CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 50

CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES

BY DEMON.

—— The present war is the first opportunity which motor cycles have had to show their worth as light artillery. A British machine gun battery is composed of a Four mg- car tor the commanding officer two motor cycles with sidecars, on whicn V lckers light muchino guns are mounted: two reserve machines, which are fitted with all the necessary arrangements to have guns mounted on them, and two sidecars loaded with ammunition. In addition to hie six motor cycles, there are usually three large touring cars loaded with additional ammunition, rifles, provisions, and equipment, lhe battery is accompanied by a lieutenant on a very fast racing motor cycle. ~ A .V- ho F9 c , cnt >: °»' York motor show the vehicle which attracted most attention from engineers and public was an Irish car Many special features are embodied in the i< erg-iis ear, and it is highly significant that in the midst of the eicaAvar Great Britain should evolve a vehicle which excels m novelty anything that America has been nolo to produce. It j s bv enterprise of this kind that Great Britain can build up her Industrie-; Alter the war.

Motorists will bo interested to learn that the present war saved the American motor industry. In 1914 the total increase of production amounted only to per cent on the previous, year, there being a practical slump in the American motoring business that year. In 1915, with war orders, tlio increase jumped mi to 40 l-3rd per cent, representing- a total output of £04.314 vehicles, whilst based on the present year's. arrangements for manufacturing 1,305 000 cars are to be made, equal to an increase of t>2 4 pur cent, in the figures Tor 1913 It is considered by American experts that the maximum production of passenger oars will to about reached this vear; hence tho imperative need for capturing European trade, for America, will soon bo makiii"hundreds of thousands more firs than arc needed for home consumption. The same will apply to the American tyre concerns which will have to find a market for their surplus output, evidence of which is already forthcoming in this country. Amnio protection is the one and only thing that will protect the Empire's interests in' this direction, for without it thcro is little doubt that America, wilh her great wealth—won through tho war,—•will seriously menace the automobile and tyro industry.

Despite the war tho English makers of tho well-known Sunbeam car have built three new special racing- cars to compete in this year's big American speed contests. Tho throe cars have six-cylinder engines !80mm bore x 156 mm stroke). An interesting feature of these cars is the aluminium water jacketing of tho cylinders. Tho design of tho Sunbeam is said to promiso great speed, and it will be interesting to

note their doings on the American speedways this season. A match applied to the top of a bottle filled with petrol will not necessarily cause an explosion. The fumes exuding- will ignite, but there is no explosive mixture. Comparatively few moloii&ts are aware of what proportion of air to petrol is essential to proper carburation. Experiment:? have determined that the best explosive mixture is obtained when 16 parts of .air to 1 of the spirit are used. The ideal condition is to have the mixture homogeneous, to have the proportion of petrol to air constant throughout the ccrubustion-chamlx-v; but this condition is not exactly attainable in the average motor. In other words, the first portion of the charge drawn into the cylinders may be weak and the last part rich, while only the intermediate portion will be a perfect mixture. Again, there is always a certain amount of burned gas left over after the previous explosion, which does not tnix evenly with the incoming charge, with the result that some parts of the mixture are diluted by it far more than others. R. Burman, who in April, 1911. drove a mile at Davtona on the Florida Beach (U.S.A.) in 25 2-ssec—a snecd of 141 miles per hour, recently met his death in California. Burman, who was one of America's leading drivers, was biking part in a trackrace, when his car was wrecked, owing to ono of the driving tyres bursting. When the cover went the car slid about 100 ft and crashed into a culvert, then careered all over the place, eventually crashing into a pacldocked ear in the reserve, some 167 yards from where the blowout occurred. The price of petrol has risen considerably in America, owing, it is said, to insufficient production. After allowing for

export of petrol from tho United States, it is estimated that the balance of motor fuel left in that country is sufficient, for an average allowance of 589 gallons for each of tho two and a-half million cars said to be in uso in America These figures take no account of motor tractors, motor boats, and various other needs of motor fuel. Fifteen months ago there was a reserve _of 84,003,000 gallons of petrol in America; but that, it is said, was exhausted some months back. American experts are not too hopeful in reference to coping with the increasing call for more petrol, and it is almost certain that exports from that country to other parts of the world will have in time to be curtailed to supply the home consumption. Tho termination of the war will, of course, nut a different complexion on the subject, for the Russian. Rumanian, and Galician supplies 'Will then be available, an,] the result should ba a big drop in the existing price of petrol.

Some sensational motor-car racing was recently witnessed in New York at the; new Shcepshead motor trjck at Long Island. l n . iho Coney Island Cup, in which a Peugeot, driven by Aiken, negotiated the 20 miles in the sensational time of llmin 15 4-ssec, which gives n speed of 106.7 miles per hour, a world's record for tho distance vea- accomplished. An _ Englishbuilt 12-eylinder Sunbeam, driven by Christiaens, was second, being only Usee behind tho winner. Unfortunately, the afternoon's racing was marred by ;i fatal accident. Carl Limberg and his mechanic, (Pallotti). whilst travelling at 104 miles per hoar, being thrown over tho top of the hanking owing to one of the rear tyres bursting Both men were killed and the car burnt. Limberg had just previously finished up third in the 20-mile event, averaging 104 miles per hour, whilst he also started in tho Queen's Cup. Ac enormous crowd witnessed the racing. ——lt is good, bur not surprising, neves to learn that the motor cycle machine gun sections under General Smuts in Africa have played an important part in the work oi' driving the Germans from the k.-t of their colonial empire. The work of the machine gunners and of tho despatch-riders alike was' greatly facilitated by tho fact that the German engineer.- had provide;! some line roads—for their own use, of coarse —in East Africa, and little thought thai they would over come to be utilised to their own undoing. Recent telegrams show that the opportunity was seized by General Smuts in the middle week iu March for road-repairing and other preparations for the rapid advance which soon threatens to cut irom Germany the last of her oversea possessions. majority of motorists in this country use Australian-made tyre, thereby assisting in furthering what is now an important Australian industry. At the same time there are motorists who will have Imported tyres, irrespective of the fact that the locallymade article is in every way the equal of the oversea production, and in most instances costs less In this connection it is surprising to find that last year £127,000 worth of rubber goods,_ mostly motor car tvres, were imported into the Commonwealth. This money went to enrich oversea capital ar.cl oversea workmen, when it could have been more loyally employed in furthering Australian industry and prosperity. The importation of motor tyres into this country is at any time against the advancement of the Commonwealth; but at tho present juncture, whilst tho Empire is fight-

in" for freedom and civilisation, the buyinn- of foreign-made tyres is economically unaound, and contrary to Australian interests

S F Edge's great 24 hours' motor car record of 1531 miles 1310 yards on a Napier established at Broklands (England) in Juno, 1907. has at last been beaten, the now holder of this classic record being K. Mulford, an American driver of note, the New York speedway at Sheepshead was selected by Mulford for his effort, his mount being a 'six-cylinder Hudson. Averaging over 70 miles per hour, Mulford soon got ahead of Edge's intermediate figures. In six hours he had negotiated 463 miles, as against Edge's 407; in 12 hours 923£ as against 799, in 18 hours 1382 as against 1203, and at the end of 24 hours his total ■was 1819 miles. Remarkable figures and a remarkable drive ! Mulford handled the wheel right through the effort. After he had been driving nearly 19 hours, the officials stopped the record-breaker, to see if he was physically able to complete the full clay's drive, and lie was permitted to continue. Up to the end of 15 hours' driving (1158 miles) Mulford had averaged 77 miles per hour. The petrol consumption was 10 miles to the gallon, and 150 miles to the gallon of oil. One thousand miles was negotiated in just under 13 hours. The intermediate speed averages were at 500 miles 77.1, at ICOO 76.4. and at tne finish of the drive 75.8 miles per hour, as against Edge's 65.9 miles per hour, also accomplished on a six-cylinder car. Whilst Mulford drove the whole distance himself, he changed the mechanicians several times. Amateur cycle road racing beginning to boom in the United States. Trophies to the value of £450, including a motor car for the first prize, were recently given for a 25-mile race at Newark. On the 17th instant the Ashburton received a letter from a firm in the United States a few days ago which stated that there were some thousands of motor cars awaiting shipment to Australia and NewZealand, but which were being held up on account of shortage of shipping. MOTOR TAXES IN ENGLAND. The proposed heavy motor cycle tax in England, ranging from £2 2s per annum for single-cylinder light-weights up to £4 14s 6d, is likely to considerably influence English motor cycle design. At present tho rating at Home is arrived at entirely by bore of the cylinder, therefore a tax on bore means a tax on dcs : gn. and, as such, is a tax on skill. It is only natural that designers will now turn their attention to the fmall-borc engine, which, to obtain the necessary capacity, will have to have a long stroke. This may or may not be proved later on to be the best form of engine—that is not the question The English system of rating on bore alone has influenced car engine des : gn, and this when taxes were half and less than half what is now proposed; so we can look forward to long stroke engines becoming general. On the face of it, the mode of rating is wrong. Cubic capacity of engine is a far more equitable basis, and, Furthermore, it is not right that a taxation formulae, or, rather, lack of it, should influence design, just when England wants to put her best foot forward to retain or recover her lost markets. AFTER THE WAR. American motor cars are to he thrown into Europe, particularly into Germany and France (says _ the Scientific American), immediately after the war is ended, in a manner which will make all former American "invasions" pale into insignificance. One of the largest of the automobile companies is known to be preparing to send no less than 10,000 touring cars and roadsters into the German market within a month after the war is ended. Other companies plan a like invasion, and the export business in American motor cars will be such as simply to swamp the factories. Great Britain already sees the writing on the wall, and frantic appeals come from the trade press and the dealers to the largo manufacturers, imploring them to try to produce a small, standardised car in huge quantities, to sell for about. £l4O or less. In this connection American exporters may get a surprise, for already England has put an embargo on the importation of American cars, and it is practically certain that England, France. Belgium, and Italy will, at the conclusion of the war, give protection to the automobile industries in their respective countries, and olso that Russia will favour her Allies in respect to automobile trade. It" would be a poor recognition of the invaluable services rendered by the motor manufacturers in munition work, etc., if the.'r trade—lest during the war owing to nonsupplies—is to bo made a present to the American maker?.