CYCLING AND MOTORING NOTES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12707, 9 March 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

CYCLING AND MOTORING NOTES.

There ia a probability of a Sydney motorist making an attempt at an early dato to motor across Australia, from east to west, practically following the route recently traversed by Francis Birtles in his ride across from Fremantle to Sydney. Whilst Australia has been crossed on a car from north to sonth — Messrs H. : Dutton and M. Aunger accomplished- it in. 52 days in 1909 — the trip, from 'east ..to west; lias been, left Severely '.alone. .'According to those who Jiavo* journeyed "across 'tfie country ' be- ' tween Port Augusta (S.A.) and Norse- ' man (W.A.), this part of the overland ' route presents difficulties that may pre- \ vent a motor car from getting through. At all events Francia Birtles evidently thinks the trip practicable, for he has made arrangements to accompany the Sydney motorist as a guide in the event of the trip being decided upon. There now appears to be a doubt as to whether Australia will be represented in the big 200 miles road race to be held at Stockholm in connection with the Olympic Games carnival next Julv. The Ne'w South Wales Cyclists' Union are willing to appoint their crack track rider, E. W. ( Schnoider, and he is willing to act, ' but there appears to be financial difficulties in the way. Schneider, who has never done any long-dis-tance road racing, wants to take a, trainer to the scene of the race, Lake Malar, near Stockholm (Sweden), and go in for a proper course of training. He considers, and rightly, too, that it will take from now until July to prepare himself so that he may have d ■ chance of success in the big r event. Ho wants the New South Wales Union, to defray the cost of the trip, . but their finances will not permit of the expenditure, and unless the money is forthcoming the matter will probably be dropped. Surely the small sum -of money required for Schneider's 17 weeks' sojourn in Sweden can be raised in New > South Wales, the hub of amateur cycling in Australia. > In the course of scientific investiga- . tions it often happens that a search for • one particular thing will develop 'others i perhaps more valuable than the actual ' object of the search. An instance of ' the sort recently occurred in the great l Krupp steel works in Germany, where • the metallurgists, making laboratory ex- > periments, with a view to producing a 1 special steel for automobile parts, accidentally produced an alloy of unprece- ■ dented hardness. According to the, report a thin, plate of this metal resisted i the heat of the oxy-acetylene flame . for ' several hours. It is said that the Krupp I works will use the newly-found steel. ) in the manufacture of ball-bearings and ; other parts — automobile parts — requiring • great hardness. # ,'. > It looks as if the American automobile ' manufacturers are : going to set the ' fashion of self-starting engines, and the i sooner the better, for the nuisance, danJ ger, and sometime^, hard work incidental ■ to starting up motor-car engines by i means of the hand crank is a labor motorists can well do without. Tho ' maiortiy of the leading- American > makers are adopting selkstarting del vices for their 1912 or- 1913 models, and > from the trend of things the cranking • handle will become obsolete.in the course i of a year or so., At present four dif- ■ ferent systems of self-starters are being > marketed, viz., those actuated by. comL pressed air, those by the use of acety- > lene gas under pressure by electric devices, and by mechanical devices, there > being quite - a number of variations of ' each. Successful results have been obi tained from the use of each of the above ! systems, and it's a moot question which > type of self-starter will eventually be adopted as the most effective and most efficient. Despite the fact that the French-made ■ motor cycle is not nearly as perfect a ; piece of mechanism as tnel present-day English machine, motor cycling is boom--1 ing in France. At the end of 1911 there were 36,549 motor cycles registered in that country. L. Renault, the veil known French automobile .manufacturer, . recejnjily-.--Jrtat-ed that after extferisive experimenting , with the sleeve- valve type of .engine, and while \ duly impressed with tb.6 pro* gross towards silence which its introduc- , tion was responsible for,' he did not think the time had -arrived for the supersession of the poppet valve type of . engine. The latter was now just as silent. Regarding tho comparative, efficiency of the , types,, he is reported to have observed thr.t ;"at present tho poppet-valve engine with the valve in single file and an all-enclosed silent valve drive was the better for all-round; use, chiefly because of its acceleration range being higher.'' Asked as to his first principles in motor-car construction and design, Renault, who has always been recognised as one of the world's leading experts ? stated that he favored simplicity consistent with good wear; as few pafrts as possible both in the aggregate and as regards components, and the imp'osing of no more "work on, the driver or cleaner than is unavoidable. "I prefer," he is reported to have said, "a design of vehicle which gives the driver nothing to do as long as it is in use." '