CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3489, 25 January 1921, Page 48

CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

By

DEMON.

Remarkable speed has been developed hi racing motor boats of recent years. The fastest boat in the world to-day is undoubtedly the Miss America, which, in a recent contest over six heats of a mile each on the Detroit River, U.S.A., showed an average speed of over 76i miles per hour. Tins is an amazing performance. The Miss America is only a small craft, but is fitted with enormous engines—viz., two 400 h.p. “Liberty” motors. A demonstration was given in New York recently of an invention known as an automatic safety fender for motors. The inventor is engineer of the University of Naples, who himself demonstrated the device. Playing the part of the “victim,” he permitted a motor car travailing at 25 miles per hour to strike him full on. The fender worked perfectly, lifting the inventor off his feet and depositing him in the apparatus without a scratch. It is said that it has taken wine years to perfect the device, which weighs 751 b, and can be attached to any car. An attempt is to ba made shortly by

j fhassagne, the well-known French driver, j to lower his own European hour motor ear re- , cord of 107 miles 1672 yards, which was j established at Brooklnnds, England, in I October, 1913. The attempt will be made j nt Brooklands, and his mount will be an ; eight-cylinder Ballot. The world’s car hour record "at present stands at 110 miles to the credit of Ralph do Palma, and was c. tab- . fished at the Slieepshead Speedway, New I York, in November, 1917. Few motorists in this part of the ; world realise what a huge concern the j Austin Motor Co. is in England. At no time are the partly finished materials going through the works of a less value than £2,000,000. The value of orders in hand for Austins and tractors, and on which deposits had been paid, was £8,000,000. This year, the anticipated output is 5000 cars and 4000 tractors —big figures for Eng-

land, but small, of course, as contrasted with some of the big plants in America. The grip the American motor trade got on the English market during the war period may be gauged from the fact that during the past year there were imported into England from America 17.528 passenger cars and 4593 commercial motor vehicles. It is no wonder the English manufacturer is asking for protection for his industry, which is already feeling the effect of the American invasion. This invasion is likely to gain in strength owng to the existing slackenng off in car sales in the United States, the output having exceeded the demand. A regular feature of the well equipped private American garage is an electrio buffer, with which the chauffeur, with no labour to himself, keeps all the bright and plated work on the car in a very high state

of polish. The appliance consists of a small high-speed electric motor of one-eighth h.p., having a double-ended spindle, each end having a polishing “mop”—a sort of circular brush of calico —screwed on. To these the chauffeur applies the usual polishing powders and holds the motor, which is very light and manageable, so that the brushes, or “mops,” press while running at a very high speed against, the part to be polished. The result is a finely-burnished surface, farsuperior to any polish obtained by hand labour. Despite the influx of oversea made tyres into England during the war period, the recent Olympic Motor Show in London demonstrated that “Dunlop’s” still hold the foremost position in England. Out of a total of 3326 tyres fitted to vehicles on show, 1617 were “Dunlop’s”—the balance being divided between 20 other makers. It is significant that this tyre has held premier position for 40 years. HIGH-PRICED CAR BODIES. It is considered by experts in the English motor trade that tire cost of motor car bodies is getting quite out of proportion to the intrinsically more expensive chassis and its miscellaneous equipment. Open touring bodies in England of quite ordinary patterns are now listed at 300 to 400 per cent, higher than just before tire war. Either this result denotes an abnormal rise in the cost of materials and labour—for it certainly does not concern design as such—or it suggests failure on the part of the body trade to curtail productive cost by reference to and adopting processes of productoin more in keeping with the need of the times and the practice in regard to chassis production. I he effect of the high-priced body only serves to advance the price of the already high costing chassis, and undoubtedly plays into the hands of the American ..utomobile manufacturer, who, by standardisation, has reduced -body production to a science, at about a quarter of the cost. In this part of the world the price of motor car bodies has about doubled—which is bad enough, but apparently not as bad as in the Old Country. MOTOR CAR v. AEROPLANE. Tt is difficult, to account for the marked difference in the treatment meted out to motoring and aviation. Since the early days of the automobile, little has been done towards the fostering of the former by either

authorities or general public, in fact, restrictions on top of special taxes have been banded out to motorists by the authorities, right from the swaddling days of the car. The public has watched the class legislation against motorists with a certain amount of satisfaction, and yet, strange to say, the motor car has been the greatest boon to the world of the century. In spite of restrictions and taxes, the use of the motor advances—its utility being unquestionable and to-day it is one of the world’s greatest industries. GRAND PRIX CAR RACE. The leading European car manufacturers are already making arrangements for the Frenoh “Grand Prix” Motor Car Race to ue held over the Strasbourg circuit next July. Before the war this annual contest was the blue riband road event of the world. Already the Ballot firm —one of the leading French makers —and the winners of many of the big road and track contests, has entered four cars, and been allotted numbers 1,2, 3, and 4 for the race. The great American driver Ralph de Palma will drive one of them, whilst another well-known driver in Chassagne will drive another. It it anticipated that at least 15 teams of cars will compete for the blue riband, including one or two English makes. AN AIR BRAKE. Recent tests conducted at San Francisco by traffic authorities demonstrated the wonderful efficiency of the air-brake for automobiles. The tests proved that an effective air-brake is nearly five times more efficient than the ordinary brakes. A striking illustration of its stopping power was the pulling up of a five-ton motor truck hauling a five-ton trailer, travelling at 18 miles an hour, in the remarkable space of only 11 feet; whereas with ordinary brakes a similar outfit with the usual braae system travelled 50 feet before coming to a standstill. The air-brake system tested is "said to be of a very simple nature, and can be adapted to all classes of motor vehicles. LARGE WACON TYRES. The use of pneumatic tyres on waggons and other types of heavy motori vehicles is provine advantageous, the size of tyres (in section) being very large. Manufacturers of pneumatic tyres, however, are meeting the demand, and are constructing special -wheels in some eases to suit the type of tyre marketed. The English Dunlop Co., for instance, has constructed a special wire wheel for what, is termed the “giant pneumatic”—4oin by Bin. It weighs 118£lb —as heavy as a moderate-powered motor cycle complete. Cast steel motor wheels, to suit these enormous tyres, turn the scale at 2041 b.