Cycling & Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3769, 8 June 1926, Page 74

Cycling & Motor Notes

By

“DEMON.”

Percy was drunk when the policeman ordered him to stop, on a very greasy surface. The car skidded, bent up a mudguard against a wall, and language was awful. In giving his evidence the constable said it was the worst he had over heard. The magistrate was amused. “ What did you do to make him stop shoutiug at you in such language? " lie asked. “Oh, \yell, sir. I told him he wasn't fit to he among decent people, and brought him here." During the hearing of a tramways case at the Arbitration Court in Melbourne the other day the deputy president (Mr Justice Webb) declared that Hie onus should be on the ihotorist to prevent a collision with a human being, instead of it i>eing on the pedestrian to get out of the road. It was his Honor’s opinion that if the motorist brought a lethal weapon into the street he ought to use it in such manner that it would not touch anybody. OEMAND FOR PETROLEUM. There are several reasons why the production of petroleum is looming up as one of the most vital and interesting problems of to-day. The invent/pn of the Diesel engine, the converse* of the world's navies from the use of coal to oil fuel, and the vast expansion of motor transport have caused such a huge demand for petroleum that alarm has been felt ns to

whether tiie world will always be able to yield euough of it to meet our requirements. On the surface this uneasiness would appear to be justified. Barely 30 years ago the motor car was little more than an interesting and cumbersome toy. To-day there are 15,000,000 motor vehicles in the United States alone, and Great Britain maintains over 1,000,000. About 24 per cent, of the world’s merchant vessels use oil for boilers, and nearly 3 per cent, are purely motor ships, while the British Navy, the most powerful single Power entity in the world, has become 90 per cent, oil-fired as compared with 43 per cent, before the war. MOTOR CYCLE NOTES. The police authorities, of Munich. Germany, have lately acquired a fleet of four motor cycles for patrol purposes. Commencing with 21 machines in 1917, no fewer than 213 motor cycle outfits are now in use in connection with the telegraph service in Sweden. A number of sidecars have lately been put in service in Berlin by the German postal authorities for the collection of the mails from the street letter boxes. It is interesting to note that at least one British firm is advertising its motor cycles, not for the .speed of which they are capable, but as “ built solely to last and satisfy.” The Minister of Transport. England, stated recently that f 1,200,790 was received in motor cycle liccuses, taken out on behalf of 490,000 machines during the year ending November 30, 1924, and £1,373,701 on behalf of 572,000 machines for the year ending November 30, 1925. Paul Anderson’s world record of 135 miles an hour, established in France on an Indian, was disallowed by the European authorities on account of a supposed inaccuracy in the timing arrangements. It is significant that just recently, with a similar machine, J. Seymour should have been clocked at 132 miles an hour on the beach, a slightly lower surface.

WHEEL ADJUSTING. Finding llie proper adjustment of a front wheel is an operation requiring care, but very little skill, provided one knows the rule. V front wheel must spin freely on its axle, and if the nut is too tight the bearings will not be able to operate their best. On the other hand, the motorist must he careful not to have the wheel so loose it will wobble at the axle. The way to be sure about this is to jack up the front axle and tighten the nut on each wheel. Then spin each wheel in turn gradually back of its nut until the wheel is so free to turn that when it comes to rest the dust cap of the tyre valve will be at the bottom. Repeat the test after the lock-nut is screwed up. OBSTINATE NUTS. Punctures, fortunately, are becoming so rare that the average owner-driver seldom finds it necessary to remove a wheel, say, on an average more than once in three mouths. But this freedom Irom tyre trouble very often brings in its wake an attendant trouble in the shape of nuts that become partially rusted in position or else automatically locked, as it were, by the pressure exerted upon them under ordinary running conditions. Obstinate nuts of this description may not only lead to delay on the road, but may in extreme cases defy all efforts of the operator to undo them. The magic of paraffin in a case like this needs no emphasis; but how many drivers take the trouble to carry paraffin in a suitable container as part of the too! kit? It is not at all a bad plan to carry a can of kerosene. Tf a nut proves to be obstinate paraffin should be injected and allowed to work its way in for two or three minutes before an is made to unscrew it. Generally one application has a salutary effect. The idea of mixing soma engine oil with the paraffin may also be recommended from experience, and can be used with advantage where it is required to ease a bearing which may have been neglected, such as a shackle.

The penetrating qualities of the paraffin assist the oil. The paraffin frees the bearing and the oil lubricates it. Finally, pure ordinary oil or grease may be injected. CAR STORAGE. Tlie first point to remember when storing the car for any length of time is that the tyres are sure to deteriorate if the weight of the car is allowed to rest on them. Jack up each axle in turn and pack wooden blocks or something similar under them, so as to leave the car with all four tyres clear of the ground. Another point is that the car should be left in n position where the sun will not strike on it. and it will, of course, be an advantage to cover the whole body with a large sheet. Furthermore, it it is essential that the place in which the car is stored should be dry. Parts such as the engine, gear box, and axle can be left with their usual quota of oil, hut the radiator should, of course, be drained. All bright parts should be cleaned, and then smeared over with good vaseline, which can easily be wiped off on your

return. As regards the accumulators, it is really best to leave these with your service man and ask him to give them a small charge once a month. This will same them from damage. WORLD'S FASTEST SPEEDWAY. At the present time th'ere is very great rivalry between America and Europe in the competition for motor trade in the markets of the world, and this rivalry appears to extend to the matter of motor speedways. Up 'to the present the new track at Montlhery. outside of Paris, is the acknowledged fastest track in the world, but soon it will have to take speond place. \Y itli several hundred carpenters, an army of graders, scrapers, steam shovels, and other construction equipment working to the limit, the 200-acre tract at Speedway (just outside of Atlantic City), N.J., the site of the former Amatol Arsenal, in fast assuming the shape of the world’* greatest automombile speedway. YY hen completed it will resemble a hug* oval wooden l>owl one mile and a-half in length, with banks n* an angle of 45deg» S() “ "'’i cannot crawl up

its surface on his hands and knees. This id necessary in order to maintain the

safety factor which on this speedway will allow speeds of 160 miles per hour—the fastest in the world.

The huge grand stand will be 1500 ft in length, and will scat 00,000 people, while there will be parking space for 40,000 cars, and room enough for 500,000 people in the centre of the bowl.

Every convenience will be incorporated in the plant for the comfort of the patrons, and special roadß arc being constructed to take care of the enormous amount of traffic, both automobile and train, which will attend the races held on this speedway. The opening event will be an international race of 300 miles, with 20 of the world's most famous drivers, both American and European, who will have to quality at a speed of 120 miles per hour.

Already the entry list contains such renowned names as Ralph De Raima, Tcter I)e l’aolo, Earl De Yore, Earl Cooper, Tommy Milton, and others of like calibre, which foretells that all speed records will go a-glimmering at the inaugural event of the Atlantic City Motor Speedway. DRUNKEN DRIVERS. The intention of the Chief Secretary to ask Cabinet to approve of heavier penalties on-drunken motor drivers is being supported by the N.R.M.A., in the interest of practically the whole of its own 16,000 members, and of the public in general (says Sydney Telegraph!. From time to time the association lias announced unequivocally that it is sternly against drunkenness, and has advised that heavier penalties would act as a useful deterrent. On the other hand, the N.R.M.A. is protesting strongly against unnecessary and harassing prosecutions for merely technical offences in which warnings would serve the same purpose. Numerous cases reported to the association suggest that prosecutions are being made the end rather than the means in the present campaign by the traffic department against motorists, and practical steps are being taken in the matter by the N.R.M.A. CAPE TO CAIRO. The Court-Treate Cape to Cairo expedition left England in August, 1924, to attempt the journey from Capetown to Cairo by motor car. The cars used were two Crossleys. After sixteen months Cairo was reached on January 24. 1926. This is the first occasion on which the whole length of Africa has been covered by motor car, and about 13,000 miles were traversed. At times only a mile a day was covered, as desert, forest, mountain, and river had to be fought, and extremes of heat and cold endured. The cars were often completely submerged in water. Five persons composed the expedition— Major Court-Treate, his wife, and her brother, a journalist, and a cinematographer. Mrs Court-Treate is the first white woman to penetrate to many of the remote parts of Africa. Left London, August 28, 1924. Left Capetown, September 23 1924. Arrived Johannesburg, October 12, 1924. Arrived Nairobi, September 30, 1925. Arrived Assuan, January 5, 1926. Arrived Cairo, January 24, 1926,

The expedition had to build its own roads through bush for the two cars, and to devise mean of crossing great rivers over which there were no bridges. All the equipment was British, and the object of he expedition was to survey the possibilities of a great central highcustoms and habits, and to investigate way from Cape to Cairo, to study native the possibilties of development of the various territories. AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE. A member of the staff of the Autocar recently underwent an experience which may not be unique, but is probably sufficiently rare to warrant special mention. He was driving a small four-seater car containing four adults at a fair rpoed along a thoroughfare in South London on an extremely windy day. The Hood was erected, as were all the rigid side shields except the one on the driver’s right hand, which had been left open for signalling. The h od was secured to each top coiner of the windscreen by means of metal sockets fitting on to studs screwed into the screen pillars and locked thereto by screws running into grooves in the studs. The edges of tlie hood were secured at ‘intervals oy a series of pressbuttons to the tops of the metal frames of the rigid side shields. When proceeding at a fair speed the car passed* a spot where a branch road occurred on the driver's right; a terrific gust of wind blew down this side and struck the car with such iorce- that the wind, entering through the open space beside the driver, became trapped in the car and ripped the hood off the windscreen, breaking away one of the studs bodily in the process, and tearing the various pressstuds clean out of the leatherette material of th*-- hood. The hood then blew bae.x over the passengers at almost lightning speed, and was considerably strained at various points when the metal hood sticks prevented further backward movement. The hood sticks luckily held firm. Subsequent investigation showed that there was no flaw whatever in the metal of the stud where it was broken away from the screen, and the locking screw was still tight in its groove; the other screw had been broken away from its stud by the force of the wind. No one in the car was hurt, but such a happening might easily have resulted in a rear seat passenger receiving a very severe blow. The moral to be drawn from this ad- ' enture is that, when driving on a day on which the wind is blowing with gusty violence, it is far wiser to all the rigid side shields c eeted, or in the case ot a saloon all the windows closed*, otherwise a first-class air trap for a gust of Mind may be created, with unpleasant and possibly expensive results. MOTOR CYCLING. THE FRENCH grand prix. A e , PARIS. May 31. At Strasbourg Alex Bonnet, riding a Norton machine, won the French motorcycle Grand Prix for the fourth time. His speed was 70 miles an hour for 250 miles AVERAGE OF 04 MILKS AX HOVE. SAX FRANCISCO, May 31. All Indianapolis Frank Loekheiul, a Los Angeles youth, on Monday won Mie annual automobile rn.-e. The seheduled 500 miles was out to inn on account of ihe rain, lie averaged 01537 miles per hour.