Motor and Cycle

Otago Witness, Issue 3832, 23 August 1927, Page 70

Motor and Cycle

<By

DEMON.

“The Government looks upon the petrol tax as a fertile source of revenue, and if the motorist does not seize it for road improvement work it will lie credited to the Consolidated Fund,” said Dr I’orritt ut the last meeting of the executive of the Wanganui Automobile Association.

“ It is now possible to draw a comparison between the number of British and other cars parked in a city like Melbourne (says a Melbourne correspondent of The Times Trade and Engineering; Supplement) without feeling ashamed of the poor show made by the British product.” The Dunlop Rubber Company intends to promote in November next the biggest road race yet held in Australia, in fact, in the British Empire. The distance will be 685 miles, which will be covered in town-to-town sections. The race will last some days. WIRELESS CONTROL OF ROAD VEHICLES. flic control of aerial craft by wireless has been subject to much experimental work, and similar ideas have been tested to control a motor car. In June in Detroit h remarkable test was carried out with a large six-cylinder car, which traversed heavy traffic without a driver. With the aid of wireless the driver in a car following controlled the car with perfect safety. It started its own motor, got under way, turned corners, slowed down, speeded up, blew its horn at pedestrians, applied brakes, turned on its own lights, and then dimmed them for approaching cars. No changes were made in the mechanism beyond the installation of a radio receiver with aerial and the addition of the phantom driver, an inconspicuous electrical device on the steering column operated from the following car. In the midst of the try-out a fleet of fire trucks came down the street. Onlookers gasped when the radio-controlled car and the control car were first to get out of the way. It looks as if the day may come when father can lie in bed and wireless the family car down to meet mother when the ferry steamer arrives at 7 a.m. LIABILITY FOR SKIDDING. With an increasing mileage of bituminous pavements in New Zealand, skidding on a sudden application of brakes is a much more frequent occurrence than in the old days of universal macadam and gravel running. Here is the comment of the London Motor on a recent English decision in a skidding case: — A. case of a somewhat unusual character was heard recently at the Walsall County Court. It arose through a car skidding on a glassy road, rendered more treacherous by rain. The nlaintilf was conveying a party on the Woodstock road, near Oxford, when a car driven by defendant approached at a fast speed. A drizzling rain at the time had made the road greasy, and defendant s car suddenly skidded, turned round, colliding with and badly damaging plaintiff’s car. The claim was for £45. and defendant counter-claimed for £42. The defence was that defendant was travelling at a very moderate speed, and was obliged to apply his brakes or run down a cyclist. After hearing evidence, the judge dismissed the counter-claim, and with regard to the claim he was of opinion it succeeded. He laid it down that if a motorist experienced an inevitable skid it was yn accident, and the person whose vehicle skidded was not liable, as it was one of the dangers of the road. But people driving motor cars must exercise reasonable skill in controlling them, and they must have regard to the nature of the

traffic and to the surface of the road, lie had not the slightest doubt that defendant tried to cut in when approaching a blind bridge. Finding it was too dangerous, he dropped back, but was then in danger of running down the cyclist. He jammed on the brakes, causing the car to swing across the road. The plaintiff was awarded the damages he had claimed. The case is one of the few of the kind that have been heard, and is of importance in these days of shiny and slippery road surfaces, for it bears out the advice we have so frequently given. It is unwise to travel at such a speed that, in the event of emergency, a sudden application of the brakes is called for. Involuntary skids can occur on such roads when the brakes are not applied at all. In the case of a car colliding with another in such circumstances, as the judge rightly ruled, it would be an accident, resulting from the condition of the road only, and not from any lack of care or skill on the part of the driver.

MAJOR SECRAVES RECORD. An attempt to beat the record made by the British motorist. Major H. O. D. Segrave, of 203 miles an hour, on Daytona beach, at Florida, is to be made .bj' Sig Haughdahl, the noted American racer, who himself recently aehievell a speed record of 180.27 miles an hour (says the British United Press New York correspondent) . “ I think the ear that will lower Major Segrave’s record will be a machine with one engine on the front axle and one on the rear," says Haughdahl. “If I try to break the world’s motor car speed record, it will be in a car shaped like a cigar, so’ small and thin that I will have to lie down in it to steer. Such a ear will reduce wind resistance to a minimum, and avoid many of the problems in aerostatics encountered in a larger car. Little motors with superchargers winding up to 7000 or 7200 revolutions a minute will do the trick. hen Major Segrave gets up to 2250 revolutions a minute, which is his limit, he starts losing horse-power. You lose horse-power when the action of the valves is not fast enough. But in a 91 cubic-inch motor you get 120 miles an hour at 5000 r.p.m., and as the engine revolves at a higher rate of speed the car continues to accelerate.”

Ralph De Palma, one of the most successful racing drivers in U.S.A., is to attempt to lower Major Segrave’s record of 203 ni.p.h., say the American papers. While Segrave used a mammoth 1000 h.p. car. De Palma will use a tiny racer, construction details of which are being closely guarded. It has not been announced when the trial will be held. STOLEN CARS. The number of motor vehicles recovered during the year was 1135, 941 being motor cars and 194 motor cycles. The declared value of those recovered, so far as known, was £108,588. For the metropolitan police district alone the figures were: — Stolen—Bo9 motor cars, 193 motor cycles. Recovered—69B motor cars, value of £69.275; 86 motor cycles, value of £2635.

The total number of motor cars and cycles stolen in the metropolitan police district and recovered show an increase of 579 and 500 respectively over the figures for 1925. The commissioner adds: “ In a very large proportion of these eases the motor ear or cycle was left unattended in the street, and the larceny might have been prevented had some precaution been taken by the owner. Stolen

cars are used in many cases of crime, especially housebreaking and ‘ tip and run ’ raids on jewellers’ shops. If insurance companies would combine in measures to encourage persons who leave cars unattended in the streets to take reasonable precautions, such as securing some part which is vital to the movement of the car, they would substantially reduce the opportunities for theft at present so frequently offered by motor car owners.” A survey of conditions in London from the two aspects of crime prevention and traffic control is made by Sir William Horwood, the Commissioner of Police for the metropolis, in his report on the activities of the force during the year 1926. Comment is also made upon the carelessness of London travellers. In Great Britain, as a whole, 1468 motors (cycles a.al cars) were removed, the highest figure recorded. Regarding theft of motors, the commissioner suggests that " reasonable precautions ” in the case of cars left unattended in the streets would substantially reduce the thief’s opportuniti ;. The attention of householders is also called to the necessity for taking precautions against burglars. Regarding motor vehicles, it is stated that reports were received at the clearing house at New Scotland Yard of 146 S vehicles, of the declared value of £140,984, having been stolen in Great Britain, including the metropolis. The figures for the past six years are:

ENGINE TEMPERATURE. The best kind of mascot for every motorist to have upon his radiator is the Boyce motor meter, an instrument for recording the engine temperature. It gives a clear and definite warning before damage can happen '<r the engine from overheating. It also indicates when the temperature is too. low. The engine should be hot, and will not run at its best until it is nicely warmed up and the oil flowing easily to the various parts. But at the same time it must not be too hot. There is a point at which the oil loses its lubricating power because .it becomes too thin. When this point is exceeded there is always a loss of power and a danger of seizure. The motor meter registers not the temperature of the water in the radiator, but the temperature of the vapour in the air space above the water. It is therefore independent of the level of the water in the radiator, and may be relied upon to give a correct indication of the temperature of the engine. Until stcar. cooling is

adopted, which may happen in the future, it is undesirable that the water in the radiator should boil. Boiling water means, of course, a hot engine and loss of water. 't« .test tempera* •■•■ c of the water in the radiator is from ISOdeg to 200 deg Fahr. This varies a little in average, and this corresponds to - vap -r tern perature of about 160 deg Fahr. When the radiator water b.ils the ton of the radiator becomes filled with steam at a temperature of 212 deg Fahr.; therefore the rise in the thermometer is easily seen, whereas if the water temperature were indicated the difference between 200 deg and 212 deg Fahr, might well escape notice. Other advantages of this system are that when the level of the water drops the indicated temperature also drops, whereas it is probable that the engine would become hotter; also, if anything went wrong with the water circulation the same thing would happen, for the water, no longer circulating through the water jackets of the engine, would become cooled in the radiator. DEATH AFTER A DRIVE. That his wife died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning was the allegation of a motorist at an inquest held in England recently. The motorist said that his Wife was driving a new closed car, and complained of fumes coming from the exhaust pipe. Later he had the car examined, and found that the fumes were due to a Jeaky washer in tile exhaust pipe. Medical evidence showed that death was due to pulmonary embolism, ami the coroner recorded a verdict in accordance with this evidence. He added that death might have been accelerated by the fumes from the exhaust pipe. ROUND THE WORLD TOUR. Cable messages from Sourabaya announce that Captain Malins and Captain Oliver, who left Loudon last December for a tour of the world on O.E.C. Temple motor cycles, have reached Java, and were expected to arrive in Brisbane on or about August 3. Their itinerary has led them through Holland. Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, thence along the Riviera coast to France. Spain. Algeria. Tripoli. Singapore, Palestine, Iraq, Persia, India, Buimah. Siam. Singapore.'and Java; then across to Brisbane and on to Sydney and Melbourne. After Melbourne they will proceed to Tasmania (Launceston), arriving there on August 30. They are scheduled to reach Invercargill on September 8. and to leave Auckland in October for San Francisco, and thence across U.S.A, and Canada, en route for England.

Many of Captain Malins’s friends in England have laid a wager over his not

returning to England within one year after doing this tour, but Captain Malins said he was prepared to take a bet that he would arrive in England a day before Christmas at an appointed time outside the Marble Arch in London. An adventure of this nature is no novelty to Captain Malins, who, in 1922, in company with Captain Norman MacMillan and Major Wilfred T. Blake, started out in a Fairey seaplane in an endeavour to give to England the glory of the first round-the-world flight. The aeroplane of 1922 was vastly different from the modern machine, and risks were great. A ciash into the Bay of Bengal, causeci by water getting into the petrol system, during a heavy monsoon storm, was only one of the many mishaps of the expedition, and nearly resulted fatally. The aviators were marooned on a mud-flat for three days, with no food and only a gallon of water. When the storm subsided on the fourth day they attempted to reach land, but when within 30 miles of the coast water again penetrated the petrol system, and they were forced down once more. By means of clinging to the wings to maintain the balance of the plane, they managed to keep afloat. Finally, however, the machine turned over, but as it came up, bottom upwards, they clambered on to one of the floats. Here they were compelled to remain for three days, now having spent six days without food and three without water. Eventually they were picked up by a passing steamer, ami, having reached safety, decided that their plane had had enough. their efforts to secure another plane in which to continue their attempt to fly round the world proved unsuccessful. They therefore had no alternative but to abandon the flight. However, during their adventure. Captain Malins secured a flying film of their journey by air from Croydon to Calcutta, and proposes to release this in New Zealand during the present motorcycle tour. PILLION RIDINC. Much has been written on the subject of pillion riding, and no doubt much more will be written dealing with this practice from all aspects. The writing will always depend, on the part of the critics, from the safety viewpoint, and. on the participants’ part, from a convenience and economy viewpoint. From this it seems that where the economy ami convenience are linked with safety, both critics and participants will be in agreement. To this end the first essential is a comfortable pillion seat that begets confidence. A seat much used in England has coil springs on -which the laminated saddle is mounted. Two safety handles are provided —one at the front and one at the back.

In conjunction with any scat, footrests are a necessity, and for the rider who shows any pride in his machine a folding pattern is to be preferred, since these can be tucked up out of the way when not in use. A point to look lor in footrests is the size of the rest itself, which makes for the comfort of the P as " senger. Hie design of the footrest should be such that it can be fitted to any convenient point of the machine. From the above it will be gathered that astride riding is the only safe position for solo riding, but for affording a third seat to a sidecar combination the side saddle position is equally safe, and is preferred by some riders. CAR AND CHARACTER. It is the opinion of Mr E. S. Jordan, of the Traffic Planning and Safety Committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, that you can judge a driver’s character by the condition of his car. and also by the way he passes you on the road. On this latter point he is quoted thus in the Philadelphia Public Ledger: — “It is hardly possible to drive 50 miles on the crowded highways to-day without having dozens of opportunities to display modesty, courtesy, and self-control. And. of course, behaviour is to that extent an easy way of determining character. The man who sneaks by you, giving you only an inch or two margin and making you put your car in the ditch, or the man who comes upon you suddenly* tooting his horn so loudly that lie frightens your women and children out of their wits, not only is a ‘ road hog,’ but obviously is not B gentleman.’’

Some time ago a number of nationally known safety experts, leading traffic engineers, famous racing drivers, traffic officers of long experience, psychologists, and ordinary drivers in the United States were interviewed in order to try to determine the standards by which a driver could measure his own competency and efficiency. Character qualities are inextricably woven into the six essentials of a good driver which were brought out by those interviews. They are: “1. The good driver has a high degree of self-control at all times, this control manifesting itself in various ways. “2. The good driver always maintains his car in such shape that it responds easily and quickly, thus assuring control of the car so far as the purely mechanical equation is concerned. “ 3. The good driver regulates bis speed in accord with the conditions of the road over which he is travelling, and never travels at such a rate that he cannot stop it within the ‘ clear course ’ ahead. “4. The good driver invariably exercises due regard for the rights of others, and always applies the simple axioms of courteous behaviour. “ 5. The good driver accepts the safety of the pedestrian as a primary consideration. “ 6. The good driver keeps his mind on the road ahead, as day-dreaming or chattcrhig at the wheel causes many more ao-iid-.-nts than are caused by stings of

“ I do not think that there is a single phase of modern life which gives a person such frequent or excellent opportunities for exercising self-control as driving a motor car. The tendency and, sometimes, the active desire is to show the other fellow what he ought to be

made to do, and sometimes to force him to do it. Someone has said that the speeder is a person who wants to get there, and has nothing to do when he arrives; and that is the most admirable way of characterising him that I can think of.

There are two factors which enter into the speeder’s disregard of the rules of the road —his lack of self-control and his love of a thrill. More than 90 per cent, of the speeding is due not so much to the driver’s need for getting somewhere at a certain time as to his human qualities or weaknesses.” WEAR AND TEAR ON THE CARBURETTOR. The carburettor differs from most mechanical units in that there is very little wear a. d tear in its interior economy, even when it is called upon to work at high pressure. Of course, we all know that it is prone to become clogged up with small pieces of fluff, or to be choked by wandering globules of water; but the removal of these evils is merely a matter of cleaning. In fact, there is only one moving part of the carburettor which is subject to metallic wear, and that is the needle valve of the float chamber. This small component has imI portant work to do, for it has to obey the movement of the carburettor’ float implicitly, shutting off the flow of petrol to the float chamber '.-hen the level has risen high enough and allowing the fuel to run in when the level falls. Unless the needle valve seats accurately it cannot carry out this work, and the owner will be annoyed by a carburettor which constantly drips, or even overflows ia a small stream. If the bad seating of the needle valve is not

due to dirt, it will oe necessary to grind it in so that it fits snugly. If the wear is pronounced it may be necessary to puthe n-edlc in a chuck and true it Up with fine emery cloth, but as a general rule it will suffice to smear the end of the needle and the seat with a small quantity of very fine grinding paste. Then proceed as you would if you were grinding in a valve, remembering to turn the needle backwards and forwards, so that it maybe ground in truly. Do not continue J Ol long, as usually the amount of grinding required is very small, and file minutes work should suffice. HOW REGULATIONS ADD TO COSTS. The London taxi cab trade is pleased at the Government’s decision to appoint a committee of experts to report on the

desirable in the regulations governing the construction of taxi cabs. The average price of a Loudon taxi cab at present is about £7OO, twice that of a standard saloon car. due to' the special construction required by the authorities. Among the constructional differences between* a taxi cab and an orilin.uy caj, which are insisted upon, are the cab’s lOin clearance underneath the back axle, as against 7-lin to Sin for a standard Morris. ■Ctaxi cab chassis has to be specially constructed so that it can turn round within a distance ot ■'“lit. An ordinary car would have to go forward and reverse before- it could turn in that area. Ine trade contends th. t if the regulations were I altered so th'at sta" 'ardiscd chassis and I bodies similar to those used for commercial 1 vehicles could be adopted for taxis, a. satisfactorv cab could be put on the market for £4OO. Almost all the taxi cabs ir Paris are inanufaetured by two firms — I Citroeji and Renault. .1 he cost of the former is approximately 18.900 francs (£157). These are sold for 27.000 francs. The cost of construction of a Renault taxi (10 h.p.) is approximately 19 950 francs (£166). and the selling price 28.500 francs. For the 6 h.p. model of the same make 15.40° francs (£130) covers the cost or construction, and the selling price is 22,000 francs. CYCLING. AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP. NEW YORK. August 16.. A Newark telegram states that Harris Holder, the Australian. _ became the bicvcle sprint champion or America last night when he was placed third m the twentv-second of 24 races to decide the title, scoring sufficient points to make his triumph a certainty.

Motor Motor Year. Cars. Cycles. Total 1921 . . . . 380 636 1016 1922 • • • • 340 598 1923 . . . . 20S 258 466 1924 .. . . 27S 243 521 1925 43S 220 G.iX 1926 . . 1092 376 14GS