Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 50

Cycling and Motor Notes

BY DEMON.

—-Russia has decided to develop a motor car industry of her own. The .European war is the cause of her decision. Before the war most of Rusia's cars had been bought from Germany, France, Italy, and England; but the war has demonstrated to Russia how necessary factories for the manufacture of motor cars are, and fivo new factories already have been started. The Government is largely responsible for the activity. Government arrangements call for 7500 motor lorries and cars from these five factories in a given time. This means 1500 vehicles from each. The Minister of War has placed orders for ail the output. Word has come through by cable that the two most important American automobile road contests—the Vanderbilt Cup and the Grand Prix—were decided on the Santa Monica circuit in California on November 16 and 18. The former event, over 300 miles, was won by Dario Resta on his Peugcot, he putting up a wonderful performance by averaging 87 miles an hour. Resta won this event last year, his speed on that occasion being only 67.3 miles per hour. He also carried off the 1915 Grand Prix (about 396 miles) with an average of 56 miles per hour. The latter event was run in rain and on a heavy course. Another Peugeot driver in J. Aitken succeeded.in carrying off this year's Grand Prix. These two drivers have this season alone each won a fortune in stakes. An old-time cyclists' reunion was held in Melbourne last Saturday week, and, despite threatening weather, upwards of 50 wheelmen took part in an eight miles' run to Heidelberg. Unusual interest was atken by the public as the procession of old-timers, led by Mr 13. Garnet (one-time secretary of the League of Victorian Wheelmen), on an old ordinary bicycle, passed through Melbourne. The object of the outing, which was held under the auspices of the Cycling Advancement Society, was primarily to strengthen the revived interest in the pastime of cycling to further encourage the use of the wheel for health, pleasure, and utility.

Pluck, skill, and resource are not the only requisites to become a skilled aviator, particularly for service in the Royal Flying Corps (says an English writer), 'iiie successful riving man must be temperamentally of the. right type. A man may be a fine athlete and indomitable courage, but still possessed of a nervous temperament which will handicap him in the air. and, curiously enough, he may not know it until ho is already put to the test. An instance was cited of an English officer who wished to exchange from his regiment at the front. into the Royal Flying Corps, lie obtained the coveted permission, but while on leave he wisely decided to take the opportunity of making an ascent to see what flying was really like, and satisfy himself as to his

fitness or otherwise for tho job. Accordingly he asked the pilot to do all the daring " stunts" which he could execute, and the pilot duly obliged. He "banked" at tho acutost possible angles, executed a volplane, and was passing merrily from one j Feat to another when the passenger found that the situation was getting the better of him. He shouted to the pilot, who took tho cries, however, as encouragements to further efforts, and tho more daring did tho pilot become. When ho at last descended

he found to his surprise that his "fare" was all but in a state of collapse. He had had more than enough, and reluctantly abandoned his intention on the spot of ever becoming a pilot, and returned to his regiment at the front. time that the engine of the modern motor cycle is in an extremely exposed position. It is nearly always impossible to _ obtain a positively- oil-tight crankcase, which, although perhaps possiblo when the engine is new, soon, when wear sets in, permits oil to exude from the engine, covering it externally with an oil film, which in turn traps dust and mud, causing undue wear. Now, if it were possible thoroughly to enclose the power unit whilst not deducting from its efficiency, we think that it womd tainly a step in the right direction. It is argued that* such protection would be unsightly; but if we take the instance of a motor car engine, we say that if the. engine were not covered up it would certainly be unsightly. There is proof indeed in tho uncouth appearance of a motor car being driven without a bonnet. On these line?, therefore, we may reasonably expect (says Motor Cvcling, England) to find the power unit of the future encased in neat aluminium guards, easily detachable, but yet weather-proof enough to permit the entire machine being washed down by the application of the garden hose. Compared with the British motor cyclist, his American confrere i; ee&cribed as "presenting the appearance of a cross I between a stoker and an exceptionally greasy I mechanic." For some "onsiderablo period there has been a strong tendency in the United States to encourage the use of neater clothing for motor cyclists, and, in order to give effect to it. the committee of the Federation of American Motor Cyclists issued a manifesto pointing out tile desirability of the rider's appearance being improved, and urging them to rake note of the clothing as worn by Britisn motor evclists. On Ihe average road th'i use of overalls is imperative, else one v. ould bo quite unpresentable and thoroughly uncomfortable after a 50-mile run. Another bad feature of American motor cycling is tho free use of the exhaust; but a ?ampaign has commenced against the rider who

creates such a nuisance; ho is knovm as the "open-muffler boob." At the same time, Ave lu,ow that the best of the American machines are very efficiently silenced. _ _ t The high price of motor spirit in England • has induced dealers to seek for substitutes, and it is noticed in current numbers of British motor journals tnat there arc ro.v no fewe- than 22 makes of motorfuels available, nearly all of which are produced by different firms. Hence, several ot the brands may bo almost, if not precise'y, the samo spirit. The Petrol Control Committee, however, has restricted the use of some of these substitutes, which has further hardened motorists' feelings against it, and now many dealers are in a quandary as to whether they are within their rights in supplying motorists with paraffin and other substitutes without entering such sales on their cards as must be done with petrol. Last week I (says "Fortis," in the Australasian) had an opportunity of witnessing a fuel consumption test with an "Eclipse" petrol cconomiser. a device invented in New Zealand. It takes the place of the carburettor, and should be called a gas-producer, as only pure, cool gas enters the engine. It takes the form of an upright cylinder, petrol being admitted at the bottom, and with a series of gauze strainers the spirit is so atomised before it reaches the combustion chamber that it entqre in the form of gas, dry and cool. The car upon which the instrument was fitted was a 12 h.p. Rover, and after clearing the city proper the petrol pipe was disconnected, and the engine run until the carburettor was dry. A tube from a special hand tank, into which was poured a measured quart of fuel, was then attached, and the car was driven a distance of exactly eight miles, thus gallon. The car, which is fitted with a heavy English body, scales about 24cwt, and I understand that* tho average distance for this model of car on a gallon of fuel is 19 miles. If that is so, the result is most satisfactory. Last year the Germans on the west front captured a Daimler ambulance car, which recently was recaptured by the British, and it was found that while the car was in tho hands of tho Huns it had been encased in sheet-steel netting of about gin mesh. The netting was so complete that the driver, in order to regain his seat, had to crawl under tho netting, and even then the running boards had been partially removed to afford him ingress. The original tyres remained on the car, and though they bore signs of hard usage they were in good running condition.

WAR SERVICE AS TEST FOR CARS. There is nothing li'ie war service for finding out the weak points of ear design. Cars that have made for themselves a reputation of being among ihe very best develop tho most surprising weakness.es —not weaknesses which are a result of extraordinary stresses and bad usage, but weaknesses duo to faults in design, which, when they manifest themselves, make one marvel that they passed so long undiscovered and unsuspected in ordinary usage. One really famous make of car, tho name of which before the war was' synonymous with reliability, on active service. manifested a peculiar penchant for trotiblc, which took the shape of stripping the driving dogs on the rear hubs. These had never given trouble before; but, when one came to examine them, the wonder was that they had ever stood up at_ all. It is certain that that make of car will never manifest that particular brand of trouble again. Another and equally famous car showed in its transmission that engine efficiency had been developed to a point at which, had it gone the least bit farther, would have probably resulted in a general break-up of tho transmission. Yet that make of car had never previously given trouble in that direction. The alteration of two or three details has completely eliminated the trouble, and the car is now about as perfect as need be.

These instances will suffice to point the moral that the heavy strains incidental to war service are teaching the motor car dosigner many unexpected lessons. Not the least valuable are those that will manifest their results in the direction of improved suspension springs when the time comes—rather, in an improved system of dealing with the springing of the car than in the springs, themselves. Experience seems to indicate that *he cantilever spring gives better results all round than the semi or three-quarter elliptic type, and as a result the cantilever will come into much favour in the post-war designs. A point in this connection is that the need of some provision for spring lubrication has been shown to be desirable, rather than to leave things to chance, as hitherto. There is little doubt that the suspension of tho car has hardly kept pace with tho development of the rest. Designers have been content, generally speaking, to follow the coachbuilders, and allow the motorist to make good in part the defects of the springs by the fitting of shock-absorbers, which are admittedly a makeshift. More troublo has been experienced with car springs at tho front than from any other defects or weaknesses, and, that being so, one can reason ably look forward to considerable improvement in this direction in the near future.

THE CARBURETTER. There are few motorists who really realise ■what an influence the proper adjustment of a carburetter has in the running and power of a petrol engine. Given two cars fitted with identical sized engines, the same adjustment of carburetter does not ncerssai'ily give equal, results—such things as compression, valve adjustment, speed of piston, etc., accounting for varying results. This is one of the -weak points in most of the popular carburetters on the market. They are built to standard lor various ranges of h.p. engines, find, only after juggling with various sized nipples, choke, tubes, etc., can one get something approaching satisfactory results. This entails a deal of labour that the average motorist will not face, preferring to lot mailers stand, and ho generally gets average results plus a considerable wastage of petrol, which runs into a fair amount per annum. ' Experienced motorists have for years recognised the fact that something 7noro was needed in the existing makes of carburetters on the market, and that something was the provision for outside adjustment of the petrol supply to the antomising chamber of the carburetter—a simple nrrangement that would enable the driver by the turn of a lever or milled nut to give. more or less petrol as desired. Such a carburetter has been designed and patented by a Melbourne motor engineer. It has been registered as the "O 0.M.," and from experiments ■ : ••! ' . - ious makes and powers o: cars, it really looke as if the nc-wcomc! is {joiner i • fill a much needed ■want. Tho "O.C.M ," ■■.■n'-h is being manufactured In Australia, is ( no of the simplest

carburetters made. It gives remarkable petrol results, very flexible engine running, and can bo adjusted whilst eaigine is running by any motorist without the use of tools to suit not only his engine's requirements, but the climatic condition. Running with the wind the petrol supply can almost be cut right out, -whilst for plugging into wind or traversing hilly country provision is easily and immediately made to increase supply. A few figures illustrate tho difference this adjustable carburettor makes in petrol consumption. A 30 h.p. Opel with its standard carburetter gave an average mileage of 19 miles per gallon; with tho "0.C.M." fitted it ran 23. A 10-14 h.p. "F.N." mileage per gallon was raised from 18 to 29; a 14-18 h.p. "F.N.," 19 to 27; a 20 h.p. Ford, 20 to 32; a Ford delivery van, 17 to 25± i a 15-20 h.p. "Italia," 19 to 22, and a 70 h.p. Mercedes from eight to 14 miles. These figures are authentic, and wore not obtained by freak driving, the cars- being driven under normal conditions. Such an increase naturally means a considerable saving in one's petrol bill. Another welcomo feature in this new carburetter is the case with which it can be cleaned—in fact, a choked or stuffed up petrol mpple_ is we nigh impossible, and meet motorists will appreciate what that means.