THE MOTOR WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22713, 28 October 1935, Page 3

THE MOTOR WORLD

By ACCELERATOR

CHOKED JETS. Nearly every -car nowadays is fitted with an efficient petrol filter; in addition fuel supplied from service pumps is very thoroughly filtered. Thus motorists seldom have trouble with choked jets. Nothing is infallible, however, and with all the care in the world it is still possible for dirt to find its way into the petrol tank and eventually into the jets. When this happens a thorough cleaning of the tanks is the only cure, but it may not be convenient at the time. It will be found, however, that the dirt is much less likely to iind its way down the petrol pipe if a good quantity of fuel be maintained in the tank. It is a good plan to avoid using the reserve supply, as this is, of course, taken from the bottom of the tank, where the dirt collects. CONSUMPTION AND SPEED. It is generally known that the faster one drives beyond 30 miles an hour the more fuel and oil his engine uses per mile. Figures have been compiled by the United States Bureau of Standards to show just how much the consumption increases with speed. The table is based on the performance of an average car capable of going 18 miles on a gallon of fuel at 30 miles an hour. Here it is:—

In tests conducted at the Indianapolis Speedway by the American Automobile Association it was found that nearly seven times as much oil was used up at S 5 miles an hour as at 30. OIL CHASSIS SPRINGS. Continual movement is taking place in the chassis springs of a motor car while it is in motion, and, just like any other moving parts where there is friction, it is necessary to ensure adequate lubrication. Severe rust, which hampers the movement of spring leaves over one another, is a common cause of broken springs. In some cars spring gaiters are employed, and .these are provided with oiling nipples. In other cases lubricating the springe may not be quite such a simple job. With leaf springs it is advisable to use a penetrating oil, inserted with a special gun which forces the leaves apart, or the body of the car may be jacked up and the leaves opened with a screwdriver sufficiently to admit the oil. A fairly satisfactory method is to paint the leaves with a mixture of old sump oil and kerosene. In the case of enclosed systems of independent front-wheel suspension it is necessary to follow carefully the maker’s instructions, which usually stipulate a sbecial oil, or to leave the work to a competent garage or service station. COMPETENCY IN DRIVING. How many people who drive automobiles are competent to operate a car? In my opinion not one in 100 knows enough to make them safe under usual conditions. Under many conditions they are positively dangerous (says Mr Frank A. Garbutt}. The Automobile Club says about 85 per cent, are careful drivers and 15 per cent, reckless. Careful drivers are not necessarily safe. How many would a railroad company hire to drive its locomotives? Yet locomotives run on tracks with comparatively few interferences, are inspected daily, and are much safer than automobiles. Anyone can buy, hire, or borrow an auto, learn how to start, stop, and change its direction, and use the public roads, maiming himself and others. I know very few drivers with whom I feel safe to ride, adds Mr Garbutt. Most of them exhibit so much ignorance and. so many careless habits that I wonder how they have lived so long. The positive proof that I am right is the number killed and maimed daily. The ignorant driver is ignorant of his own ignorance. I never met one yet who thought be didn’t know all about it. Driving a car seems to induce delusions of grandeur, where it should create a wholesome fear of God. “ Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” OIL PRESSURE. Most cars nowadays are fitted with an oil-pressure gauge which seldom gets out of order. The gauge is placed in the oil circuit between the oil pump and the engine, and in this position it ja instantly sensitive to variation in oil pressure. Sometimes, when starting up from cold, it may he noticed that the oil pressure considerably exceeds the normal figure. This, however, should give no cause tor concern so long as the pressure returns to normal when the engine has become thoroughly warmed up. If the pressure remains high after the engine has been running for some time, inference is that there is an obstruction in some portion of the oil circuit, for in face of such a gauge reading the oil cannot be Mowing so freely as it should do. v At times the engine oil pressure as recorded on the dial of the gauge will be lower than normal just after the engine has been started. This is particularly likely to be the case in cold weather, and is accounted for by chilled oil offering considerable resistance to free circulation. In such instances the indicated oil pressure quickly changes to normal after the engine has been running for a little time. The falling-off in oil pressure during the running of the car is a different matter. It may be due to oil leaks somewhere in the engine system, to the use of too light a grade of oil. or to dilution of the oil by petrol. It is not unusual to find that the average pressure registered by the gauge is rather lower in hot weather, especially if the ear is driven hard, but if it falls to any considerable extent the use of unsuitable oil is indicated. A good oil does not “thin”.to a very great extent even in the hottest weather, but the viscosity of an inferior grade varies appreciably with its temperature. The faults which can occur within the oil gauge itself are very few. A.A. (AUCKLAND). There was an attendance of about 100 members at the annual meeting of the association. The president (Mr A. Grayson) presided. The annual report was adopted, and comment on the year’s operations was made by the president. Mr Grayson said a total of 3202 new members had been enrolled, bringing the membership to 17,082. During the bad times a number of members had been lost, but the loss had been more than made up. It was an indication of an improvement in business generally that the membership was now over 17,000 for the first time. There had been increased membership in associations ail over the Dominion. Mr Grayson referred to a demand of £620 that had been made for income tax. This was the first time it had been done. Ire said, and it was pleasing that representations to tile Solicitor-general and the commissioner of taxes had resulted in a decision that income tax need not be paid by the association. Mr Grayson spoke of the improved condition of bridges and roads, particularly on the Auekland-Hamilton highway. He said the fact that the proceeds from the petrol tax were not to be diverted from the Main Highways Fund should result in u considerably greater programme of works. The formation of a national safety first council had been supported by associations throughout the Dominion and about £SOOO had been raised with the object of educating motorists and pedestrians, including children, in how to avoid accidents. The matter was in abeyance at present, but a grant of £5 for £1 from .the petrol tax proceeds was being sought. He was quite sure that if the council wore set up there would be fewer road accidents. Mr Grayson was re-elected president, this being his eighth term of office. NEW ZEALAND’S POSITION. Official statistics issued by the Automobile Manufacturers’ Association show New Zealand in a very favourable light in world motor vehicle affairs.

Items of news—short descriptions of tours, the state of the roads, etc., comment, or inquiries-—will be welcomed by Accelerator.

In the matter of accidents Now Zealand heads the list given with the smallest accident rate. The following figures arc for fatal accidents per 10,000 motor veliicles in operation:— New Zealand 0.6 Canada 0.1 Norway 12.1 United States 12-3 Australia 13.8 Irish Free State 24.8 England and Wales .. .. 31.7 Netherlands 45.1 Scotland 47.0 Belgium 47.0 Germany 50.2 Switzerland 52.0 Italy 54.5 The total number of motor vehicles in operation in the world is 35,087,000. New Zealand is third, equal with Canada, m the figures for population per motor vehicle. The United States are first with one motor vehicle in every 4.9 persons. Hawaiian Islands second with one. motor vehicle to every eight persons, New Zealand and Canada third, both the one. vehicle to every nine persons. Australia has one motor vehicle to every 11 persons. New Zealand has, according to these statistics, two miles of road to every square mile of area, and 3.4 motor vehicles to each mile of road. These highway figures do not include city streets. The United States has one mile of road to every square mile of area, and 8.1 motor vehicles to every mile of road. The United Kingdom has one mile of road to every 0.5 square mile of area, and 10.4 motor vehicles to every mile of road. Australia has one mile of road to every C. 4 square miles of area, and 1.3 motor vehicles to every mile of road. A.A. (WELLINGTON) - “ Fifty-one per cent, of motor car owners in the Wellington territory belong to the association, but there is still room for a considerable increase in the membership,” says the annual report of : the Wellington Association. “ The membership of the association shows a substantial increase over that of the previous year. At August 31. 1934, there were 4837 names on the register, but of these 511 who were unfinancial were written off, leaving the total at 4326. At August 31, 1935, the membership, excluding 180 unfinancial members, most of whom will be written off, was 5120, or an increase of 794. “ The total revenue from subscriptions, current and arrears, is the highest on lecord. Likewise the subscriptions received in advance are an improvement on any previous year of the association’s operations. “ One obvious reason for this is the greater number of cars on the road, but it is significant that the number of registrations are not as high as were in 1929-30. This being the fact, it is evident that the advantages of membership with an automobile organisation are becoming wore widely recognised, and are looked upon by the great majority of motorists as a necessity. “ The ‘ Get You Home ’ service, under which members who experienced mechanical breakdowns could call upon certain appointed garages to render assistance, was inaugurated in December last, and its inauguration had been more than justified. “ Under the scheme, members were, in cases of emergency, entitled to call out certain appointed garages, and the association met the charge involved up to a maximum of 15 miles, with an allowance for one hour to be spent on the car. This service extended throughout (he whole of New Zealand, and members in whatever part of the country they were travelling, were entitled to call upon appointed garages under exactly the same conditions. “Altogether, in our own ease, 167 services bad been rendered. Of these services, 139 were to our own members, and 28 to members of other associations, the average cost of each service being 10s 3d. In addition, 77 services were rendered to our own members by other associations at an average cost of 13s 6d. “ The number of members who took advantage of the legal advice and defence service is the greatest on record, and, judging from the experience of the past two months, the present year will show a still further increase. The scheme is, of course, becoming more widely known arid members are beginning to recognise the fact that they are entitled to legal advice and defence not inly in Wellington, but in every part of New Zealand. “It is unfortunate that the efforts of organised motoring, through the North Island (N.Z.) Motor Union, in their endeavour to get legislation permitting evidence to be taken on commission in motoring offences, have not been more successful. “ The association’s solicitors in other parts of New Zealand have been called upon to appear in a large number of cases of Wellington members who are alleged to have committed breaches in some locality far removed from She capital city. Although the association in such cases will provide the necessary legal advice and defence, there is in most cases no alternative for the member but to enter a plea of guilty. It is hoped that before long the Government will recognise the unfairness of the existing procedure, and bring in amending legislation to meet the circumstances.”

WE DRIVERS. A General Motors engineer has compiled a series of brief discussions on driving, dedicated to the safety, comfort, and pleasure of the motoring public. The third of the series is entitled “Our Brakes”; — * We’ve all noticed that whenever a train makes a long enough stop in a station there’s somebody on the job, dodging in and out under the cars making sure that everything is in good shape for the train to continue its trip. One of the things checked at every inspection point is the brakes. For nobody knows better than railways how important it is to be able to stop when you have to stop. Now, if we think of it in a certain light, we people who own motor cars are all running little transportation systems of our own . . . just like the railways and airlines and bus companies. Home is the main terminal, and there are lots of stops along the line . . . flag stops, you might say, and regular scheduled stops—like the office, the grocery store, the school, the theatre, and our friends’ houses. Just like the railways, one of the main things we need to look out for is our brakes. Of course, everybody knows this, and yet somehow or other we’re apt to be a little careless about it. Not that the brakes don’t give us plenty of notice when they’re going to need adjustment. As time goes on we find that we can push the pedal lower and lower, till after a while we can shove it down almost to the floor boards before the brakes take hold. Even then we sometimes wait quite a while before we have them adjusted. It just seems to be human nature to put off things like that. And they tell us the result is that one-third of all the cars on the streets and highways at any given time have something wrong with their brakes. The trouble is that when we let our brakes go like that, all of a sudden we may have to make an emergency stop, and we may find it rather embarrassing. Engineers say that if we realised what goes on in brakes we would see -why we ought to keep them checked- up. As they explain, it’s a story of momentum and friction, the same old forces we’ve talked about before. They say that when we get going we build up a certain energy in the form of momentum. Now when we want to stop, we can’t just destroy that energy, because, scientists tell us. Nature never lets any of its energy be destroyed. Wc can only convert it into some other form of energy. What brakes really do is to convert speedenergy into heat-energy. When we push down on the brake pedal we press the brake lining against the brake drums and this creates friction that changes the energy to heat. When we have changed all the speed energy to heat, then we come to a stop. Now modern brakes are very powerful. In fact, a 100 horse power car will have about 500 horse power brakes. They can stop ns pretty quickly even from high speeds. But when they do, they simply change those speeds into a great deal of heat, in a very short time. The fact is we sometimes build up temperatures in our brakes as high as 1400 degrees! It’s easy to see that heat like that can cause a lot of trouble. Some of us may think it’s fun to rush up to sudden stops, but we might as well realise that wo have to pay for that kind of fun in excessive brake wear.. It simply doesn't pay to build up brake heat a lot faster than it can be thrown off. And we certainly get hardly anything back in time saved. For instance, if we’re going 30 miles an hour, our brakes can stop us in 40 feet if they are all right; but it takes them less than two seconds longer to stop us in twice that distance. How much better it is, under normal circumstances, to begin to apply the brakes a few seconds earlier and, with gradually increasing pressure, bring our, car to an easy stop. As a matter of fact, smooth, gradual stopping wherever the circumstances permit, is generally taken as a sign of a good driver. Now if we want to keep our brakes safe and sound, it is important to remember what these fast stops do to them. But it is just as important to remember that all stops generate some heat in ouf brakes. That is what gradually wears down the linings, and sooner or later makes a brake adjustment necessary. And that is why we must watch them and see that adjustments are made when they are needed. So maybe it would be a good idea to keep on thinking of our cars as private transportation systems. It is just as easy for us as it is for the railways to keep them in good running condition, so they will serve ns with safety and satisfaction. The fourth article in this series, “ Driving on Hills,” will appear next week.

THE MOTOR CYCLE A.A. (OTAGO) CYCLE SECTION. FIXTURES November 9. —Camberly scramble. November 23. —Run to Brighton. December 8. —Social run, Bucklands Ford. CLUB NOTES. The Wigana at present have approximately 400 points in the teams contest, the Wirrals team being about 100 points in the rear. In the points for the Ariel Cup, which is presented for attendance at runs and meetings, cleanliness of machine, etc., A. Scofield continues to lead. However, any keen motor cyclist has a chance in tins competition. The cycle section's next sporting fixture is the Camberly scramble -on Saturday, November 9. A scramble may almost be termed a race under the conditions of a sporting trial, but not so arduous. The event, which is being keenly looked forward to by most club men, will probably be run in grass paddocks, a sub-committee having beeji appointed to secure a suitable course. All motor cyclists are invited, and an afternoon’s fine entertainment should result. “NEVER AGAIN.” Fully recovered in health, but firmly resolved never to ride a motor cycle in a race again, Air A. F. H. Bradley, of Nelson, who went Home to represent New Zealand in the International Tourist Trophy races in the Isle of Alan, but was injured in a spill during practice, returned to Auckland by the Rangitiki on Tuesday night. The operation that was performed on his fractured skull in the Ramsey Cottage Hospital on the night of his crash, June 10, was so critical and the likelihood of his surviving so remote that the local paper published the news of his death and a flattering obituary, which he had the pleasure of reading wh.cn, “ by a miracle of modern surgery,” as the English newspapers said, he was restored to consciousness. “ Of what happened to me to make me crash I have not the slightest recollection, but probably I was just going a bit too fast,” said Air Bradley to an Auckland Star reporter. “ For six weeks after the doctor had removed a section of splintered bone from my skull I lay unconscious. right at death’s door, they said, while the races that I had gone there to ride in as New Zealand’s representative were being contested. They told me afterwards that I went off the road in a fog and my machine hit the bank. I went over the handlebars and landed on my head. They picked me up 63 feet from where I parted company with the machine, so I must have been going pretty fast to have travelled that far on my own. “After such a narrow escape it would be tempting Providence too much were I to race again. I am finished with it,” he said, and so the sport in New Zealand loses one of its best men. the winner of last year’s New Zealand Tourist Trophy race on Waiheke Island. “ There are other things in life besides motor-cycle racing”-—here he glanced over his shoulder towards the door of his cabin, where a young lady was waiting for him —“and I am not going to run the risk of losing them, as two riders did when they were killed in this year's T.T.” SPARKS In the past year 1416 new members were enrolled by A.A. (Canterbury). $ £ :|; There are 14,802 members in the South Island Alotor Union, compared with 13,218 last year. Air Harvey J. Jenkins, of Oamaru, who has been a member of the council of the New Zealand Motor _ Trades Association since its inception 18 years ago. and who was president in 1932-33, has retired from business. He intends to visit England shortly. “Knowledge of how to drive and care for a motor car must become as necessary

to the human being as how to use a knife and fork,” says the Hon. Brian Lewis. Only the man who eats peas, with a knife would be guilty of dropping ball bearings into the crankcase. It is not generally known that rubber used in retreading is pure raw rubber. Another point on which there is a misconception is that rubber can be cooked more than once and still retain its quality. That is a wrong notion. The rubber, once cooked, cannot be treated again. Retreading has been revolutionised lately. One of the factors is the use of full-circle moulds. The work is not done in sections, * :jc ‘ * If a petrol pipe is broken while on a journey the best method of effecting a temporary repair is to procure a short length of rubber tubing, slide it over the broken ends, and bind them down with wire or string. If the pipe is only cracked soap can be rubbed over the fracture, which should then be bound with cloth or insulating tape. A Baris resident had his car stolen from outside his house, and 48 hours later it was discovered parked at the other end of the city. Pinned to the back of the driving seat was a letter addressed to the owner, saying:— “ I have filled up with petrol and oil, so you really have nothing to complain of. “ Your car is not too bad, but if I were you I would take more care of the battery: I had to use the starting handle in getting away, and this annoyed me.” * * * Under the heading “In Meinoriam— Ottawa,” the following letter to the editor appears in the Motor Trader and Review, London:- —Ausralian produce has always enjoyed free entry into the British market. A 10 h.p. Austin saloon, on entering Australia, has to pay a tariff of

£lls (or in sterling, £92). The same car going to Spain is taxed £6O sterling and Spanish produce is taxed on entering Britain. ;J; ❖ “Hallo,” said Jones, espying his neighbour on the way to the,station one morning. “Back from your motor tour. Have a good time ? " . “ Very pood,” replied the motorist. “ My wife did all the driving.” “Splendid,” said Jones. ‘And I suppose you just sat back and admired the view.” “All I had to do was to hold the steering wheel,” said the other, wearily. * # * The jibe that South Australia allows its beauty spots to be defaced with hoardings will soon be' removed, for the Government, acting on authority it has l°ng possessed, has ordered that all hoardings beyond a radius of four miles of the G.P.O. which interfere with the appearance of the landscape shall be removed before the end of this month. The decree will be appreciated by travellers on main roads through the Mount Lofty Ranges, where the most beautiful hillsides and entrancing vistas are made hideous by huge erections of wood and iron on which the virtues of jams, pickles, wines, motor tyres and patent medicines are blazoned in huge capitals.

10 m.p.h. .. 18.7 miles per gallon 20 m.p.h. .. 18.9 miles per gallon 30 In.p.h. .. 18.0 miles per gallon 40 m.p.h. .. 16.4 miles per gallon 50 m.p.h. .. 14.6 miles per gallon 60 m.p.h. .. 12.6 miles per gallon 70 m.p.h, .. 10.6 miles per gallon 80 mp.h. .. 8.6 miles per gallon