Cycling and Motor notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3084, 23 April 1913, Page 56

Cycling and Motor notes

B¥ DEMON,

Mr P. 11. Sargood has just imported a 45 h.p. motor farm truck, built by the well-known firm of “Avery’s,’’ which is intended for use for carrying purposes, and also for hauling a 5-gang plough, on his station at Lake Wanaka. The waggon has a carrying capacity of three tons, and is fitted with a governed ermine, three forward speeds and one reverse, its maximum speed being 16 miles per hour. The question of introducing a bylaw compelling private owners of motorcars to take out licenses, the owners beforehand being called upon to satisfy a competent official that they are capable of efficiently handling a car, was discussed at the meeting of the General Committee of the Dunedin City Council on Monday evening. It was ultimately decided to make inquiries as to what is done in

Christchurch in this direction, and the matter will come again before the committee.

A peculiar motoring incident is related in one of the English motoring journals. A car-owner was driving home one night, when there was a certain amount of light from the moon, which produced deceptive shadows on the road. Near his own house a distinct hump was felt, and he remarked to his chauffeur, “That certainly is not a shadow.” Pulling up to investigate, he found to his horror a man lying across the road, over whose legs the wheels had evidently 'passed. Closer examination disclosed the fact that the man was drunk, and also that no bones were broken; in fact, he was practically uninjured. It was a warm night, and the motorist and the chauffeur lifted the man into a comfortable position against the fence, and after leaving thg car at home returned to the scene. The man, however, had disappeared. Some time afterwards the motorist was having a new garage built, and a few days after the work had commenced the chauffeur said, “Do you remember the man we drove over two months ago?” The motorist replied in the affirmative. “Well, he is laying bricks at the new garage.’’ It appeared that the chauffeur and bricklayer had got into conversation, and the latter had told him that some time previously he had been arrested for being drunk, and that the police had kicked him all over and left him black and blue. He had not realised that he had been ill-

treated until he had awakened oh : the following morning and found liimtelf in the lockup. Tlie man had not the slightest idea that he had been run over by a heavy motor car.

—~ It is claimed by two experienced English motorists that loz of camphor dissolved in five gallons of petrol ensured easier starting, quicker acceleration, and a reduction in petrol consumption. Since' the publication of the paragraph several Melbourne motorists (says the Argus) have'placed camphor in their petrol, and, though it has been proved to facilitate starting, the trial has not advanced sufficiently to warrant their expressing an opinion on the other claims. As no harmful effects can arise from the use of camphor in the proportion mentioned, motorists who are interested in the subject should experiment themselves. The Dunlop Rubber Qompany will be pleased to receive from motorists the results of experiments in this direction, with a view to collecting evidence of the value of camphor. When sufficient data has been received, the results will be tabulated and made public.

— Five hundred and fifty-five thousand persons paid for admission to the Grand Palais during the Paris motor show. The show was open for 16 days.' Nearly 34,700 daily, therefore, visited the exhibition. The actual attendance was considerably larger, for a very liberal use of free tickets was made on the opening day. About £23,000 was taken at the doo-fr.

The Knight sleeve-valve was sharply criticised by Professor Reidler, lecturer to the Charlottenbnrg School of Engineers, who put the invention to some laboratory tests. The inventor now taxes Re idler with having committed a number of highly serious mistakes in carrying out his tests, and especially with ignoring the fact that in 1909 the English Daimler Company received from the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland the Dewar Trophy as the result of the severest tests ever specified for a motor. "Mr Knight describes that extraordinary ordeal in detail, tells the professor that he has confounded advantages with disadvantages. and that, in short, he knows nothing at all about the sleeve-valve engine he has so sharply criticised. A Paris councillor has suggested that every motor car should be fitted with an instrument causing a gun to be fired and a bell to be rung, and all four tyres to burst when the car reaches a speed of 12 miles an hour.

The double journey—Melbourne to Sydney and back—has been successfully accomplished on an English-made cycle car—a “G.W.K.” This natty little car is the first of its kind to attempt 1 the journey, and the splendid manner in which it stood np to the 1132 miles trip over some ,of the roughest roads in the Commonwealth speaks well for the future of this type of runabout. The little car carried two heavy-weight passengers, and it ' was an eyeopener tb many of the drivers' of the big cars in the SydneyMelbburne reliability contest to see the manner in which the little “pup of a car” stuck to its work on the overland route. The test was a very severe one, but the cycle car proved by its absence of trouble, lightness oh petrol and tyres, that there’s going to be a big future in this country for this type of vehicle.

The recent silencer trial held in England by the Auto Cycle Union was, without the least doubt, one of the most important events that has occurred for some time in the motor cycle world. It has been a Irabit with the majority of motor cycles for many years past to be extremely noisy. This habit has brought them into bad odour with a large section of the public, who take exception to the “conk’’ of unhealthy “single.” It has been demonstrated many fimes that a machine fitted with a correctly-designed silencer is capable of developing more power than one exhausting straight into the atmosphere. When one comes to look into the matter it is hut natural that this should bo so. But the motor-cycling public has all along refused to believe in the truth of this theory. The stock argument invaiiably was that everyone an fait with the facts knew perfectly well that a silencer soelt back measure, and therefore loss of power. There was a certain amount of excuse, however, for the continual reiteration of this statement owing to the fact that in manv cases the silencers as fitted to the machines of the period were almost as efficient as the brakes in slowing tlie machine. The recent trials proved (hat a motor cycle can be verv silent and yet more efficient, and there is really no excuse for a noi-v exhaust. The result of the trial will be welcome io all, and the day is not far distant when the motor cvcle will be almost as n'"’et ao an up-to-date car. A. 11. Shepherd, the champion pace-follower of Australia, has fixed up a riding engagement with a well-known Parisian snorts promoter, and leaves at an earlv date for Fiance. With experienc° Shepherd pronit-cs to develop into a first-class man at this branch of cycle racing, and if be can only command nn-to-dat" motor pacing it should not bo lonsr before be makes good in Europe, ft is Shepherd's intention to take part in the world's paced ch'>mpmnship ; to be decided next August in Berlin. Mr A. V. Turner, one of the New South Wales contestants in the recent Sydney -Melbourne reliability contest, has announced his intention of making an attempt at an early date tn capture the Sydney-Melbourne motor car record, which at present stands at 19hr 47min. Mr I). Campbell, who recently started out to drive across from Melbourne to Sydney on a powerful racing car with the intention of trying to reduce the existing figures to 18hr 20min, on the return journey met with a bad smash-up on his way across tn Sydney. The car was overturned and badly damaged, the occupants fortunately escaping serious injury. The car is now undergoing repairs

in Sydney, and is expected to be ready for the record attempt some time this week. The American crack, Frank Kramer, who is now racing in Paris, won his first race match, defeating the French flyer, Leon Hourlier, who won the Grand Prix of Paris last year. Kramer, who is the holder of the World’s Sprint Championship, is apparently riding as fast as ever, and he •is certainly the most consistent racing cyclist the world has yet produced. South Africa is apparently anxious to secure a position for herself in the high places of sport. The success of her sole cycling representative, H. Lewis, m the Olympic Games 200 Miles Road Race last year was, it will be remembered, greeted with extraordinary enthusiasm, his supporters even going so far as to endeavour to obtain for the Lake Malar hero a State pension. It is now announced that the committee of the Rand M.C.C. is raising £2OO for the purpose of sending Mr Percy Flook, ■ a Johannesburg motor cyclist, to the Isle of Man (England), to compete in this year's Tourist Motor Cycle Read Race, which is the blue riband event of its kind in the world.

“There is a great deal of curiosity among people to know the preference of champions in any walks of life. For ex-, ample, a great many motorists would like to know what spark-plug adjustment champion road drivers prefer,” says Emil Grossman, an American sparking-plug manufacturer. “Ralph de Palma, the celebrated racing driver, when asked what gap he recommended, took up a plug, and with an ordinary business card adjusted the points so that the card would easily pass between the points. The late David Bruce Brown, one of the greatest drivers who ever sat behind a steering wheel, used a worn ten cent piece for a measure. Each champion has his favourite gauge. All of the big men seem to agree upon one sixty-fourth of an inch gap, and it is a well-known fact that it is necessary to have a more intense spark in the engines where the compression is high than where the compression is not so intense. It is almost impossible to get a spark from a’ wide gap in a high-compression motor.”