SPEEDING THROUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 12, 5 April 1927, Page 10

SPEEDING THROUGH

To avoid trouble, keep both hands on the steering wheel when driving. * *. * Always see that the dust cap is placed tightly on the valve stems of your tyres. * * * A grabbing clutch will eventually cause trouble in the rear end of your * * * Keep the spare tyre on your car covered, protecting it from heat and light, enemies of rubber. Spring clips will loosen, if the nuts on the clips are not tightened occasionally. It is very important that these nuts be kept tight. ** ' * Autointoxication. The final condition as you emerge from a traffic jam during which you spent an hour making a trip which you could have walked in 10 minutes. * * * In the United States engineers are now laying roads of coloured concrete, red being the colour most generally adopted, the pigment used being red oxide of iron. * * * Throughout the United States there were 6,649 deaths from automobile accidents in 78 large cities in 1926. Of these, 1,059 were in New York City. The death rate for New York City was 17.9 for every 100,000 of population, as compared with a rate of 20.9 for all the cities listed. The highest rate was made by San Diego, California, with 42.8 per 100,000. The best showing was 3.4 per 100,000 in Kansas City, Kan., where there were only four deaths from automobile accidents during the year. The new twin-engined Sunbeam racing car has a total cylinder capacity of 44,888 c.c., a top gear of 1.02 to l, and a fuel consumption of 2.6 m.

At a lecture the speaker orated fervently: “He drove straight to his goal. He looked neither to the right nor to the left, but pressed forward, moved by a definite purpose. Neither friend nor foe could delay him, nor turn him from his course. All who crossed his path did so at their own peril. What would you call such a man?” “A truck driver!” shouted a voice from the audience. * * * For easy and quick starting with a cold motor pull out the choke on your car while the starter turns over the motor for two or three revolutions, then push choke button in half-way until motor is warmed up. * * * With a view to investigating colonial motoring conditions, a delegation representing car manufacturers will visit New Zealand within a few weeks. The members will make a close study of the weaknesses which are attributed to British cars. It is possible that British Society of Motor Manufacturers and Trades will open an office in Australia or New Zealand to keep designers in constant touch with oversea demands. The delegates will return to Great Britain in August, and their investigations will thus be available for the guidance of designers in time for the production of the 1928 models.

In applying: an oily polish to a varnished body (not to enamel work), the cheese-cloth rag should first be soaked in water and wrung out as dry as possible. The~polish can then be applied more evenly. * I * In order to compete with the French firm of Citroen, which is building cars in England, the Renault company is establishing a subsidiary factory at Acton, England. The production of this French car for English markets will be controlled by British organisation and it is expected that the factory will give employment to 1,000 workers. The car will be identical with the model produced in the parent factory in France. * * * A promising anti-dazzle scheme which is now coming into use in France concerns the arrangement of an auxiliary headlamp mounted fairly high up and near to the rear end of an enclosed body. This additional lamp is placed on the near side, and is so wired, through a controlling switch, that when the main headlights at the front are blacked out the auxiliary headlamp comes into action and throws a powerful, downwardly inclined beam along the near side edge of the road. Owing to the obstruction afforded by the bodywork, however, an oncoming driver is not dazzled; | he cannot even see the reflector or filaj ment of the auxiliary headlamp. A British patent accepted on March 2, 1925, shows a pair of headlamps, one being mounted at each side of the body near to the rear end on special fittings. The idea of this mounting is, in the words of the specification, “to simultaneously illuminate both sides of the vehicle, and will render it easier for approaching traffic to pass.” A further object of the invention is to illuminate the road more efficiently.” The specification also mentions the possibilities of using headlamps at the front end, in addition to those at the rear, and employing a switch to cut out one or more lamps at will. New names for automobile bodies seem to be coined about twice a week. The latest comes ftom the States, where a sporting coupe is now known as a “coupster.” * * * Automobile accidents can be reduced 50 per cent., according to H. G. Shirley, president of the American Association of Road Builders and chairman of the State Highway Commission of Virginia. He favours uniform codes in all States, every driver to be licensed only after mental and physical examinations and every motor-car to be inspected officially, probably once in four months. Elimination of all danger points, such as bad curves and difficult hills, forms his second point. Tunnels could be resorted to, he said, advocating co-oper-ation of States, counties and cities with railroads in reduction of grade crossings. When the four-wheel brakes of a two-seater are applied, as much as 70 per cent, of the weight of the car may be thrown on the front axle. This explains why cars to which four-wheel brakes are attached without re-design of the front axle and springs are liable to earn a bad reputation for frontwheel braking.