Cycling & Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3775, 20 July 1926, Page 70

Cycling & Motor Notes

BT "DEMON.*

A motor cyclist summoned to appear at Epsom (England) for driving a side-car outfit without a rear light, wrote to the magistrates: “Owing to pressure of business prior to my marriage, I should find it very inconvenent to attend the Court. I trust that the case will be dismissed, but as it is possible that some costs may have been incurred, I enclose a cheque for ten shillings, together with a stamped envelope for return of any balance left from this amount. I should esteem

it a favour if any such balance could be returned to me as promptly as possible, as you will readily appreciate that the week prior to one’s marriage is one of some financial stringency.” There wasn’t any balance; he was fined 10s,

CARE OF THE CELLULOID. As is well known, there is a tendency on the part of celluloid shields gradually to discolour, to become “patchy,” and covered with small scratches. All these states impair considerably the value of the shields, for while, of course, the waterproof qualities are not impaired, visibility is much reduced, so much so that, if the shields are neglected, considerable risks may be run in certain conditions of bad weather. It has been found by far the best and easiest means of keeping celluloid shields in first-class condition is to clean them frequently and regularly with one of the many ordinary liquid metal polish used for domestic purposes should be suitable. The best method of applying the polish is to remove the shield, make a thin pad of a folded daily newspaper on the table,

lay the shield on it for support, apply the polish freely, and rub hard* on both sides of the shield, afterwards cleaning off the deposit, and finally polishing with a soft dry duster.

BRITISH STRIKE TRANSPORT. One of the most important lessons learned from the recent general strike in Great Britain was the undoubted ability of motor traffic to maintain the essential transport of the nation despite almost complete dislocation of the railway and tramway services. The Automobile Assofiation, which put its whole organisation, lie membership of which is now over 275,000, at the disposal of the Government, estimates that, exclusive of public service vehicles, there are aavilable in Great Britain about 640,000 cars, with a total passenger-carrying capacity of 2,500,000 people, about 600,000 motorcycles with a carrying capacity of about 700,000 people, and about 230,000 motor vans and lorries with a load-carrying capacity of something like 460,000 tons. During the strike some very interesting individual performances were recorded. One of the London newspapers se-

cured limited printing facilities in Newcastle, and copies were conveyed to London by aeroplanes and motor cars. Among the latter was a fire-year-old Vauxhall, which actually carried 10,000 copies of the paper from Newcastle to Loudon in less than six hours, returning the same evening, which made a total of 570 miles for the day. The journey from Newcastle to Grantham occupied exactly three hours, whereas the fastest non-stop express train takes 3hrs 25mins.

“HORSE AND BUGGY” MAGISTRATE. A considerable number of motor speeding cases come before the New Zealand Courts in the course of a year. But their number is a bagatelle besides those now being called for bearing in Los Angeles, California, where an old-fashion-ed ‘*horse-and4)uggy magistrate is not only handing out stiff sentences, but has “gingered up” the police to such effect that the number of prosecutions In recent weeks Has left the city and its people too bewildered for words. In one short week last month Judge Joseph Chambers, the “beak” in question,

sent no fewer than 293 men and ..omen to gaol for driving at what lie described as the “terrific pace” of 20 miles an hour, an average of over 40 sentences a day. Whew! The sentences ranged from two to CO days. Again, whew! Nothing can move this stern judge, He is deaf to all pleas for leniency, to which he replies that there is really no necessity for riding in motor cars, which he admits lie hates. “I walk to work,” he raid to oim offender, “so can you. Ten days in gaol!” Once more, whew! A large proportion of the offenders are women, but the de.ar creatures—as might be expected of American women—have no high and mighty ideas on the subject of sex equality when law-breaking is in question. -They think that they should be let off, whatever may happen to the men, and essay every feminine wile to make Judge Chambers think so, too. But in this matter he considers men and women are equal. And this in the U.S.A., of all places—the land where the women offender, be she by-law breaker or murderess, is almost always accorded sloppy sympathy by the bucketful. Again, wliew! A “speeders’ strike” bos been launched, this meaning that offenders art demanding

trial by jury instead of being dealt with summarily. This, they reckon, makes their chance of acquittal something like six to one. And the civic authorities are having pressure brought to bear on them by angry constituents, and the automobile clubs are protesting fiercely and everyone i in Ena Angeles is very much upset. But Judge Chambers is unperturbed, and when the last mail left he was going serenely ahead, ignoring the demand for i'ury trials, and, at the end of every tearing, remarking with monotonous regularity: “Two days,” or “ten days,” or “sixty days.” The sentences are the main topic of conversation whenever two or more Los Angelitos meet. “How long will it go on?” “Why doesn’t someone stop it?” are the questions they ask. But no one can answer, and all they can do is to mop their agitated brows and remark • “Whew!” EVOLUTION OF CAR DESICN. Progress in the design of cars may appear to falter, but actually it never stops. Year by year, in scores of drawing offices, hundreds of clever brains are steadily evolving new methods of production, side by side with new details of design. No real improvement ever bursts on the world full-blown. A thousand tiny steps of testing, experiment, and road experience go to the making of the perfect car that some day the public will drive and wonder why it took eo .ong to evolve. Evolution applies to cara very much as it works in the world of Nature. Progress is more by a process of elimination and replacement in detail than by fundamental alteration in

design. Cars still betray their origin from the old coaching days even on the most elaborate examples of modern design. This, obviously, must be true of the coachwork and not of the mechanism that- propels it. There would seem to be still too wide a gap between the work of the engineers who design the chassis and the coachbuilders who make —or mar—the final result. Cars are still built as though they were to have two separate entities, and were not interlinked at every stage of their joint evolution. PETROL PUMP 6. “Some people think that roadside petrol pumps are additions to the aoeneryremarked the Lord Chief Justice in a King’s Bench Divisional Court, London, recently. Mr Justice Shearman, who, with Mr Justice Roche, was sitting with Lord Hewart, commented later that he was not one of those who would say that he had never seen a petrol pump. He had noticed, he added, that as soon as a yellow one, was erected, a red one or a green one appeared beside it. He believed that people were paid to erect petrol pumps by the competing firms. The question before the Court was whether such a pump was a building or an erection. It appeared that a garage proprietor of Ruislip had erected two petrol pumps on a fore-court in front of his premises, and beyond a building line laid down under the Town Planning Act by the Ruislip .Urban District Council. He was convicted by the local juitices of an offence because a petrol pump was an erection and an obstruction under the Act when erooted in front of the specified building line, and he now appealed.

On his behalf Mr Mccmorran, K.C.. 6aid that the petrol; pump was erected on a private fore-court in front of the garage, and was no more an obstruction or erection than would be a number of standard rose trees planted on the fore-court. Dismissing the appeal with costs, the Lord Chief Justice said that a petrol pump was just as much an obstruction or erection as was a post, rail, or fence, and in the circumstances the justices correctly convicted ihe appellant of the offence. BRITAIN'S GRAND PRIX. One of the important international automobile fixtures for 1926 is the British Grand Prix, which is to be run over a course of 300 miles at Brooklands, England, on August 7 next. This is the first time that England has had a Grand Prix race, and it will give the Old Country a chance to revive past glories. They have had their tourist trophy races, but they have taken place in the Isle of Man. A long time ago, so long ago in fact that only a small proportion of the half-million motorists in England remember anything of them, they had the Gordon Bennett Cup races in Ireland. The glamour of the international Grands Prix has succeeded the renown of the old “Gordon Bennett,” and the Royal Automobile Club of England, the first of its kind in the world, has since had no races under its control except the tourist trophy events, the last of which took place in 1922. This year, however, the governing body of motoring in England has been given and has taken the chance of running one of the great inttrai&ional races which count towards the speed championship of the world. The British Grand Prix at Brooklands thia year will

be of equal importance with the Grands Prix of France, Spain, and Italy, the Grand Prix of Europe, and the Indianapolis “500” which takes place in America. PERCENTAGE OF ACCIDENTB. A special study of highway accidents made by the St. Louis (U.S.A.) Police Department during one of the busiest months of highway traffic and published in the Police Journal, showed the percentage of accidents as follows: — Per cent. Private cars •••«»•.. 66 Trucks * 12 Tram cars 6 Miscellaneous 3 Horse-drawn vehicles ........ 2 Bicycles •• 1 Motor cyclss M M •• M m m « m 1

From this it is apparent that the motorcycle is not the dangerous vehicle some people would have us believe, and moreover it proves that much of the feeling thht is at times manifested against the two-wheeler springs from cither ignorance or prejudice. WHEN THE CAR CKIDS. At this time of the year, when the roads may be expected to be very frequently wet, it is well to remember that a skid may occur in spite of all precautions, but if the speed has been kept down it is not likely to prove dangerous. Ore may be driving enough, say, at 25 miles per htfdr, on a road which though wet is not slippery, and run unexpectedly on to a niece of new surface; and the car may become suddenly unmanageable, and slide about in any direction. A violent application of rear brakes will only make matters worse, and the best thing is to slow up gradually. Frontwheel brakes, if fitted, will sometimes steady a car, but the best advice is to keep the speed down. A skid may occur in spite of all precautions, but if the speed has been kept down it is not likely« to prove dangerous. When a skid does occur it is well to release the clutch, for when the engine is disconnected from the road wheel it cannot accentuate the ekid by driving the wheels round and causing them to slip in the direction of rotation. Suppose, therefore, that the rear wheels skid to the left, the car will then be pointing to the right-hand side, and if the wheels quickly regain their rolling motion, which iB likely when the clutch is released, the car will head for the righthand side ot the road unless the front wheels are immediately turned to the left. This is known as steering into the skid, and it will do much to maintain the proper lino of travel. In. road races a driver will often skid his rear wheels intentionally for the sake of getting round a corner quickly. It is bad for his tyres, and sometimes wrenches one off the wheel; it is also bad for the chassis, ami in touring it is bad practice generally. Finally, it is easier to avoid a skid by careful driving than to correct one without hitting anything.