CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3523, 20 September 1921, Page 42

CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

By

DEMON.

The rich rtf t (-ndowect road race in Australia this .- asuii will be the Dunlop Road Race from Launceston to Hobart (118 miles), the first prize being worth £SO. The event will be decided on October Ctb. Another important load event to be decided this season is t lie 13tura Prospect Rtico in South Australia. The dista.nce io 108 miles, and the event, run on October Ist, carries a first prize of £2O donated by the Dunlon Rubber Company.

motoring circles that traffic regulations will likely J.e revised next year, when the soeed limit for private cars will be abolished, while a new limit for other cars of a certain weight, and fitted with pneumatic tyic-s, will bo 24 m.p.h. ; for motor coaches (char-a-bancs) and omnibuses, it will bo 16 m.p.h. Vehicles fitted with steel tyros will bo restricted, under the schedule, to 5 m.p.h., which, it is understood, is in order to preserve the roads from disintegration by the action of steel or iron tyres on their surface.

Explosions in. the silencer while the engine is running indicate a misfiring sparkplug. They show that the spark does not jump regularly between the points of each and every plug when the combustible mixture passes from the cylinder into the exhauso pipe, and, being ignited by the flaming exhaust- of the succeeding charge, it causes the explosion in the silencer. As a rule, there is no danger attendant, unless there happens to bo a petrol leakage in close proximity to the exhaust pipe. There have been occasions, however, when the silencer or muffler has been blown to pieces, probably by an accumulation of “gas” in the exhaust pipe, due, of course, to faulty ignition. Gabriel Poulain, the French exchampion cyclist, has succeeded at last, after many attempts over a stretch of eight years, in winning the Peugeot prize of 10,000 francs offered to the first- man who, by his own power, lifts a eycleplane or “avieite” into the air for a distance of at least 11 yards. We recorded a recent: effort of Poulain in Paris on a bicycle- fitted i with a double plane, and he was then successful enough to make- arrangements of another effort under official observation. 'J his time he was successful, i-’oeiaiirs feat may be described as follows: —Taking "a long start, he- pedalled until he had obtained'u speed of about 30 miles an hour. Then a click was heard, the planes lilted, and the machine mounted in the air gracefully, coming to the ground about 15 yards further on. He then acomphshecl the same feat in. a reverse direction. There was no wind at the time. Ho subsequently made two further successful little “flights,” the lowest being 13| yards at a height of 27in from the ground. Poulain s most difficult task, he said, was getting up. a- high speed on his bicycle. While aloft he had no difficulty. Including the pilot, the weight of the machine is only 2001 b. M. Peugeot has since announced a further prize of 20,000 francs for the first- man to cover 20 metres (22 yards) on a man-propelled avieite, and l’oulain declares that he has an improved machine in view, which should enable him to fly a much longer distance. • The Tour tie France —the longest and severest cycle road contest in the world—this year resulted in a win for the Belgian rider Seieur, whose total time for the 3400 miles negotiated in many sections was 221 hrs 50min 2Csec, averaging out at about 15 1-3 miles an hour. MOTOR SHOWS. London will have two motor shows this year, as was the case- in 1920, one at Olympia and the other at the Whit© City, because there is no building of adequate sire to accommodate the large number of linns desirous of exhibiting and the enormous crowds that visit the show. There was some dissatisfaction expressed at the arrangement of the two displays last year, and to overcome it an elaborate system of balloting for space by the firms has been evolved, the firms which have for the greatest number of years been represented at Olympia, having preference. This means that many new concerns will necessarily be- housed at the White City. It is probable, however, that next year a building will be found in which the whole of The great show can be accommodated under one roof. The Crystal Palace has often beeta suggested as a venue for the show, but it has one very serious drawback in that it is a long way from the centre .of London, and is not too well served by railway communication. PECULIAR FUEL SITUATION. The fuel situation in France is rather peculiar. According to the Autocar (England) 2-COO tons of German benzole, delivered under the clauses of the Peace Treaty, are going begging in France. The Government. called for purchasers, but there was no response, for one of the conditions was that contractors should undertake to purchase an equivalent quantity of power alcohol, to be mixed with the benozle, and thus form what is known as “national fuel.” It is quite possible, in these circumstances, I that the French Government will put this fuel on the market, the mixture consisting of equal parts of benzole, alcohol, and petrol; and action was called for immediately, as a further big supply of German benzole was duo, while no- storage was available. In addition, t-lie Munitions Department of the Government has immense stocks, of industrial alcohol, which also must bo disposed of. A mixed fuel which gave good results, on trial is composed of 65 per cent, alcohol, 10 per cent, ether, and 25 per cent, benzole or petrol. It has a slightly higher efficiency than pure petrol. THE EVJ ACKETO INDUSTRY.

It is feared that the German monopoly in the inagento industry, which was such an unfortunate feature in the British motor trade before the war, will reassert itself, unless some drastic action is taken. The British magneto industry is still a young one, and the fact that it owes its existence solely to tile war means that it has spent its child-hood in entirely artificial conditions. The result- is that it is not yet si l ong enough to tight foreign competition, and the much older established German industry threatens to wipe it out entirely by the simple, expedient- of undercutting or dumping, if effective Government- action is not taken to prevent it. 'I he Daily Mail commends Australia for the lead in prohibiting the importation of German mag nctos, and also in prohibiting the importation even of cars, fitted with German magnetos. It declares that the Home Government would bo w< il advised to follow the lead, or at- least to investigate seriously the action and results of the Australian example. •The same journal then goes on to say that there is not now the slightest doubt that the British magento is the best in the world. Its greatest point of .superi-

ority over any other is, perhaps, its capacity for giving a really hot spark at. very low speeds, which is very practically illustrated by the manner in which a small British inagento may be used on the largest of engines, in contrast to the Bosch practice of suppling large instruments for large engines bf.au.-e. the smaller ones would have been useless. As an illustration, of the qualify of the Brdi.-h magento may be mentioned the fact that- a British motor cycle magneto was successfully employed for the ignition of a 3uo h.p. ai to engine. Son to i 1 el imi na nes are on foot for establishing protection for key industries, but, in spite of the fact that had it not been for the Bril hit magneto industry the war would not have loon won by the Allies, the Government seems entirely oblivious to its pi'e-ont claims.

THE GRAND PR3X. Details of the" Grand Prix, the Blue Ribband motor car road event of the world, are now to hand. As informed by cable, J Murphy won the contest on a. Duesenberg car (U.S.A.), negotiating the 322 miles in 4hr 7min 4 2-5-.ee, which works out at 74.98 miles per hour. Thirteen cars faced the starter, the Duesenberg and Ballot firms being represented by four each, while the Talbot and Talbot-Darraeq works had two each, and Mathis a single entry. The whole of the Sunbeam and TalboGDarraeq teams were withdrawn, as it was felt that the limited opportunities for practice did not give a fair chance to the firm or the drivers; but subsequently Mr K. Lee Guinness and Major Be grave obtained permission to drive the Talbots, and Thomas and Boillot to run the Talbot-Darraeqs. Under these circumstances, it was felt that the issue lay between the Duesenberg and Ballot cars, and this was proved in the event, Ralph do Palma, on a Ballot, was the fits! away, with Mathis on the Mathis, and the former made the fastest time _in the first of the 30 laps, his speed working out to 78 m.p.h. The pace gradually increased, and in the seventh lap Murphy went round at just on 84 m.p.h. In the eighth lap

Boillot made a very smart wheel change in 17 seconds, but that seemed to have started a run of bad luck for him, as he had to change several tyres during the next few rounds. Segrave. on a Talbot, was in similar trouble, and Murphy also had to lose ground on this account ; while de Palma was worried by lr.s pc-tvol system, apparently owing to loss of pressure. This gave Chassaguo the chance to get the lead at the end of the eleventh round, and he kept it until the seventeenth lap by the narrowest of margins, being hotly pursued all the time by Boyer and Murphy and Guyot on Duesenbergs, who were second, third, and fourth. Then it was Cliassagne’s turn to bow to the fates, a burst petrol tank putting' him right out of the race. Mathis had meanwhile disappeared in the fifteenth lap. Murphy took the lead in the eighteenth round, with Guyot second, and de Palma third; but the Duesenberg team lost Boyer, who had to retire through connecting-rod trouble. De Palma, persevered gamely, but-, to add to his difficulties, he had tyre trouble, lie , managed to keep up in third place, behind Guyot; and when the latter, after stopping at the pits for replenishment, was delayed through a refractory engine, d© Palma was able to creep into second place. The race, as we have said, was won by Murphy, with de Palma second, in 4hr 22min Bsec; Goux, on another Ballot, third, in 4hr 28min 18soc; Dubonnet., on a Duesenberg, fourth, in 41 ii- 30min 16sec ; Boillot (l)arrucq), fifth, in 4hr 35m in 47 4-ssec ; Guyot (Duesenberg), sixth, in 4hi 43niin losoe; and Wagner (Ballot), seventy, in 4hr 48min lsec. The two Talbot cars finished eighth and ninth. Mr Lee-Quin ness’s time being shr smin 22sec, and Major Seerave’s s!ir llmin. 'J he winning Duesenberg was the one which Murphy drove into fourth place in the 500-mile race on the Indianapolis track, and, like the Ballots, the Talbots, and Da: - raoqs it has a “straight-eight” engine, the cylinder dimensions being 63.5 m.m. by 116.8 m.m. It has overhead valves —two exhaust and one inlet per cylinder. The cars have Dolco ignition and no magneto. On the previous day a Grand Prix race for motor cycles was held, and tins resulted in' a, Bvilis'h victory, the largest class (for 500

c.c machines) being won by Bennett, riding a Sunbeam, which covered the 18 laps ot lOg miles in 3hr 13min 24 3-ssec, representing a. speed of round about 58 m.p.h. T. C. de la Hay, on another Sunbeam, was second, only a couple of minutes behind ; Sgonina, on a- Triumph, was third; Emerson, on a Douglas, fourth; and Perrin, on an A. 8.0., fifth. THE BRITISH TYRE INDUSTRY. The memorandum prepared by the British Rubber Tyre Manufacturers’ Association concerning the present parlous position of the rubber tyre industry is deserving of the widest publicity possible. If the imports of tyres continue at the present rate they will cover 75 per cent, of tho total motor tyre requirements of the home market. In this country tho basis of wages paid to the unskilled workers in the tyre industry has increased 177 per cent, since the pre-war period. For the equivalent of output the French worker in the same industry would receive £1 4s lid, against the British worker’s £2 12s 4d. This gives the French exporter a great advantage in a country where prices are based on wages paid in that market. A German or an Italian exporter has even a, greater advantage in this country. For us the war was a period during which the capacity for tyre production was increased greatly. But the market, has decreased. Before the war practically the whole of the solid tyre trade was in the hands of the Continental Company of Hanover. To-day the French, Italian, German, and Belgian markets are practically closed to British tyreniakers. Tariffs against, the import of tyres, assisted by the depreciated currencies and the favourable labour conditions obtaining in those countries, make the exporting of tyres there impossible. The export of tyres from England to Holland was prohibited during the later period of the wav. therefore local manufacturers went into the Dutch market under long-term contracts which would make such enterprise worth their while. As a. result there is no possibility of our returning there for tho time lieing. The increase in our importation of loose tyres amounted to 177 per cent, between 1914 and 1920; but the ratio of increase is even greater since that- period. About 75 per cent, of the total production of the American rubber industry consists of tyres. Therefore the value of tyres produced in the States in 1919 amounted to £180,000,000 of money. That industry buys its crude rubber in the Federated Malay States and in the Straits Settlements and its raw cotton in Egypt; therefore it benefits in those transactions by the increased value of the dollar The export of tyres from the United States rose from £788.644 in 1913 to £4.493.316 in 1919. OTACO MOTOR CLUB. A meeting of the executive of the Otago Motor Club was held on the 13th. The president (Mr A. E. Ansel!) occupied tho chair. It was decided to donate £SO towards the cost of widening the road on the south side of Lookout Point, provided that the Government paid £250, the Green Island Borough Council £IOO. the Taieri County Council £SO, and the Dunedin City Council £SO The South Island (Now Zealand) Motor Union forwarded a lengthy list of hotels which had been appointed official hotels for the South Island.

Mr P. R. Harman, secretary of the South Island (New Zealand' Motor Union, wrote stating- that it had been decided that a deputation of motorists should interview the Mayor of Christchurch with a view to getting the four main centres to take joint action to secure po ! ice control of traffic. The South Is'and Union wrote stating that the Royal Automobile Club .had replied that if would welcome the applica-tion-of the union, and that it had been decided to affiliate with the club and forward the subscription of £5 ss. Messrs Ha'liday. Breen, and Stevenson were appointed a sub-committee to go into the question of securing payment of outstanding subscriptions. Mr Breen said that he thought their club should oppose the attitude taken up by the New Zealand Union and the South Island Union regarding head lights. He considered that these two bodies were acting wrongly in favouring the non-dimming of headlights when approaching traffic coming in an opposite direction. He* thought that headlights should be dimmed. The Chairman said that he thought Mr Breen’s opinion was on quite right lines. It was a very selfish practice for motorists to keep their lights full on in such circumstances. It was decided to forward a protest to the South Island Union against the proposal that motorists should not dim their lights when meeting traffic, and that the South Island Union should also send the protest on to the New Zealand Union.