satisfactory. He has a long record of success as a driver, a review of which was published on Tuesday last. The land speed record which Mr Smith aims at capturing is at present held by Sir Malcolm (Captain) Campbell. In March, 1929, Sir Henry Segrave regained the world’s land speed record for Britain, covering 231.36 miles per hour on Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.A. In 1028 Captain Malcolm Campbell attained an average speed of 206.956 miles per hour, which was beaten shortly afterwards by Mr Ray Keech, a United States of America driver, with a speed of 207.552 miles per hour. Mr Frank Lockhart, another United States driver, was killed a little later when attempting to better this time.

On February 5, 1931, Captain Campbell established the present record of 246.154 miles per hour at Daytona Beach. For six years he had been endeavouring to surpass his own achievements and those of others, and he at last succeeded in putting up formidable figures. What these record-breaking attempts mean in publicity may be gathered from the following account of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s successful effort as chronicled in an American paper, the headline being “ Racing Death at 245 miles an hour":— “Here he comes!” “ There he goes! " A mile in 15 seconds —four miles a minute —245.733 miles an hour. Such is Campbelling. Faster than any human being ever travelled on land before, Captain Malcolm Campbell, British racing driver, scorched the- sands to hang up that new automobile r<>cord at Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 5i But he was disappointed. The tall, soft-spoken Scotsman told the Associated Press that the unevennese of the beach held down the speed of his curious, 100,000 dollar land rocket. Bluebird, and—- “ The visibility was so poor that I could not do better. At no time during my runs could I see more than 300 or 350 yards because of the haze over the course.” , In his first dash over the measured mile, after a running start of five and one-half miles, Captain Campbell was clocked at 240.575 miles an hour, we read, and at 244.897 in his second run. The new record surpasses by 14.371 miles an hour the mark set On the same course in 1929 by Sir Henry Segrave, who was killed not long afterward in a motor boat accident in England. Campbell wants to try for 300 miles an hour, he also told the Associated Press — “ There is plenty more speed in my Bluebird, but these trials are so beastly expensive. “ Perhaps, if 1 can find some millionaire who will help finance such an undertaking, I shall shoot for the 300mile mark within the next few years. There is nothing L should like better to do. I should say that at present it is my greatest ambition.” Many papers congratulate the captain on his feat, but some deplore risking human life to set speed records that “ mean nothing.” “In the air speed is of practical use in shortening distances and saving time,” says the Knickerbocker Press of Albany, New York. “On land superspeed machines like that driven by Captain Campbell are of interest only as providing the swiftest known means of travelling from good health to the graveyard.” But “question its utility as we may,” observes the New York World, “ as a sporting event it is in the first rank.” Actually, the feat has a practical value to tire makers and automobile builders, we are told bv the Washington Evening Star—“lt is not simply a sporting event to give glory to an individual. Lessons of incalculable value have beeq learned

from it, and the knowledge acquired will go into the manufacture of even better motor cars for the use of the present generation.” To-day Britain holds the world’s land, water and air records, the aeroplane speed being 408 miles, the car 240, the motor cycle 150, and motor boat 110. Where the speed records will end is, of course, a matter of mechanics—and nerve. On the philosophy of speed rivalry Mr Kaye Don (holder of the motor boat record and unsuccessful in lowering Sir Malcolm Campbell’s land speed record) tells us that people frequently ask him, “What good is effected by all this mania for speed? What benefit to mankind, if any, does the motor car, airplane, or speed boat record bring? Where does all this effort to beat the other fellow or to improve on the other fellow’s time get us? ’ To which he responds;— The answer, it seems to me, becomes fairly obvious if we go back into the liistory of speed records for the motor car and speed boat, and, in a leaser degree, the airplane. In the early days of the motor car, 20 to 25 miles an hour was considered quite a respectable speed, and even when, as a stimulus to the motor car industry, tourist trophy road races were introdduced, few professional winners could turn in a better average than 35 miles an hour. After racing tracks were constructed for motor car events, it was considered something of a feat when care raced at an average speed of 60 miles an hour. Improvement in racing speeds came, of course, with the development and improvement of the racing car, but it can not be disputed that the speed car of yesterday is the stream-line stock car of today. How many motor car owners in America, for instance, do not, on inviting stretches of your splendid State roads, hit a speed of CO miles or more? And how many average less than 45 miles an hour on long motor car journeys? To-day there are few makers of motor cars who could not send a stock model out on a track to do better than 70 and, possibly, something nearer to 100 miles an hour. I recall a cartoon in an old number of London Opinion in which an old Cockney, sitting in an early-vintage runabout, was looking at a traffic sign which read, “ Speed limit 25 miles per hour.” Scratching his head in perplexity, he wan saying, “ Strike me bloomin' well pink; Twentyfive! And this blawsted boiler o’ mine cawn’t do a yard more’n 18! ” Getting up to that speed limit was his big difficulty. The main difficulty to-day seems to be getting down to any reasonable speed limit, Mr Don continues, and then he leads up to his prophetic vision of grandpa loafing along with the speedometer at 100. Rolling over the American countryside in any good standard American car today one sees signs here and there on the parkways near the big cities telling of speed limits of 40 miles an hour or so. Observing these, our chauffeur slows down to 50, with a comment to the effect that the speed officers permit a driver to “ get away with 45.” The speed races of yesterday have been largely responsible for the development of the fast automobiles of to-day. It is more than possible that, with wide, one-way roads designed to eliminate headon collision hazards, and side roads for slow traffic, the racing car of to-day may be the family car of to-morrow, with the jolly old grandparents doddering along at 100 miles per hour or more and complaining at the speed of the new generation. The same condition applies to the development of the speedboats during the past two decades. Indeed, water speed has advanced to such a degree that we now have diminutive craft with outboard motors which go faster than the largest Atlantic liners.

SPARKS Never dash by trams ns they are about to stop. ¥ * V Don’t drive spasmodically. It keeps the driver behind worried. , ¥ ¥ ¥ The Ford minimum weekly wage at Detroit is now £6 instead of £7 as formerly. ?/. A new Soviet motor car works at Nijni Novgorod is claimed to be the largest in the world. The output capacity is 150,000 a year. ¥ ¥ ¥ Of 100 American motorists examined recently at Detroit (U.S.A.) only 13 were given a clean bill of health, 87 being ot üb-normal intelligence. * ¥ The National Safety Council of the uited States of America has adopted ho word “ autocide ” to describe deaths ising from motor car accidents. if. ¥ ¥ Glass is a hard substance, indeed. How- . cr, unless the motorist cleans the windfield carefully with a soft cloth he will iscover that the grit covering the sur- : eo is capable of scratching the glass. ¥ ¥ ¥ A British innovation in walking sticks , jcently exhibited in London is an *' illum- : mated cane.” Each time the stick is touched to the ground a small flashlght bulb in its head blinks on and off. Pedestrians who walk along country roads late at night thus warn passing motor cars. ¥ ¥ ¥

A curious exhibition, recently held in Paris, displayed samples of road surfacing in all . varieties, motor rollers, tarsprayers, sand sprinklers, and water carts. The exhibition was not without interest, but lacked visitors. * * * There is a mystery saloon car running about London, which apparently requires no one to drive it, since the car appears to be vacant. It is understood that it is glazed with a special kind of plateglass, through which it is impossible to see from the outside. * * * Lord Wakefield has been presented with a bronze plaque, surmounted by a replica of the British International Motor Boat Trophy, by the citizens of Detroit, in appreciation of his sportsmanship in sending 'Miss England II to participate in the 1931 8.1. T. races. ¥ ¥ In view of the great overproduction of rubber and the consequent fall in its price, efforts to develop a practicable form of street-paving by means of rubber are being renewed. Latest experiments have been directed to the development of a substance from latex —the untreated sap of the rubber tree —which can be used in a manner similar to bitumen in road construction. V V V A good deal of attention has been paid lately to automatic control of the spark, and one arrangement for 1932 consists of a centrifugally-operated governor in which moving weights change the angular relation of the driving and the driven shafts. This requires no attention, ensures a retarded spark for slow driving, and adjusts itself automatically to engine speed. V The trend of motor car design enggests that the 4ft Bin gauge which has been the standard wheel gauge of cars for many years, will shortly be increased. For some years the tendency has been steadily to increase the size of tyres, and up to date the extra rooms required by the large balloon tyres has been provided only at the expense of the width of the back scat, which must be made narrow to provide accommodation for the wider tyres. It is likely that cars with a wjieel gauge of 5 feet will be in general use in the next few years.