THE MOTOR WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22955, 10 August 1936, Page 3

THE MOTOR WORLD

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The Chrysler-Plymouth Overseas Graphic for July, per favour of Todd Motors, Ltd. This is an artistic publication covering a wide range of topics and illustrations. DARWIN-ADELAIDE RECORD Using a 12-year-old Vauxhall, Fly-ing-officers J, R. Balmcr and E. D. Scott have just created a new record for the drive from Darwin to Adelaide. They completed the journey in 3 days 11 hours and 40 minutes. This trans-continental trip was first attempted in 1907 by two South Australian pioneer drivers—Harry Dutton and Murray Aunger. They started from Adelaide, but met the wet season, and had to abandon their Talbot north of Alice Springs. In the following year they headed north again in another Talbot, and this time, after a heroic struggle, got through in 52 days. The journey is made regularly now in both directions, and the track has been so improved as to present few difficulties to a capable driver. LOSS OF POWER ; One of the reasons for loss of power and difficult starting is frequently to be found in the distributor, Dirty, pitted, or ill-fitting make-and-break points can quickly destroy the efficiency of the nest engine. When a car is fitted with a magneto, these points are usually made of platinum or tungsten, and with coil ignition tungsten is more frequently used. No attempt should be made with either of these metals to polish them by filing. The best way to clean them is to use a small hone made for the purpose, which can be purchased at any accessory house very cheaply. After they have been polished they should be reset, so that the whole of the surfaces can come into firm contact. WHEEL ALIGNMENT Apart from the mechanical wear caused, misalignment of the wheels of a motor car inevitably causes wear of the tyres. Many cars possess this defect, however, and sometimes it is so great as to be easily visible. It is a direct cause of a cross, or diagonal, “scuffling” action as the tread of the tyres comes into contact with the road surface. Evidence of this can usually be seen in the form of a feathered edge on the outside of the tread of a tyre. Usually this trouble occurs on the front wheels, but it can occur also on the rear wheels, and motorists are advised to watch their tyres for any indication of premature wear. Engineers of the Goodyear Company urge that, in order to obtain the best service from tyres, the wheel alignment should be checked. at intervals. A severe bump against a kerb or other heavy impact is quite sufficient to throw the wheels out of alignment. CARE OF AIR FILTERS Any type of air cleaner needs occasional attention if. it is to continue to function properly and not merely obstruct the air inlet to the carburettor. The most popular type of air cleaner ,m motor cars is the deflector pattern, in whiCh the air is forced to make sudden changes of direction. Foreign matter is unable to take the course followed by the air, and is lodged on convenient vanes or in a receptacle, which in many cases contains oil. This permanently arrests dirt or grit, and prevents it from rising and being drawn into the engine. The only attention this type needs is an occasional wipe out with a cloth. Other types require the air to pass through felt or gauze. These are more effective, but need much more regular attention. They must be cleaned fairly frequently or they will obstruct the air intake and cause the mixture to become very rich. Most types of air cleaner increase the richness of the mixture at speeds over about 40 miles an hour. 568 MILES FOR £1 Averaging more than 50 miles to the fallen and 33 miles an hour, two ydney motorists drove in a “baby” Austin from Sydney to Melbourne at a total cost of less than £l. They were Mr Keith Dalziel, captain of the Light Car Club of New South Wales, and Mr Lionel G. Wigmore, official observer for the Australian Automobile Association. Both men are members of a committee which is organising a “ Round Australia ” motor car race, which will be part of the official celebrations in 1938 of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Sydney. GIANT DIESEL TRACTORS Evidence of the growing use of the diesel-motored vehicle in heavy-duty work was provided by the importation to Auckland of two enormous diesel tractors, probably the largest of their type brought into New Zealand to date. Costing £3300 each, these giant machines attracted considerable attention as they were driven from the wharf to a garage in Albert street under their own power. One has been purchased by a firm of timber millers near Mamaku, while the other will be put into use on afforestation country near Tauranga. In addition to being called upon to haul logs weighing up to 20,4001 b. the tractors will bo used for knocking trees down, the massive front bumpers being fitted with such tasks in view. Weighing 13 tons each, the tractors can be manoeuvred with ease, this feature being one not looked for in such an enormous machine. Four banks of six-volt batteries are carried, supplying 24 volts to a largo starting motor. From cold, the motor was started in two seconds in a garage in the city, the machine ticking over smoothly as soon as it started. CARRIAGE OF SPARE PLUGS The days when it was necessary to carry a multitude of spare parts before setting off on a long motor trip have fortunately passed, but most careful motorists make a point of including a set of spare plugs in the car’s outfit. Although there are no moving parts in a sparking plug, it is a thing which requires careful packing if damage to the thread points and insulation is to be avoided. It is not always necessary to carry new plugs as spares. The old ones should be cleaned and adjusted, when they will'serve as quite reliable spares. The best way to carry them is in the boxes which contain the new ones, these being particularly suitable in the case of metal containers. The cardboard rings found on the threads of the new plugs should be replaced on the spares. To keep the plugs from rattling, they should be wrapped in a piece of rag before being put in their tins, and a rubber band, such as a section of an old inner tube will then hold all the tins together, and the result is a parcel which will withstand travel among the spanners, jacks, and general oddments of the motorist's tool kit. RUBBER MOUNTINGS Rubber enters more extensivclv every year into the construction of cars, with benefits as varied as they are numerous. Not least of advantage to the driver, the passengers, and the car itself is the provision of rubber “cushions” for the engine and gearbox unit. But rubber, in some of its applications (observes an expert), has drawbacks of a minor character due to the very feature that makes it so good a material from other viewpoints, viz., the ease with which it is compressible When unconflned. One of the drawbacks may be experienced if and when need arises for the starting handle to be used in many cars with rubbermounted motors. There is a possibility that the “ claw ” end may not engage readily with the front end of the crankshaft. The reason will bo that the latter has been allowed, by the impression or distortion of the

By ACCELERATOR.

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

rubber of the engine mounting, to move slightly out of alignment with the hole in the front cross member of the frame (or in a bracket on the latter) that forms the bearing of the starting handle shaft. When that occurs the reason will generally be either that the car is standing on uneven ground or that somebody at some time* has been too vigorous, or not firm enough, in using a spanner to tighten the bolts and nuts that hold the engine down on its rubber cushions. In either case it is generally possible, however, to force the starting handle claw into engagement. If not. either the car must be moved on to approximately level ground or the mounting bolts must be slackened off or tightened a shade — which will best be done at a service station. For this reason all motorists, no matter what car* they drive, should use the starting handle experimentally at an early opportunity. If it will not engage properly while the car is on the level floor of its garage, the matter should be attended to before an emergency arises necessitating the turning of the engine by hand, for starting, testing the ignition, or any other reason. DEATH IN SPEED “Accident Facts,” 1936 edition, published by the National Safety Council, confirms last year’s high record of 37,000 motor vehicle fatalities, a slight increase in the .death rate on a population basis balancing a slight decrease in the death rate on a gasoline consumption basis (says the New York Times). The council does not agree with those autorpobile manufacturers who argue that highway defects are a prime cause of motor accidents; it places them among the “less important” causes. Defective brakes, glaring headlights, and similar deficiencies in the car itself may be a factor in, say, 15 per cent, of all accidents. Pedestrians are to blame for many of them, especially in the city. But the council places the chief blame where it belongs, even though most of us are reluctant to admit it—namely, 'on the ordinary run-of-the-road drivers, who are neither physically defective nor ignorant of the traffic rules:— “They don’t really want to have an accident, but neither do they sufficiently want not to have one. They take chances by going too fast; they pass other cars on hills and curves: they cross railroad tracks without looking; they do not slow down at intersections; they expect other drivers and pedestrians to get out of their way regardless of traffic conditions.” While accurate figures regarding speeds at which accidents occur are difficult to obtain, the council concludes from the information available from a number of States turning in detailed reports of accidents resulting in injuries that at speeds under 20 miles an hour only one such accident in 61 is fatal. In the next higher speed bracket, 20 to 29 miles an hour, one in every 42 is fatal; at 30 to 39. one in 35; at 40 to 49, one in 25; over 50, one in 11.

The influence of speed per sc is indirectly confirmed in another quarter. Since 1927, while automobile horsepower has steadily expanded, pedestrian fatalities have increased only 29 per cent.; it is easy enough to kill a pedestrian at any speed. During the same interval, however, marked everywhere by higher speeds, deaths resulting from collisions between two cars increased 142 per cent. These figures should dispose once for all of the argument that it is “old-fashioned” to emnhasise speed as the most important factor in the alarming rise in the automobile death rate. PRICES IN CANADA In the stability of motor vehicle prices the United States has been more fortunate recently than Canada. Prices have recently risen from £1 to £9 on most of the cars marketed in Canada. Already Liberal members in the Canadian Parliament are demanding further cuts in motor car duties to compensate for the increases. The upward revision of Canadian prices reflects, for one thing, the rise in the sales tax from 6 per cent, to 8 per cent. The increases have by no means reflected a uniform rise of 2 per cent., however. The average increase around Toronto, for instance, has been about £5, even on cars selling for less than £2OO. AN EPIC DRIVE The British racing motorist. Captain George Eyston, has established some further remarkable records on the Bonneville Salt Lake (Utah, U.S.A.), his major achievements being to cover with the assistance of another English driver, A. Denly. the amazing distance of 3479 miles 1478 yards in 24 hours and 6544.75 miles in 48 hours, an average of 136.34 m.p.h. Eyston (front-drive Speed of the Wind Dunlop) actually averaged 149,16 m.p.h. for the first 24 hours of the long drive, the merit of which will be appreciated when it is mentioned that the same driver’s recently-established world’s record for the hour is 162.5 m.p.h. In achieving new figures for the day and night drive around a 12 miles circuit of hard salt, Eyston has added over 107 miles to his own record of 3372 miles 899 yards established at the same venue and on the same machine last year. Eyston’s 48 hours’ drive betters the previous world’s record by no less than 1286 miles, three Frenchmen in Messrs Perrot. Dhome, and Girod (Delabaye-Dunlop) having driven 3258 miles 1341 yards on the Montlhcry track, Paris, in 1934. In establishing his magnificent new series of world’s records from 310 to 6544 miles, Eyston and his co-driver had to make many scheduled stops to change drivers and replenish petrol and oil tanks. Eyston cabled Dunlop that the lyres were absolutely troublefree. When details of the feat come to hand, it probably will be found that, deducting scheduled stops, the average speed for the whole two days’ drive was well over 140 m.p.h., a really amazing achievement for the men, machine, and tyres. An American contender for the 24 hours and other world motor speed records, in Harlan Fenglcr, has had a two-engined racing machine specially built for the purpose. Its streamlined appearance is somewhat on the lines of Sir Malcolm Campbell's famous Blue Bird, which holds the land speed record of 301 m.p.h., except that its nose is bullet-shaped. It is known as the Falcon. Fcngler was scheduled to make an attempt on the 24-hours’ record with his newly-built car early in July, on a suitable circuit in California, but nothing has yet been heard as to the result. Eyston’s latest figures will set the American Falcon no mean task despite the fact that it has a far more powerful plant than the 400 h.p. RollsRoyce engine in Eyston’s machine. THE ROAD HAZARD Much discussion has taken place on accident causes and the contribution made by old cars. The Automobile Trade Journal makes the following contribution to the subject: “That old cars are a menace to the safety of other users of the highways has frequently been emphasised in both the press and from the public platform. Moreover, safety has been one of the main reasons advanced for ’junking’ plans which factories have put into effect from time to time to help dealers clear their stocks of aged used cars. However, because this assumption seemed so obviously reasonable, so far as we know, no attempt has been made to find out just how true it is. So recently the Automobile Trade Journal made a small scale survey of the facts to get some light on the subject. “ Before presenting the figures, we want to emphasise that the number of accidents included in the survey was too small to prove anything. A much broader survey must be made before any trustworthy conclusions may be drawn. The rcsulls obtained in our

small scale survey suggest that the relationship between age and acejdcnts is exactly the opposite of which it has been widely assumed to be. In other words? in proportion to the numbers of newer and older vehicles on the road, newer cars are involved in relatively more accidents.

“The figures on which this observation is based are the result of an analysis of 494 official reports of accidents involving damage of £lO or more taken at random from the files of one of the larger eastern States for the months of November and December, 1935, and January, 1936. The ago of the car involved in each of these accidents was determined and the accidents then classified according to the ages of the cars involved. Then an estimate was made of the percentage of cars of each year of manufacture back to 1924 which were in service at the end of last year. “Of the 494 reports analysed, 60 were on accidents involving 1936 cars, and these were not included in the figures presented in the table, since there was no way to estimate the number of 1936 cars in service at the end of 1935.

“ Summarising the figures presented in the table 3.77 per cent, of the cars in service during the period were built prior to 1925 and were involved in no accidents; 24.79 per cent, were built between 1925 and 1928 inclusive, and were involved in 11.75 per cent, of the accidents: 39.50 per cent, were built between 1929 and 1932 inclusive, and were involved in 35.95 per cent.; 16.84 per cent, were built in 1933 and 1934, and were involved in 28.34 per cent.; and 15.10 per cent, were built in 1935. and were involved in 23.96 per cent. “The 1936 cars, which were eliminated in computing the foregoing percentages, had been on sale only three months at the end of the period covered by the survey, yet they were involved in 60 of the 494 accidents analysed, which is more than for any year of manufacture prior to 1934. As mentioned previously, the number pf accidents examined in this survey is 100 small to prove anything, and even if the figures were more comprehensive. other phases of the accidents in which the cars were involved would have to be examined before positive conclusions would be justified. “ However, taking these figures with the unquestionable fact that the newer cars are inherently safer because of better brakes, tyres, bodies, etc., and also considering statistics issued by various States, which show that roughly 3 per cent, of the accidents are attributed to defective equipment, it seems fair to emphasise what fairminded persons, who have studied the situation, know, and that is that any substantial reduction in accidents can only come as the result of an improvement in driving habits. Certainly it seems clear that the industry’s efforts to promote safety should be focused on this objective.” THE MOTOR CYCLE FIXTURES August 15.—Sporting trial. August 18.—Monthly meeting. August 29.—Paper chase. September 13.—Social run, 2 p.m. September 15.—Monthly meeting. September 26.—Run to aerodrome. October 10.—Secret trial. October 20.—Monthly meeting. October 24, 25, 26.—Labour Day trial. ■ November 7.—Camberly scramble. November 17.—Monthly meeting. November 21.—Grass hill climb. December s.—Acceleration test. December 13.—Full-day social run. December 15— Monthly meeting. LOCAL ACTIVITIES The compilation of fixtures beginning on Saturday next and closing in mid-December is evidence of interest and virility. For a considerable time the Motor Cycle Section of A.A. (Otago) has been a live institution, and members and unattached riders have spent happy and profitable hours together. The fixtures for the first part of the season comprise gatherings for the varied tastes of wheelmen, and the officials anticipate a warm response to the general invitation to join up in what is an enjoyable social recreation. SPARKS Scottish cyclists are objecting strongly to the building of cycle tracks alongside new highways. » * v German officials are endeavouring to enforce the new rule that passengers in cars must not speak to the driver. We do not know how they do it. * =;= si: “ If you want to look at a speed cop, watch him from behind. You will find the rear view much more satisfactory, and infinitely less expensive,” said the chairman of the Brynmawr Bench recently to a motorist who said he looked back at the “speed cop” because he had never seen one before. V V V When the Australian Automobile Association meets in Adelaide next October it will consider the next moves to be made in an effort to reduce the amount of taxation borne by the owners of motor vehicles. This organisation directly represents 175,000 motorists belonging to various State clubs. V V * On the main road in Kilometreberg, Germany, a famous sculptor has carved an advertisement in plastic wood for a local garage. The design shows three men lifting a car. The group is beautifully executed, and harmonises with its surroundings. V * Motorists in Grimsby are considerably inconvenienced by numerous level crossings. The Town Council recently discussed a plan to abolish all of them by the construction, at an estimated cost of £3,200,000, of a viaduct spanning the town. The plan was finally shelved as impracticable, and a scheme for a subway beneath one level crossing was adopted. •v- •■.« "Half a million pounds or more is spent annually by about a score of the leading London and provincial motor dealers on reconditioning the used cars they offer for sale. This fact has been revealed during a study of the methods employed by reputable dealers throughout the country, to ensure that only thoroughly reliable jobs are offered by them to used-model buyers. *V* T T On a rainy night it is difficult for the average driver to determine whether the headlights are on a far or near focus, especially if there is no tell-tale on the dash and the lighting switch is fool-operated. The wise alternative is to use the near focus continuously. At reduced speed the near focus should give ample illumination of the road, and it will not be necessary to run the risk of blinding approaching drivers.