THE MOTOR WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23109, 8 February 1937, Page 3

THE MOTOR WORLD

Items of news—short description! etc., comment, or inquiries—w

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The Vauxhall Motorist for November.

AFTER THE “SPREE”

The problem which arises when a person asleep in a car is charged with being drunk while in charge of it is a common one. At Greenwich Police Court recently the point arose once more (states a London paper). The defendant realised that he was in no position to drive a motor car on leaving a dance, so he got in me body and went to sleep. The magistrate argued that if a man was unconscious, and was nfmd inl; ® the car and left there, he could not be said to be in charge, as his mind did not accompany the act of getting in. But, he ruled, the fact of opening the door and getting in oneself does put one in charge of the vehicle. However, he continued, the fact mai the defendant had no intention of driving mitigated the seriousness of the matter, so he dismissed the chaige on payment of five guineas costs. GEAR CHANGING Should difficulty be experienced in obtaining a quiet, smooth change in a synchro-mesh gear-box, or, in fact, any normal gear-box, there may be more than one cause. The driver’s skill, the relative engine speed, adjustment of the clutch, the condition of synchro clutches or gears, and the specification of the lubricant are important considerations. While a clean change necessitates depression of the clutch pedal to its full travel, there are times when excessive lost motion in the operating linkage prevents complete disengagement of the friction faces. Most cars are provided with a convenient adjustment to ensure full throw-out, but it is essential to allow from one-half to one full inch of floorboard pedal clearance. ' WHEN A TRAILER IS NOT A TRAILER There is a strange anomaly in the Victorian Motor Car Act relating to the definition of a trailer. Apparently the law recognises a trailer attached to a motor vehicle only when it is used “for the carriage of goods or for hire in the course of trade.” Thus a private caravan trailer is not recognised as a trailer by Victorian law, and consequently does not have to be registered. The officer in charge of the Motor Registration Branch says that, with the steady increase in the number of private trailers which had taken place recently, it was time that the act was amended to compel the registration of all trailers. This would enable an inspection to be made to ensure the safety of their couplings and other essential factors which would be in the interests of road users generally. The chief secretary says; “It is desirable that motor caravans should conform to safety standards, and I shall investigate the matter of their inspection as soon as possible. The subject has not been brought to my notice previously, and I recognise ns importance.” GERMAN ROADS How the transport and highway authorities in Germany are endeavouring to stimulate the motor industry by providing first-class roads and attractive routes for motorists is the subject of comment in the Imperial Economic Committee’s, Survey of the Trade in Motor Vehicles, recently published in England. , „ _ Of one great network of German roads the committee observes: "The network is designed to cover Germany from end to end. ... In the lay-out of every section of the system, engineer and architect are working in close collaboration. Care is taken to ensure beauty of environment for the routes chosen, and also to preserve the amenities of the country through which the roads pass. The roads skirt the towns and villages which lie near, but not on, their path, and no ugly signs or ugly buildings are permitted to mar either the road or the environment. . . No less care is taken with the design of the filling stations to be erected at suitable points along the route in a style at once simple, severe, and pleasing, and devoid of any advertisements. GOOD DRIVING Following a controversy on the factors that make a good driver, English Motor says:— “ Old motorists deplore the assertion that seventeen-year-oids can consider themselves competent when they so obviously lack the years of experience that are their own; and the young drivers reply vehemently that experience alone is not enough. “In that they are right. There are drivers past middle age who, although they have driven for 30 years or more and never had an accident, are not skilled motorists. Learning when the roads were open and uncrowded, they have developed selfishness: and some cannot see well.

“ On the other hand, for a youth to have control of any car, but particularly a fast car, even although he may have passed his driving test, is potentially dangerous unless he has restraint imagination, and good sense in addition to sound faculties, quick reaction, and safe judgment. “ Skilled driving is not a question of youth and age, but pne of temperament and experience.' Both are essential for safety: a flair for driving more so than the number of years or thousands of miles that one has driven “Much of this flair is the result of observation, judgment, instinct, intelligence, and imaginative outlook. It can be acquired by certain drivers irrespective of whether they start driving at seventeen or seventy in a short time; by others hardly at all. We all think we have it, but our passengers are often better judges.” EXCHANGING ENGINES To eliminate loss of time when the engine of a motor car or truck is being overhauled, the Ford Motor Company of Australia Pty.. Ltd., has announced the introduction of a new engine exchange plan, similar to that operatine in England and Canada. Now, when a Ford engine needs reconditioning, it may be exchanged with a unit that has been rebuilt at the Ford factory and carries a new engine guarantee. The change over takes onl.'y a few hours. After arrangements have been made with a Ford dealer the car or truck can be left in the morning and driven out with a reconditioned engine in the afternoon. This will be of particular value to owners of business vehicles. DANGER IN SLEEP Fatigue at the wheel (remarks an expert) is not an uncommon cause of accidents, and since no one is a better judge of his own physical fitness than the driver himself, it is most important that the driver make no error in his judgment, the consequences of which may be serious not only to himself but to others on the road. While there are plenty of causes leading to fatigue or dozing at the wheel, it is nothing short of negligence for any motorist to take risks in driving in that condition. Indigestion and carbon-monoxide arc two causes of a condition of fatigue apart from a host of other causes. To finish a day’s work and set out on a long motor run, unless one is in a perfect condition of health, is to take a chance of drowsing at the wheel An excellent road, a silently-running engine, smooth roads, .and ill-arranged ventilation of the car are factors which readily induce sleepiness That condition is difficult to combat unless one ensures proper ventilation and. at the first suggestion of drowsiness, stops the car, alights, and takes the antidole of a few minutes’ walk in the fresh Modern road travel is so fast that the conditions are such that no chance can be taken with what might happen in a fleeting second or two when.

By ACCELERATOR

of tours, the state of the roads,

ill be welcomed by Accelerator,

through dosing, a driver’s concentration on the safe progress of his vehicle might be interrupted. Never drive unless your physical condition is right. Never undertake a long tour, even to please your friends, if you are tired, There is nothing clever in marathon driving; there may be something tragic in it.

Marathon driving or special touring stunts require special training. Never take the slightest chance of being overtaken by fatigue at the driving wheel. There is no more pleasant and exhilarating form of travel, or relaxation, for that matter, than motoring it drivei. took the small amount of trouble necessary to ensure the pleasure to be derived from it.

There is some degree of pity to be shown to those many motorists who turn pleasure into worry by outdriving their eyes, taking chances, travelling as fast as they can from point to point; who never bother about the scenery, speed limits, or anything else but the task of getting somewhere. To far too many car owners motoring is synonymous with speed, place and time. They are the drivers who develop nerves and the habit of risktaking which gives other drivers similar nerves. Motoring is a matter of health, and it must be good health with confidence and an even temper. The eyesight must be right; there must be no lassitude. It is a game of clear thinking sensible acting. Anything which will

interfere with properly-functioning faculties should be avoided by the motorist who deserves the description of a safe driver. , , . , And a full day’s work is calculated to encourage the desire for a doze if a long motor run is undertaken in a good car on a good road. , , It is preferable that a driver, not absolutely refreshed or alert, should take his sleep in a safe bed and make an early morning start, than risk the danger of dozing in what, after all. would become an unsafe car on the public highway. In U.S.A. over 20,000 accidents in a year were attributable to drivers dozing at the wheel through fatigue. It is not unlikely that the transport authorities in New Zealand will give greater attention in the future to this motor accident factor overlooked in the past. Impressed by the frequency with which drivers meet with accidents through dozing while driving, an inventor has produced a small but noisy clockwork alarm, which is worn somewhat like a tiepin. On the first nod the driver’s chin depresses a release pin on top of the alarm, and the bell rings sharply. The question of responsibility for ati accident when a driver falls asleep appears to have been complicated recently by the verdict of a British magistrate that dozing while driving is not an offence, because it comes under the heading of a sudden illness. British motorists generally have expressed disagreement.

ARE WOMEN DANGEROUS? “A woman driver! You might have known.” Thus the cynical chant of many a male motorist when a woman errs, slightly or seriously, in manoeuvring her car. But the gibe has no basis in fact, according to the report of a university professor who took the trouble to find out. Armed with statistics, he asserts that the female of the motoring species is not nearly so deadly as the male. Only 6 per cent, of American highway accidents involve women drivers, according to Professor William J. Cox, of Yale. Not only that, but “if accidents are to be reduced,” he says, “it will be accomplished through women. Men have bad the problem for 30 years and have done little with it. Development of public opinion towards observance of law with a view to decreasing automobile accidents is definitely a work for women.”

If so, they face a colossal job, for all indications are that motor fatalities are increasing steadily. In 1935 the toll was 37,000. Such slaughter shocked the country. Something, everybody agreed, had to be done. A great campaign was launched to save human lives by making motoring safer. Through courts, police, schools, the Red Cross, newspaper advertising, billboard displays, lectures, and in a dozen other ways, motorists were advised, entreated, warned. The result? Nineteen thirty-six recorded a higher motor death rate than ever before, according to the National Safety Council’s forecast. Instead of 37,000, the indicated total for 1936 was 37,500. However, there are two favourable aspects: the annual increase will be much less (from 1934 to 1935 it jumped 900), and the death rate measured by gasoline consumption also will show a marked reduction, about 9 per cent. In line with the anti-accident campaign, Connecticut officials made an intensive study of motoring habits Covering a total of 91,044 vehicles, the report shows their average speed was 38.9 miles an hour. Women were found to drive on the average of 0.4 miles an hour slower than men. The survey, directed by Professor Charles J. Tiiden, of Yale, president of the Foundation for Highway Traffic Regulation, also showed: The data indicate “ fairly conclusively that on the whole, the fast driver is less careful than the moderate driver.” The average speed of all drivers is higher in the winter than in the summer, due, perhaps, to the addition of many slow pleasure drivers during the warm months Visiting cars travelled about three miles an hour faster than Connecticut cars, probably because the “ foreign cars in a majority of cases had a definite objective. “There is evidence that persons do not drive quite as fast immediately after eating as they are likely, to beforehand or after a period of an hour or so.” CHEVROLET FOR 1937 Chevrolet’s new cars have been cornpletclv redesigned, retaining, however, those basic principles which have for so long proved their value. The new Chevrolets are provided in two models —Chevrolet and Chevrolet de luxe Engine, chassis, and body are identical, the difference being (hat the de luxe models are fitted with knee action wheels and shockless steering, and carry more equipment than the conventionally sprung models. The new models are entirely new and more beautiful in appearance. They are lower in over-all height due to the adoption of a hypoid gear rear caxle and a new body mounting. The windshield and rear body panel slope at greater and more rakish angles. The tyres are larger and of the heavy-duty type, and the wheels smaller with more massive hubs and more attractive bub caps. Visibility is improved, and more luggage space is provided under larger, more accessible compartments

A new unisteel body construction, in I which steel top, floor, and sides of the ■ body are welded together without the i use of any bolts or rivets, provides j greater strength and safety and allows more room for passengers. Safetyglass all round and the strength of the unisteel construction and sturdy box frame give complete protection to Chevrolet passengers. The knee action units are continued on the de luxe models without major change. Due to the new design, the weights of the body, frame, power plant, and other units are redesigned and relocated. To provide excellent springing under these conditions the rear springs are entirely redesigned. The lighter weight of the car provides better stopping, as the same efficient hydraulic brakes are retained. Headlights fitted with expolyte lenses give a powerful beam, which is concentrated in a safe and more useful driving range.

SAFE STOPPING Having captured a large array of records for performance, endurance, and quick “ get-away." this 1937 Hud-son-built Terraplane, illustrated on this page recently, demonstrated its quickstopping ability recently when it established several phenomenal marks for breaking. ihe picture shows American Automobile Association officials recording one of the quick stops. From a speed of 20 miles per hour, this stock Terraplane was stopped in 7ft 9in with the n duo-automatic hydraulic brakes. In California, where the tests were made under official observation of the American Automobile Association Contest Board, the legal requirement for this distance is 37 feet.

Going at a speed of 30 miles an hour, the new Terraplane was brought to a stop in 40f* 10in, as compared with the legal requirement of 83 feet. At 40 miles an hour the Terraplane was stopped in 69ft 7in. The code specifies 148 feet as satisfactory for this speed, Marks nearly as good were set by the eight-cylinder and much larger Hudson, which also is equipped with the double breaking system, by official check.

THE MOTOR CYCLE A.A. (Otago) FIXTURES February 14.—Social run. February 16.—Monthly meeting. , February 20.—Annual hill climb. February 28. —Social run. March 6.—Acceleration test. March 14.—Social run. March 16.—Monthly meeting. March 26. 27, 28, 29.—Cust road race. April 10.—Five-hour trial. April 20.—Monthly meeting. April 24.—Treasure Hunt. IVlay B.—Slow hill climb. May 18.—Monthly meeting. May 22.—Paper chase. June s.—Sporting trial. June 15.—Annual meeting. TOURIST TROPHY RACE The seventh New Zealand Tourist Trophy race, postponed from New Year’s Day on account of the dangerous condition of the track, was held under the auspices of the Auckland Motorcycle Club at Ostend, Waiheke, on Friday week last, in the worst weather yet experienced for the event. Rain was falling heavily when the first competitor, L. Sowerby, left the mark promptly at one o’clock, and it continued throughout the afternoon until the winner, A. Mattson, was flagged in 3hr 22min 35sec later. This was the second occasion on which Mattson has won the event. Of the 16 competitors who faced the starter, only six completed the course. Water on the magneto caused the retirement of several riders, and mechanical faults, principally with gearboxes. caused others to abandon the race. In marked contrast to previous contests, there were practically no spills. Considering the bad weather, Mattson’s time, 3hr 22min 35sec, an average of approximately 50 miles per hour, compared very favourably with last year’s record for the 168-mile course, 3hr 4min 38sec, established by C. Goldberg. Mattson’s machine was a 500 c.c. Velocette.

The second rider to compete the 25 laps was A. Carlinson, on a 500 c.c. Norton, while the American stunt motor-cyclist, Putt Mossman, on a 500 c.c. J.A.P.. was a popular third. The remaining three riders who finished the distance were A. J. Dean (500 c.c. Norton), J. H. Dale (500 c.c. Rudge), and V. W. Melhuish (500 c.c. James). One of the most unfortunate competitors of the day was W. Grey (500 c.c. Norton), who vode a splendid race and was lying in third position when he struck trouble in the last lap. The chain came off his machine three times, and he also experienced trouble with loose tank bolts. He was forced to abandon the race. Details of the winners of the New Zealand Tourist Trophy race since 1931, with their times, are as follows: Time Winner Mnolilno h. m. a. 1931 S. Moses Umlfre 2 45 12* 1932 A. Mattson Norton 3 11 58 1-5 1933 S. Moses Uudge 3 13 0 1-3 193-1 (Jan.) S. Moses Undue 3 14 30 1934 (Dec.) A, Bradley Undue 3 7 38 193(1 C. Goldbont Velocette 3 4 38 1937 A. Mattson Velocette 322 35

* The first event was over a distance of only 133 miles.

SPARKS Heard at Liverpool police court; “ The van then moved up the road, going downhill.” * # *

in Germany there are more than 1100 miles of cycling paths along the roads. Berlin alone has 200 miles.

Several newspapers have stated that the paid attendance at the Olympia Motor Show this year of 237,560 is the record figure. In 1927 the paid attendance was 275,222.

A witness in a motoring case said he watched a car for two or three minutes. He was asked to judge when this time had elapsed, and stood quiet for 10 seconds!

A motorist, fined at Weston for not. displaying an “ L" sign, said he could drive well enough not to have an “ L," but he carried it in the back of the car

The Philadelphia (U.S.A.) Automobile Club excludes from membership anv motorist convicted of manslaughter, driving when intoxicated, or driving away without stopping after an accident.

A motorist at Highgato police court, summoned for speeding, said; "The police say I was doing 31 m.p.h._ I say I was only doing 29, and if. sir. you split the difference you will find I was not exceeding the 30-mile limit.”

Motoring at Bournemouth, a visitor unintentionally passed a traffic light that was showing red. There was no policeman on the corner, but. realising that he had done wrong, he reported the matter to the first constable he met Summoned at Bournemouth police court, he was fined 5s for failing to obey a traffic signal.

A dream that came true was experienced by a woman motorist, who was summoned for speed at Hampstead.

In a letter which she handed to the magistrate she said: “ I am practically always dreaming of police traps, gongs, and such-like horrors.” She was fined.

Two young Melbourne women. Miss Doris Glover and Miss Molly Easdown, have decided to enter for the Round Australia contest of 10,000 miles, which will be held early in 1938. in conjunction with the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the founding of Sydney. They have not competed in motor sport events previously.