CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3517, 9 August 1921, Page 42

CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

By

DEMON,

- The boy cyclist has become a pest ■ in Christchurch (says a Christchurch paper). - He is positively a danger to users of the j roads, particularly in Cathedra! square at i rush periods. Boys are reckless, ride “no j hands,” and take big chances, which make ' trouble for motorists and other cyclists and i drivers. They are a source of trouble to j pedestrians also. In no other city in the Dominion are cyclists permitted to ride S on She fcorhpaths as they are in Christ- ! church. I To obtain the greatest efficiency from ! the explosion it is important that the spark ! points project into the combustion chamber i in such a way that they be surrounded j with cool, fresh gas. If the gap of 1110 j plug is located in a recess or pocket dead j gas is apt to accumulate about the points, and combustion will be much slower than j it. would be with the spark-plug projecting 1 into the intake chamber, permitting the ■ spark to rake place in Cash mixture and promote rapid spread of the ignition flame. It will he apparent, that with the plug body having a space around it in which tho hot gases mav collect the plug will heat up much quicker than if locating it where the heat will be conducted away by the cooling water. A plug that becomes heated will tend to soot up and carbonise much more quickly than one where piovision has been made for proper cooling. During the war end since the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain lias conducted no sporting events, although pressed to resume certain fixtures this year. In declining to do so the committee advanced the reason that it was too soon after the armistice for the manufacturers to seriously take up the work of preparing special models, hut agreed to list a series of events for 1922. Mo time has been lost in giving effect to this decision, for the club has announced its intention of holding two motor car races in June. next, in the Isle of Man. th:!=> giving manufacturers ample notice. One of the events to be decided will be for light cars—the “junior'’ race—the engines being limited to 1500 c.e. (about I 60 per cent, more than that of the big twin motor evdes now used), and will be

held over a distance of 250 miles, the minimum weight of the cars to be 10001 b, say, half a ton. The “senior” race will bo decided over a distance of 300 miles, the engines not to exceed 2£ litres e.c., with a car weight of not more than 16001 b without the driver and mechanism. Petrol or benzole may be used, but no aids to combustion will be permitted. ARTERIAL ROADS. DISCUSSION IN CHRISTCHURCH. CHRISTCHURCH, August 4. The control, construction, and improvement. of arterial and main roads were discussed at a conference of representatives of the South Island Local Bodies and Automobile Associations. The Chairman (Mr F. W. Johnston) said the principal features of the Main Highways Bill and Motor Bill were to construct an arterial road running right through from north to south, and that there should fco a tax on tyres. i Mr A. E. Ansel! (Otago Motor Club) moved that the conference should approve : of the formation of two road boards, one for each island.—This was carried unanimously. It was resolved that the moneys raised in each island by the proposed tyre tax, etc., after being subsidised by the Government should be expended in the island in which j it was raised. 1 It was also resolved that the conference j is of opinion that the. actual carrying cut j of the control and work on roads be under ; the control of the local bodies under the i supervision of the board. ! In an address on highway engineering i Mr Saudston said it would be advisable io : set up a commission to ascertain financial requirements before final proposals were drawn up. SENIOR TOURIST TROPHY RACE. The fact that the Senior Tourist Trophy j Motor Cycle Race, open to machines up to ! 500 c.e,. was won by a 2\ h.p. “A.J.8.” j that was practically out of its class in a j scratch event for bigger powered machines i calls attention to the fact that it. 'is not j necessary to have big-engined, heavy-weight j machines to make fast sustained pare, on j the road. One of these “A..J.5..” just pro- I vions to the; Tourist Trophy road events, i covered 66 miles in the hour on Brook lands, I and the subsequent achievement, of covering 225 miles over the mountainous Isle of Man course at an average speed of over 54 miles an hour speaks for itself. The successful driver on both occasions was 11. R. Davies. A VALUABLE TEST. That the average motorist is a good judge : of pace was recently demonstrated in a test organised by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, Contes! an is were set to '• negotiate a secret conv.-e. embracing city traffic and undulating country roads at various speeds, no watches or speedometers being utilised during the pin. The appended table of results shop’s, what a slight, difference there was between the times set and time averaged: —l. W. R. Richardson (13.9 h.p. Adler; —miles set 17. miles averaged 17.30 difference .30: 2. R. Graham Carey (20 1: ! Palm) - 18 17.54. .46: 3. W. Mein- | hard) (32.8 h.p. Kepod—2s, 24.42. .58: 4, : Tv IT. Leete (12-15’ h.p. Dial)—l7. 17.94, j .94; 5 G. R. Chappie (22.8 h.p. Dodge)— I 21, 19 34. 1 16: 6. P. B. Ponlton (10-12 h.p. T,e Gnu—l 6. 17.61, 1.61: 7. A. R Morris (18.5 b.n. Essex)—2l, 19.33. 1.67. The other compel rs were also near their respective j BICYCLE ROAD RACING. A now 25 miles Australian road record him been o-ta) lishej over an out-and home j course or. (he Werriboe road, near Melbourne. The new figures were recorded ! in connection with the Tnter-eluh (yoling I \ < ■:,< iation’s 25 Miles Handicap Race, which j w is won by T. 7b "Kirilov. :<!o off 1 ho. mmtiG* mrub, in the o\< «*< (Unuly f-u-t tin.;'' of Thr I•;:in teec--record f<»r Australia. The

previous best in competition was E. Tammo'a lhr 2min 5 sec, established in Victoria in August, 1918. The fastest 23 miles ever ridden on the road impact'd is D. Kirkham’s 50|min on a straightway course, near Mortlake, Victoria. INBiAEiiOPOUS 500. From particulars to hand from America it appears that the Indianapolis “500” was won by T. Milton on a “Durant,” and not a “Duesenberg” car, as surmised at the time, owing to- the driver having previously established many line speed runs on the latter make of machine, and one of which he is to drive in the French Grand Prix. Twenty-throe cars started, including representatives from Franco and England. Early hr the race R. de Palma took up tho running, and at ,250 miles he was three laps to the good from Milton. Tyre troubles then lost do Palma most of his advantage, and when he got going- again he had only ; a slight load, but later on, when the race ' looked hie, engine troubles to his Ballot . caused his retirement, but not before he had won some £.2000 in lap prizes. At 350 miles the English Sunbeams, driven by R. Thomas and D. Resta, were third and fourth respectively. The fined placing were:—T. Milton, first, on a, DurI ant, with an average speed of nearly 90 j miles aa hour for the 500 miles. By his I .success ho won nearly £17,000 in cadi prizes. | Varies, on a Duesenberg, was second; Ellingj boe, third, on a Frontenac; Murphy, fourth, ! on a Poeesenberg; and Resta fifth, on a 1 Sunbeam. j Over 100,000 people witnessed the contest, | which was decided under fine weather con- ; dition.s. Last year Milton finished second in this great event, being only three minutes behind tho winner, G. Chevrolet. Tile average speed on that occasion was slighily over 88 miles an hour. The previous winners of the classic race are: —l9ll, Harroun (Manmon, America); 1912, Dawson (National, America) ; 1913, Jules tioux (Peugot, France); 1914, Rene j Thomas (Delargo, France); 1915, Ralph de Palma (Mercedes, Germany) ; 1916. Resta, i (Peugot, France) ; 1919. Wilcox (Peugot, j France) : 1920, Gaston Chevrolet (Monroe, i America). PRICES OF PETROL. | Owing to the huge stocks of motor fuel j now available in England, and supplies corning forward in greater quantities than are consumed, motorists in Great Britain generally have been looking forward to a sub- , stantial reduction in the price of petrol, and the oil companies responded to the extent of 6d per gallon, which was cl),-appoint-ing, apparently, for it was expected that tho cost would drop by double that amount. As the "Autocar” rightly says:—“No single factor could have exerted a more powerful : and beneficial effect, upon the industry during the critical stage through which it has ( passed than an appreciable reduction in fuel costs,” and tho some applies, in this eoun- ; try. with this difference, that the automobile trade is now in one of its w orst periods, and requires careful candling. (Motors of all types are at prevent costly, but, dear as they are, it. is the cost of operating them that makes their use in many cases almost prohibitive. The future of motoring in this country depends largely upon the cost of i fuel. ! Tn this connection a cable message pttbj lished in ihe Melbourne Argus stated that, j as a result of a further decline in the prices I of crude til, the average price of petrol has drove u \i by 28 per cent, since January 1, and that the lowest, wholesale quotation i is 35 cents {normally 7-jd) a gallon in Kdirp | sas fity. and the highest 26 cents (Is Id) at j Seattle. The price mainly current is 21 j cents (tOld). Surely the several reductions j which have been made in the Slates during ! tin' pa*t- -ix months must soon be reflected ; here. COASTING DOWN HILL. | DON'T THROW OFT CLUTCH. Mi . i- (’ an 90 per cent, of all motorists ' make a practice of throwing out tho clu'ich when f .-oa.-i itig d"\vn hill. The reason they

give is that “it saves the motor, clutch, and transmission.” In this they are in error, for such practice not only is dangerous, but is detrimental to those very parts which he would save. There is no excuse for doing it, and dealers and salesmen are urged to caution all owners against such practice. Nat madly, when approaching a decline, the vehicle is slowed up so that the motor is turning over slowly. On releasing the clutch the car is no longer held hack by the compression of the motor, and gains speed at every i evolution of the wheels. Very often, if the hill is at, all long, the speed attained alarms the driver, who then applies his brakes. A brake which under ordinary conditions would be. sufficient to stand tho car on end. or throw the driver through the windshield, will fail to hold very often when jammed on at high speed on a down grade. It often happens that if the road i<* rough the wheels will lock, and skid around, perhaps throwing the car over a bank. There is no better brake for mountain or any other grades than the compression of the cylinders. Often it is necessary to supplement that braking effect, with ihe service or emergency brakes, but with the clutch in and the motor turning over slowly you always have the car under control. and are far lesu likely to skid if you should come to a slippery sprit, as you often do in the mountains, especially in the early spring, when the snow is melting. It is also very bad practice to release the clutch at the top of a grade, and then let It. in again further down, if tho grade is at all Steep, as the increase in speed is often more rapid than you realise, and if the clutch grabs hold something must give way. Advice to car owners is to use compression and save your brakes.

Tho officers of the Agricultural Department, are making investigations with tho object ' f discovering the disease which is responsible for killing the willow trees (states the Auckland Star). Largo numbers of willow trees in the North Island have been attacked by a parasite, causing them to decay and dio.

POSTMISTRESS CHARGED CHRISTCHURCH, August 3. The Supreme Court is engaged in hearing ‘ a charge against Julia Marie Fitzgerald, j formerly postmistress at. Blackball, of open- ! ing a letter-card addressed to a resident, ! J.' Gilmer. The prosecution alleged that accused look the post-card into the telephone room, and when she came out remarked that it was from one of Jack's (Gilmer's) oid girls, who had enclosed a pound note. She then sealed the lettercard. Gilmer was informed of tho episode by another employee. At an inquiry held by the department the accused regretted opening the letter-card, but stated that she had been in the habit of dealing with Gilmer’s correspondence with his knowledge. The case is proceeding. August 4. The hearing of the charge against Julia Marie Fitzgerald, formerly postmistress at Blackball, of having opened a letter-card was resumed. The accused said that she first thought the charge against her was a joke. As soon as she discovered it. was serious she got into touch with her superior officer in Greymoui.h. Mr Redmond, the departmental inspector, thought she was guilty, anil advised her to make an admission. He said that if she did not do so there probably would be a court case. She made it quite clear to Mr Redmond that she did not interfere with the letter. Hannah Campbell, sister of the accused, said that accused previously had looked after Gilmer's books, handled all his money, and opened his letters. Witness told accused not to sign an admission if she was . not guilty. She said she had been worried j by Mr Redmond and had admitted the act. | The accused was acquitted. ! Shortly after the jury had retired Mr Gresson, Acting Crown Prosecutor, received a, telegram from the Solicitor-general instructing him to enter a stay of proceedings in respect, of a second charge against Miss Fitzgerald. Wolfe’s Schnapps forms an invigorating tonic as well as a delightful refreshment.