Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3017, 10 January 1912, Page 59

Cycling and Motor Notes

BY DEMON.

A travelling motor show is now suggested for Great Britain. It is thought that there should be a combined tour of the British Isles by one car of each make, the whole journey to bo taken at legal speed, and under the control either of the E.A.C. or the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Nothing in the nature of speed trials or competitive hill-climbs would be permitted, and each driver would bo free to arrange his own time-table; or lots might be drawn for the order to start daily. Tho Committee of Management of the Olympic Games has, in connection with the road race (of 200 miles) round Lake Malar, in Sweden, decided to adopt what is really Australian road-racing conditions as to pacing—i.e., there must be no outside! assistance, but competitors may pace each other. A section of tho English roadracers are apparently averse to tho practice, and would like to have the long event totally unpaced. It, is difficult to see what objection there is to our method, especially from riders who pride themselves in their true sporting instincts. Surely each would share tho pace. improvement in tho allied sports of motor car and motor cycle racing has been best achieved by fixing a maximum. The light oar races, such ns have been held in Franco, and of which the Four Inch contest in the Isle of Man was a notable example, have had an enormous influence in tho development, of the medium-powered and priced car. while (lie restrictions which have kept down the size and weight of motor cycles in the Tourist Trophy and other competitive events for the twowhcelcr have been of vast benefit to motor cycling. Motorists in Great Britain to Juno 30 last subscribed £1,164,344 in taxes—for petrol duties £701.079. and for license foes, £460,265— all of which goes info road improvement for the benefit of tho whole community. Although tho Irish contributions to the fund aggregated only about £25,000, the sum allotted for road reform on that island was no less than £150,000 — another injustice to Ireland ! Tho motor press is urging tho Government to revise the motpr taxes. They are being cheerfully paid, and tho amounts collected exceed tho estimates. A question of the greatest importance to motorists is the cost of motoring. There is nothing so misleading as the ordinarily published statistics of motoring, for the reason that tho cases given arc

generally of extremes, one way or ths other; while generalised estimates are apt to overlook certain matters which may make a great deal of difference to the result. It is a great pity that this should bo so, because, on the one hand, many people have been deterred from taking up motoring because of something they nave heard from friends, or have read in the motoring press of its terrific expense; while others have been led to purchase cars on totally misleading up-keep figures, only to find that they have embarked on a course of expenditure much beyond thoiif moans. There is no reliable schedule of upkeep costs. This is the most vital of all motoring questions, and the ■ automobile clubs of Australia would be doing a good service if they would go seriously into the matter, draw up a schedule of what would bo debited to upkeep charges, and obtain statistics from their members. SThosc could then be examined, extreme cases rejected, and an average struck for each of tho most-used types or ratings. This is tho only fair and proper way to ascertain tho real cost of motoring. - According to a leading automobile engineer, the popular idea that dust is raised by prices atic tyres as tho result of suction is /y'n\". Ho explains that tho rubber o'.v-.io tyro is stretched where it conies 'l/contact with the road and surraoe/Shd that on rising from tho ground y/reverts rapidly to its normal condition, 'giving a slight, backward “flick” to tho dusty binder, which has become embedded' in tho tread during its brief moment of forcible contact with the road. This “flick” is added to tho kick of tho driven wheels whcii more power is transmitted through them than the adhesion between the tyre and tho road warrants. Tho “flick 5 ’ will certainly pick out and throw away fine blinding dust, raising it to an inch or two above the road. This is the f explanation of what has been called “the suction of the tyro.” The fall in air pressure caused in the -Wake of the car owing to bad stream lines is a very slight one, but it covers a largo volume of air. It is ibis half-vacuum, which is refilled by eddying currents flowing in to restore the equilibrium of atmospheric pressure, which picks up and raises to a great, height tho dust which has been loosened by the "flick’* and kick of tho tyre. Probably tho severest punishment meted out to a reckless motorist is tho sentence of imprisonment for life passed on Alexander Tracey, of Port Hunan, U.S.A., for criminal negligence in operating a motor car. Tracey, on September 4 last, drove an automobile through tha streets of Toronto (Canada) at such a furious rate that lie crashed into a clusfor of people, injuring several. His dcfoncP was that tho break would not work, but witnesses testified that he was intoxicated, or, at least,,* acted like a drunken man. Tho judge said that, although no one had been killed, the prisoner had wantonly menaced human life, and deserved tho severest punishment. It is expected, however, that the prisoner will bo pardoned after having served a reasonable term in gaol. A correspondent writes as follows to tho Argus :—“ln a paragraph referring to a motor car used by a travelling showman, you state that ‘the motors of one of tha trucks are used to furnish power to operate moving pictures.’ That raises the question os to how much power can be obtained in this way from a motor car engine, either by transmitting it by a bell from tho wheel or wheel-axle, or by taking out tho engine and making it a fixture. Suppose the motor was rated at 20 h.p., could I, when using it as a stationary engine, say, for making a small air compressor, obtain tho full 20 h.p. from it, or only a portion of it?” “Clutch” replies:—“You would certainly obtain more power from the motor were it detached from the car and used as a stationary engine, with a belt from the fly-wheel. In a motor car there is a loss of about 30 per cent, of energy through friction, firstly in tho change speed gear box, secondly m tho differential gear, and lastly in the friction of tho wheels with the road. With the detached motor, run with a belt, there would only bo the friction of the belt td overcome. In using a motor car engine as a stationary power plant tho load should not be placed on the motor until it hajf been thoroughly warmed up, say, after five minutes’ running. Of course, if the motor remain in tho car. and tho power bo taken from the back wheel, tho loss by friction would bo much greater. In some parts of Victoria, the engines of motor cars are used for driving ehaffeutters. separators, and other light work, by jacking up the back axles, and attaching belts to the rear London Economist ventures th» opinion that cycling has been spoilt by the motor invasion. As to what is mean* is not, quite clear. It can scarcely mean that the industry is imperilled. Ihe eye 0 ■manufacturers of Coventry can hardly char* that view, because of their increasing omnufl and satisfactory renonte. Perhaps the exnV in at'on is to bo found in the expression of a director of one of the cycle manufaction n c companies, when he stated his belief (that the motor car had driven many of the better class riders—the purchasers of high-grade cycles—eff the road. Other causes have operated in tire decline of cvclincr among* the leisured classes, and “Cycling” believes one to be that the pasf imf l 1 1*3.3 \>nccimo too clomoor-o.tic * tihe Vhcvolo is prized by the workers as a method of cheap locomotion, and also as a source of pleasure, and has ceased to have an_ attraction for those who desire am exclusive—or, at least, a. select pastime. Another reason proffered is that tho wealthier class. of cvclist has now become a motorist himself —a temptation that the lover of luxury finds very Liard to redd. In speaking of c"cling on the occasion of a monaster pnrad® of wheelmen in tho Oaney Ts’and (TT.S.A.J cycle pathiwav—which wrs threatened to M withdrawn from such use —the president of the State said: “While it is probably tme that what was known as the ‘bicycle craze ’ Lias passed it seems to me that tiae industry of both the cycle and Cycle is now on a more secure footing fhap {(■ ever wos. the machines being used td a particularly leirge extedE bv those who cannot afford automobiles: and wo find M the bncvcle or motor cycle both a moans of recreation and often a saving of expense in travelling.” ■ A new edition of the Motor Manual has reached us from Messrs Temple "Press, Txl. Tills handiboqk now appears in its fourteenth edition, consisting of 35.000 copies, the largest, produced so far. and enters it< two hundredth thousand, which ju: tides ths claim that it le a most popular metering l

volume. The Mdtor Manual has boon thoroughly revised, and ail the reoent developments In the motor world are dealt with. A portion of the book has been entirely rc-written, and a great many of ’the old illustrations have been re-drawn to render them more explicit, and new onee have been added. Among the subjects to which greater space has been devoted in this edition may be mentioned transmission, olrange speed gearing, ignition, tyros, detachable wheels, coach work, jing, and electric lighting. Written in So language, with an entire absence of lealotios, the Motor Manual forms an admirable handbook of instruction for the povioo, and at the same time an extremely interesting review of the present developments of oars, engines, and accessories for the regular motoridfc. The price of the Motor Manual is Is 6d net, post free Is 9d. ADVENTUROUS RIDE ACROSS SIBERIA. M. Pankratoff, chief of the Harbin Fire ‘ Irigade. arrived at Moscow on Noveintor 24 by bicycle from Harbin, having taken four months to accomplish fcho distance of 9000 kilometres (about 5250 tniles). Ho started with throe companions, tall of whom abandoned the journey at Tomak. M. Pankratoff went on by himHelf and had numerous adventures. Ho was frequently attacked by peasants, and on ome occasion was seriously injured in the back. A FURTHER WORD ON THE CUT-OUT. Popular as the motor cycle is, it is, however, a matter for little doubt that the favour accorded to the machine would be even extended wore the “ pop pop !” of insilenced engines forbidden. The matter cannot be over-emphasised. The cut-out is associated with vibration, and “ those horrid (nerve-jarring things ” are condemned as causes of neurasthenia and kindred ills. * The sound is no doubt a brave accompaniment to a day’s ride, and exhilarating to the youthful performer, but the amount of prejudice that it serves to spread outweighs by far these few doubtful advantages. The idea that the efficiency of the motor is impaired by' its silence is to a large extent overdrawn. The few weeks preceding the show (says London Sportsman.’ tire usually fraught with record-breaking, but this year attempts have been even more abundant than is customary'. Brook la mb, however, one month before Olympia opened wide her doors, banned the cut-out. Some halfdozes riders were held up on account of

excessively loquatious engines;, but the ingenious ones .soon discovered methods of maintaining the power of their engines, and since the introduction of that veto records have been broken by five individual performers. This is an example of the theory that a well-designed silencer need not impose any appreciable back pressure on a motor, and yet another case of improvement following restriction. TOURIST TROPHY RACE. The latest information from the Isle of Man suggests that the motor cycling fraternity who visit the island for the Tourist Trophy races will have to give some sort of undertalcing to keen down their enthusiasm, except in the actual contests, if they are to get official permission to use the roads for this year’s races. Last year there were complaints about the reckless use of racing machines at times other than practice period.!, and it was palpable that though the advocates of Tourist Trophy meetings found many friends in Manxland, the vainglorious contingent created iraany enemies. The Manx mooting is the life and soul of motor cycling sport, and its discontinuance would bo a calamity to the movement. With this fact in mind, the sometime unruly spirits among the prospective competitor?) must let it bo known that they will curb their ardour. AMERICA’S HUGE MOTOR OUTPUT. In the course ,if a lecture delivered last October in New York by Mr Alfred Hooves, general sales manager of the United States Motor Company, some extraordinary statistics and estimates regarding the American motor trade wore presented. Ho stated that there aro now 155 automobile factories in the United States which aro beyond the experimental stage, and there aro 65 factories producing commercial vehicles exclusively. There aro, he said, 450,000 cars registered as being in actual use in the Unitcd Stales at the present time, and probably 50.000 other cars used where State registration is not required. Last year 190.000 cars were sold, and the makers hope to produce 210,000 cars for this season. New York State alone haa 82,166 oars registered. It is computed that in 1912 the exports of cars and parts will amount to £4.000.000, and most of those will be bought bv Canada. Last season Canada took over 40 per cent, of Utotal oar exports, and for next season the ratio is expected to be still higher. RACES IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, January 2. At the cycling meeting to-day the halfmile championship of New South Wales was won by Spears, with Mutton second, and Belief third. Won by a wheel. Time, Imin 4sec. MOTOR CYCLING RECORD. SYDNEY, January 5. A motor cyclist named Yee travelled from Melbourne to Sydney in 31hr 19min. This is 2hr 44min better than Tormey’s recent record.