FROM HERE AND THERE

Southland Times, Issue 23141, 6 March 1937, Page 20

FROM HERE AND THERE

PLANNING FOR SPEED RECORD A car to achieve at least 350 m.p.h. in the hands of the American driver, Ab Jenkins, is under constniction. The machine will have two engines, developing 3600 b.h.p. (about 1000 h.p. more than Sir Malcolm Campbell’s 300 m.p.h. “Blue Bird”) and the complete vehicle will weigh about 4£ tons, nearly half a ton lighter than the “Blue Bird.” The streamlined body is the design of August Duesenberg, and wind brakes will be used. The wheelbase will be just over 16ft. The car will be ready late this year or early in 1938. Jenkins proposes to use the same track on which Sir Malcolm drove the “Blue Bird” on Bonneville Flats, Utah (Jenkins belongs to Salt Lake City, where he is an architect). He will need four miles for acceleration and six miles for pulling up. Testing Roads For Skid Skidding to order has been going on in Britain under instructions of the Minister of Transport for some weeks. Machines specially made to skid on the slightest provocation have been placed in the hands of expert drivers and are being driven about the main roads in the hope of discovering what are the safest surfaces in all kinds of weather. The machines resemble motor-cycles with side-cars, with the difference that the side-cars carry recording instruments and the near side wheel can be set at any angle. The pioneer tests proved so successful that the Minister ordered four more machines. The Phig Points During the winter months even the most conscientious owner-driver is apt to cut down to a minimum the time he willingly spends in the summer in looking afte rthe car and checking up maintenance details. There is no temptaition to pass two or three hours is “tinkering” on the eve of a week-end run or short tour; a hasty inspMtion to make sure that all is in order has to suffice. It may not be generally known that a glance at the plug points gives a valuable clue to the engine’s state of health. The plugs are first of all an excellent guide to carburation. With correct carburation the points should be grey-black in colour, without traces of soot. Too rich a mixture gives the points a black and sooty appearance, while a weak mixture leaves them white and parched. Wet oil on the plug points indicates that too much oil is getting into the combustion chamber, which may be due to worn piston rings and cylinder bores. Plugs which carbon up frequently are also a sign of cylinder wear. Inspection of the plugs at the end of a normal run can give all this information, but it is also useful to look at them first thing in the morning, before the engine is started. If the points are wet then, suspect a defective gasket, or even a porous cylinder casting which is admitting water into the combustion chamber. Banking and Safety Last summer I drove over the new road from Inverness to Wick, a beautiful highway that clings to the cliffs overlooking the North Sea. I hear that further improvements have been scheduled for this famous highway, and many new bridges and culverts are being banked with a view to encouraging the motorist to keep to his own side of the road. It is, of course, a fallacy to imagine that banking curves encourages road users to higher speeds. On an old-type cambered road there is always a temptation, when proceeding in one direction, to cut the comer in order to enjoy the advantages of the slight degree of banking provided by the camber on the inside of the bend. But if this banking is carried right across the road, it is just as easy to comer on the outside of the curve as on the inside, and any, risk of skidding through taking a curve on the wrong camber is eliminated. The proper banking of all comers is therefore a definite safety measure, since it not only assists the vehicle drivers to keep to their own side of the road, but minimises the risk, in slippery weather, of a car skidding over the road on to the footpath. Lord Nuffield’s Plea Most motorists will echo Lord Nuffield’s plea for a new spirit to animate the Ministry of Transport and benches of magistrates throughout the country. As this famous motor manufacturer pointed out, the motoring community form the bulk of the taxpayers in this country. Car owners are almost entirely the sober, hard-working citizens who form the backbone of the country, and who are universally respected except when they get into their cars to drive, say, from their homes to their offices. Then they immediately become suspect and are regarded as potential criminals. Policemen follow them about waiting to catch them out for the slightest technical mishap, such as a broken filament in a tail lamp bulb, or the slightest harmless lapse, such as momentarily driving at a mile or so above the 30 m.p.h. limit on the clear and open road. Lord Nuffield points out, too, that the initiative for the great road-safety campaigns comes from the motorists themselves. He doubtless has in mind the magnificent ideal of 'the Coronation Year Children’s Safety Crusade, sponsored by Mr Gordon Stewart, which I recently described in these columns. Let us hope, therefore, that 1937 will see the much-taxed, much-harassed motorist given a fairer deal with consequent encouragement to the fourth greatest industry in the land. Nearly a Million Drivers

Australia is gradually approaching the million mark for licensed drivers of motor-vehicles. The figures for the financial year ended June 30, 1936, are not yet available, but it is anticipated that the total licence-holders will be about 950,000. At June 1935 the aggregate was 910,218, which in turn showed an increase of 46,236 over the figures fop the preceding year. All told, there were at June last, 742,926 cars, commercial motor-vehicles and motorcycles in service throughout the Commonwealth.

It is thus evident that at present there are something like 200,000 people in Australia who have licences to drive or ride motor-vehicles, but do not own one. The fact that nearly 27 per cent, of the licensed motor-drivers in the country are not owners of motorvehicles is no doubt accounted for mainly by the army of men employed driving commercial motor-vehicles. There were 172,467 commercial vehicles serving industry at June last, and, although no statistics are available to show how many of these units are handled by paid drivers, there is little doubt that the total would exceed the 100,000 mark. This means that the number of professional drivers are receiving collectively something like £20,000,000 a year in wages. Needless to say, every one of the 200,000 persons who is licensed to drive, yet does not own a car, would soon become an owner of a car or motor-cycle if his or her means permitted.