MOTORING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 586, 27 December 1915, Page 2

MOTORING.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES.

January 10. —Motor Carnival Com niittee.

A great many motor cycling clubs throughout the Dominion appear to be very busy at present in making arrangements for racing meetings. The Aslihurst Club is holding a meeting on January 1, and the Wairarapa Club on January 13. Following these there will be a meeting at Manawatu after which the Grand Patriotic Motor Carnival will be held in Christchurch. The Wairarapa meeting promises to be very successful. Eight events will be run and for these very substantial prizes are being offered. The races are open to all motorists in the Dominion, and those desiring to compete must advise the secretary, Mr J. M. Nicholls, not later than January 5.

The trade in motor cycles in this city is very slack at present, which is principally due to the delay caused by shipping. One well-known firm in Christchurch has just received delivery of two counter-shaft machines. This motor cycle- is now fitted with a British magneto (an exact imitation of the Bosch) which makes it a British machine throughout; Sixty-seven orders have already been booked for these machines, but as the company is only able to send two bicycles a week, and the orders received here are being taken in rotation, there is Very little possibility of the ! recent orders being executed for a considerable time to come.

As a rule missing at low speed, when but a comparatively small amount of petrol is admitted, if in but one or two cylinders, means that the lean mixture is still further depleted by some leakage of air into the combustion chamber. This may be sucked in through a leaky valve or may be due to a defective plug. It t requires but a small amount of air to make an already lean mixture fail, to ignite. The steady downpour of rain experienced last. Thursday evening had an extremely beneficial effect on the roads, and it was quite, a pleasure to travel with the absence.; of' <?ust. The North is in a very fair condition after passing through Bangiora, but from Kaiapoi to Belfast it is still, needing much, improvement, The South Eoad is very fair, but in some places patches of metal have been laid down.

if the finer points of driving are carefully studied and observed, says, tlie Sydney "Sun,", much can be saved in petrol.,. Without suggesting that with the average car a motorist can effect startling economies, there is ample room for improvement in. this respect.

Prom time to time the motor world is aroused by a remarkable feat of driving that apparently proves the everyday Waste of liquid fuel. Investigation reveals the information that the car used for these special wonder-drives was carefully prepared for the event, and was equipped in'a manner wholly unsuitable for ordinary business or social practice. It generally transpires that big efforts were made, mostly of an experimental nature, to achieve this desired result, and it is then giVen to a' motoring public as possible in an everyday performance. The enthusiasts of the United States are experts, for instance, at this style of driving, and they revel in their periodical and -sensational appeals to a section of the motoring community. As a rale these freak performances do not in any way tend to raise the status of motoring, but appear only to advertise some particular make of car tuned up for that special eyeopener. Once in a way something of value to motorists in general is accomplished, and an instance occurred recently. In that same country where boom tactics are regarded as a fine art a driver succeeded in creating a genuine interest in his achievement. Judgment in driving was his method of calling attention to a definite result in the matter of petrolsaving. The car used had a normal consumption of 20 miles to the gallon, but in the skilled hands of this driver, it was made to do 75 miles to the gallon, and on a second trial almost 100 miles per gallon was recorded. Of course the car was prepared with great exactitude in several respects, but this point was freely admitted by those concerned. The idea was to get everything out of the engine simply by the application of a remarkable knowledge of its capabilities when manipulated with sympathy and faultless judgment. A very high top gear was fitted, when carefully-propor-tioned gears were added to suit every hill to be encountered on the route chosen. The carburetter was primed to perfection, and everything depended on the pilot. No racing of the engine was permitted, and no idle running; every inch the pistons moved had, if possible, to be translated into ear motion, which is, after all, simply the application of fundamental facts and principles reduced to a fine art. Adopting the idea of the electric train drivers, this motorist accelerated very rapidly* shut off power and then coasted to the next hill, which, as it were, represented the traindriver's stopping place. He kept the throttle closed to the limit, and used the engine only when absolutely necessary. The clutch was out on every down grade, and the momentum gained was utilised to the. utmost on the next rise. Brake work was avoided, except in an emergency, because it meant dead loss of fuel in the dissipation of the energy of momentum. Every use wa3 made of the ignition control, so that with the least possible amount of mixture, and spark set to full advance, the car got along on the level with a large economy of fuel. Advice has been received of the deatli of the American steersman, Ilarry Grant, known chiefly as a dual .viuner of the Vanderbilt Cup. His death occurred in the Coney Island Hospital on October 7, as the result of burns received nine days previously when his machine took fire at Sheepshead Bay. The end came as fi surprise, for a few days previously he ha I been reported on the road to recovery.

The course has a two-mile circuit, and Grant, who was taking a practice spin, after covering one lap, started on a second, when his car was seen to be in flames. Being on the banking he kept his car, which was travelling at more than 90 miles an hour, at full

speed until he had left the curve, when he came to a stop, but by that time, although the vehicle was but slightly damaged, the steersman was badly burned. The fire was caused by a loosened petrol pipe and a backfire in the carburettor.

Grant, who was born in 1577, and began his motor racing career at the age of 30, had not had the narrow escapes which so many of his friendly rivals had experienced. His only other serious accident took place in a race at Corona last autumn, when one of his wheels broke while he was travelling at 95 miles per hour. The car capsized, and was enveloped in flames owing to the petrol tank being torn open, but the driver escaped unharmed. His successes in the Vanderbilt Cup race were attained in consecutive years, a record in itself, as Ralph de Palma, who is the only other pilot to have scored two wins, secured his first victory in 1912 and his second in 1914. Grant's triumphs, were gained in 1909 and 1910, on an Alco car, the venue on each occasion being Long Island.

There are certain disadvantages connected with the motor cycle which, no doubt, tend to operate against its more general use; it would be an exceptional machine indeed were it entirely free from drawbacks. The rider must be prepared to withstand considerable vibration and the effects of it; but even this disadvantage has of late years been materially lessened, thanks, first, to the incorporation of well-sprung front forks; second, to the vast improvement of saddle and auxiliary springs either attached or fitted in the seat-pillar; third, to the use of tyres of a more generous size than once thought sufficient; and, fourth, to the adoption of the spring frame, now in a state of evolution, though there are one or two designs which promise to be entirely satisfactory. Another drawback to the machine is that it is not yet so equipped as -to make it an ideal all-weather mount, the more so since motor cycling is essentially outdoor pursuit, to be followed chiefly in fine weather 'and on dry roads.

A considerable proportion of the average rider's mileage is covered under conditions opposite to the ideal—that is to say, he will be compelled to use his machine part of the time in . wet weather and on muddy roads. And this latter introduces another disadvantage, that of sideslipping, which might easily lead to. disaster. To be really satisfactory for winter use, or, for the matter of that, at any time of the year, the machine: .should be so equipped that the rider is protected, approximately, to the same, degree' of cbmpleteriess as is the driver of a car; and yet not merely the rider, but also the major portion of the machine itself. This desirable condition of things: is quite possible if the manufacturers will only give the matter their direct' attention. Again, there is scope for improvement respecting the

carrying capacity of the machine—provision for better distribution of the load to be carried, whether it be accessories, spares, or parcels, and securing them against loss —yet, at the same time, without detracting from the appearance of the machine.

Reverting to the efforts to eliminate vibration, saddle-makers and inventors of other devices with which it is sought to insulate the rider from road shocks have, no yloubt, done much to accomplish this desirable purpose, yet more remains to be done. It is as much a matter of principle as of constructional detail, and before the ideal is reached, it will probably have been shown that design has undergone radical alteration, and the present „ accepted main principles of construction give way to others of a more scentifically correct description, bearing in mind the particular objective sought. The general design of frame does not lend itself to the incorporation of a more or less perfect spring system; almost the whole of the frame will, I believe, be part of the ideal spring system, and that, of course, will entail radical changes. One of the chief features to be maintained in such frames is lateral stability, and that, it is claimed, can be secured by embodying parallel laminated springs, one on each side of the frame, of ample strength and of adequate length to obtain the requisite flexibility. With one exception, all of the present designs of spring frames fail to provide reciprocal action of the footrest with the saddle. Such systems, therefore, go but half-way. British manufacturers have given comparatively little thought to the matter of spring frames, as against their confreres in America, because, perhaps, the roads in Great Britain being generally good, the need' for shock-absorbers was not felt so keenly ,as in the States. The road conditions here fairly approximate those prevailing in America, and that is why the demand for spring frames is more insistent than in the British Isles. It was but recently I noticed that, due to the much-increased traffic on the roads in the south of England induced by the tremendous military operations, motor cyclists in that area were calling for better spring machines; the necessity for them creates the demand. Where the road surface is really good the present type of motor cycle is amply sprung, the intense relief experienced in running on to a section of road just reconstructed after negotiating miles of our indifferent tracks must be felt to be appreciated. TAPPET.