MOTOR NOTES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17173, 1 February 1930, Page 9

MOTOR NOTES

•MOTORING I.'XDKK HI FFI< TI/ITEB BiBTLES ’ LATEST EXP.KIM ENCES All’. Francis Dirties, the well-known Australian motorist ami “overlander” in writing from Fine Creek (Northern Territory) his present Headquarters—states that for the last two months he has been completely out of touch with civilisation, whilo prospecting in Northern Australia, and describes his experiences as being “the toughest vet.” For two weeks he constantly ran the gauntlet of a bush fire which, at out) time, .forced .his car on t.o the banks of a stoop creek) from which it seemed he would' never get out.. .Racing back through' six miles of long .grass, stumps and timber, ho burst both back tyres and Jmd to continue on the rims. When crossing one particularly heavy patch of burning ground a tin of petrol burst, causing considerable inconvenience. Shortly afterwards lie missed a gap in the hills where ho had intended to got water. “The valley T was in,” lie. states, “hemmed me in to a dry sandy creek, and it was only after a -long dry stage T at length found a small spring half way up a ■ mountain side. I filled iiiy water tins and humped them to the car and set off back to the gap. Owing to llie loss of petrol from the tin bursting, the ear became 'stranded three-miles mvay just as' my water was finished, so I tramped to the spring, rested, and then walked 20 miles to where 1 had a petrol supply stored away underground for the return journey. “Have you ever tried carrying a 4-gallon tin’ of petrol 20 miles through scrub and rocks under a blazing hot . sun? “Getting back to tho car I found three tyres flat. The heat of tho ground, travelling, and the hot sun had lifted all the patches. The solution was about as sticky as treacle. 1 spent' five days at the gap spring before getting the patches to stick, .hut bad luck dogged my pnlll. Coming over the rough mountain and creek beds mv engine gasket, blew again—any last one—and on a dry stage. I tramped three miles for water, carried some back, but the repair was beyond mo. Luckily Jt was now within 18 ’miles of a'cattle station', and walked to there. The cattlo owner was a “new chum” motorist, (His car was stranded 30 miles away, so we saddled up pack horses and rode out. We jLounil the battery'.flat. 'There was no inagneto on the car so wo had to send nn “abo” off qn a fast horse to Pine .'Creek. Next day lie came back with a borrowed battery. And so,” writes Dirties, quite unconcernedly, “we came eventually to Pine Creek, whero the pleasantest sight for months was an adequate stock of petrol and oil. Wp have already -loaded up st ores ior my wet season camp.” -During his two,months’ trek Dirties Indulged in some good game hunting, qnd describes it as the best fishing and shooting in Australia amidst parklike surroundings. Hundreds of thousands of geese, all of which are wily.and give good sport: quantities of duck, and rod, line, and reel fishing in both fresh and salt water lakes, creeks and rivers. In 11)28 Dirties recorded one of tho most outstanding overlanding achievements ever established by car, in his drive from London, via Europe and Asia, to in a Dunlop-shod “Bean.” Conquering almost ■ insurmountable difficulties on Toute, ho completed this journey in nine months and five days. ENGLISH MOTOR LAWS. The Government, (writes a London correspondent), is also to be congratulated on iit last introducing a much- 1 needed-Road Traffic BUI. The Inotor law of England has for long been in a sadly chaotic state. No attempt has been made to 1 keep it in harmony with the rapid‘development of the motor industry, and it still rests, in all essentials, on an archaic statute passed in 1903. As the law stands at present, it is a criminal offence to 'drive a'car at more than 20 miles an hour, and tho local authorities have a disagreeable habit of using this relic of more leisurely days as a means or increasing their revenue from fines. r The new bill wijl bring motor law into accord with modern condition*. The speed limit: for motor cars and motor cycles is to be Wholly abolished, though a wise provision retains a limit off 30 milts an hour for motor-coaches. 'At the same time, the penalties for dangerous driving are to be greatly increased, and a-new offence of “carc‘lcss driving” is to bo created. There are also many novel clauses in the new bill. One of these makes it compulsory'for any motorists to be insured against third party risks, and to carry a certificate of insurance along with his driving license. Another restricts tho hours that drivers of heavy vehicles may work, while a third gives the Minister of Transport power to issue :i “Highway Code,” applicable to all road ns.ers, including pedestrians. The bill has been warmly welcomed by the big inotor associations fit does, indeed, incorporate most of the reforms for which they -have been agitating for some time past'. -Tho only '•opposition to it is likely to come from the, commercial motor users, whose juggernauts will now be restrained from doing their 43 miles on hour on the roads, and the pugnacious type of pedestrian, who still thinks that all niotor vehicles should be preceded by a man carrying a red .flag. WORLD’S HARDEST TRIAL. , . r —. What is probably the world’s most: strenuous reliability trial is to be run across the Sahara Desert from Algiers between .20th February and ,l(jth April- At Guo, the farthest point oi’ the course, there will be a hnlf for three days, and the total distance covered will In- about 4000 miles. Some idea of tin* severity of the course mav be gained from the refusal of the organisers to accept entries of any ears of loss Ilian R>oo c.c. capacity (12 horse-power). .Much smaller cars are regularly successful in the most seat-r-hing tests devised by Australian clubs.

ADVICE TO MOTOR! S ID. Recently a road tragedy resulted in a famous scientist giving advice to motorists which will be of as much interest to car-owners in New Zealand as to the scientist.ks immediate audience in Britain. Fo'ui men were driving in a small closed car along a country road, when the car ran into water which lmd flooded across the road as a result of rain. Tho car stopped. The man next to the driver got out ami sought help. White he was away a constable saw the car, and noticed the driver deauing suspiciously in his seat. Two passengers in the back of the car were apparently asleep. The driver was; taken to the police station, and charged with being drunk. When some, time later another investigation was made of the car the men in the back, seat were found to' be dead. At an inquest a verdict was returned that they had died of cold and exposure, the coroner accepting the police evidence that the driver and his companions had been drunk. The driver was biter charged with drunkenness,, but at court produced a scientific witness ot standing to prove that.the men had'died of carbon monoxide poisoning. ' The evidence was that the men had a couple dj l pints of beer, but; were sober just before' they drove into the water where the accident, occurred. 'With' the exhaust under water and a 1 leak in the exhaust pipe the fumes escaped into the'car, containing, with the engine racing, per-, haps to per cVnt. of carbon ‘monoxide, and quickly robbed the occupants of. oxygen. The driver escaped with his life because the window beside him was partly opened. Professor Leonard Hill, commenting oii the case, said: “As one part of carbon monoxide in a thousand of air is a deadly mixture, the danger of tho exhaust fumes of motor cars cannot be too widely known. A ear running, in an ordinary small closed garage will make tile atmosphere poisonous in' ton minutes. The ‘ poison is insidious and gives no warning. The syinptoms of partial poisqning are similar'to those of alcohol.' The evidence of the police showed that the knowledge bf the danger off exhaust ‘fumes of cars, and* of the‘fact' tliiifpoisoning by these produces the same effect a'S alcohol, has* not been spread Widely enough.' Teaching bn ' thesepoints should he given ih alt ambulance classes. •It is only"the yemilar - ing power of the open 'air which saves us from carbon fnofloxLde poisoning in traffic jams'in'. th° strelts.” ... 1 -... .V ■ I RAI).! ATOR -PASSAGES. CLEANLINESS E.S-ENTIAL. , One Of the great indint or manufacturers in America points out that n dias been proved that rust and scale accumulate in the cooling system of a car at the same rate, proportionately, as doe* cat bon in the cylinders. To, .grind in the valves, and clean out the cylinders without also cleaning out the cooling system, therefore, is uw-i wise. 1 Properly controlled, heal. gires power in 1 internal combustion motors, ■ but with present-day fuels it also causes carbon deposits to form. Heat also accelerates the corrosive action of the chemical impurities which enter, the cooling system in the water placed in the radiator, and periodic, cleaning of this important section of the car is, a necessity. f With the removal of thy carbon only half of the cause of Overheating or impaired opera-, t ion has been removed. Heat and poor fuel cause the carbon, which, in turn, becomes incandescent and .leads to such other troubles as }weignltion, piston and valve pitting, etc. Sediment, rust, and scale form in the cooling system, pass into the water, passages or the radiator, and obstruct them, and prevent the free circulation of the water, so that the surplus heat cannot be dissipated properly. Many motorists make a practice of draining ;i'nd flushing out their radiators at lease once a fortnight, and this process of cleaning should be carried out Thoroughly after every time tho valves' are ground. NEW PETROL VAPORISER. U.S. ARMY TESTS BRITON’S DEVICE. CHEAPER AND MORE POWIvK. NEW YORK, Nov. PS. The United States Army has developed and adopted for its transport service a remarkable British invention which enables it to operate its motor vehicles on alcohol ,apd lqw-gr.ide. fuels, without any engine changes. i’ho inventor of this now device—a vaporiser ,Known ,M ,n gnw generator which evaporates fuels into dry, invisible gas—is Mr. Ernest Alodwardy tho son' of a member of the London Eire Brigade, . who at an early ago emigrated to New Zealand, where fie made a fortune in the motor car industry. He has devoted -.14 years to perfecting Ih'e apparatus. After testing it for six months the engineers of tho Quartermasters’ Depot of the American Army, in an elaborate report, commit themselves to the state men) that it increases the efficiency, of their standard B truck engine from a peak of f>2-h.p. to «9.4-Ji.p. in petrol, developing tit the same time greater torque and horse-power. KINDLING WOOD GIVES SWEDISH AUTOS MOTIVE POWER. STOCKHOLM, Dec. 1.4, An automobile that uses ordinary kindling wood for fuel instead of gas-; oinie"has just been tried out liv tho Swedish army with, satisfactory results. The motor, equipped with a' new style gas geneVator, developed by two brothers Widegron, Swedish engineers, was mounted on a two and a-Imlf-lon truck manufactured by the Scania-Vabis Automobile Works, at Soi derlclje. On a'test trip of 143 miles about L’flßlbs. of. tire wood was used, as aguibst the 13 gallons of gasoline required for the same distance. .Maintaining an average speed oi about. 2(1 miles per hour, the Luck coinpleled the trip in some seven hours at u cost of about 75 cents, whereas the gasoline needed for this distance would have cost more than four dols. From a strategic point of view, the invention is of great importance, inasmuch as lire-wood can be obtained in any part of Sweden. Tho pew generator is now being installed also on the mail and passenger bust's manufactured by the same company.