MOTOR & CYCLING

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 20 (Supplement)

MOTOR & CYCLING

IMPROVING THE CAR. SHOULD IDEAS BE POOLED? AN UTOPIAN SCHEME. (By Our Motoring Correspondent). London, Oct. 10. While yielding to no one in earnestness of desire to see cars subjected to constant improvement, it is contrary to human nature to expect manufacturers to adopt the suggestion in one of the weekly motoring journals that they should pool their ideas for the benefit of car purchasers. From the point of view of the ear owner there is obviously everything to be said in favour of a general pooling of mechanical information which would result in the attainment of a much higher standard of all-round mechanical efficiency. There would be an end, for instance, to the piston troubles of one make of car, the brake troubles of an other, the oiling troubles of a third and the gearbox troubles of yet another. In the same way electrical equipment would undergo an all-round improvement, as would also tyres, for the makers of these, ancillaries would naturally, one assumes, adopt the best available methods and take advantage of the experience of -other makers in surmounting the various difficulties incidental to production. But the suggestion of a pool of mechanical ideas is ingeniously Utopian. Why should motor manufacturers give away their best ideas to their competitors? If the maker of a certain car Jias built up a reputation for trouble-free engines or trouble-free brakes he is entitled to exploit his success for his personal advantage instead of giving information to his competitors which will enable them to compete more closely with him. FEW’ CHRONIC FAULTS. As a matter of fact the makes of ears that have serious faults of a chronic nature are almost negligible in number and I doubt whether such taults persist at all in the new sea.son : s models. The existence of bad faults in any make of car ' becomes known very quickly among motorists and their discovery is followed almost immediately by a great drop in the sales of that particular make. The manufacturers arc accordingly forced to take immediate remedial action even if it involves extensive redesigning of certain components. A case in point is furnished by a model recently placed on the market by an American concern. The first batch of cars arriving in this country were found upon trial to have a badly-plac-ed exhaust which made the floorboards uncomfortably hot after the first few miles. The makers are now trying to remedy this defect by redesigning part of the engine to enable the exhaust pipe to be led away from the floorboards.

Another instance which comes to mind, concerns a British light ear, the braking system of which had to be redesigned a year or two ago because each time the brakes were applied the whole ear seemed to go into convulsions. What surprises me is that makers ever allowed such cars to go on the market in the first instance. I expect they thought that the general efficiency of their products would atone in the, eyes of the purchasers for shortcomings in ene particular respect. But makers seem to have realised at last that one bad fault is enough, to damn a ear in these days of strenuous competition, and technical sophistication. •STAN DAR DIS ATION REQUIRED. While the pooling of ideas is scarcely to be expected, much more ought to be possible in the way of standardisation of various components so that a motorist can obtain at any garage such an article as a shackle bolt or a petrol tank filler cap without trouble. I experienced the inconvenience of the present system of individualistic design the other day while in London when I rashly permitted a petrol pump attendant to. replace my petrol tank cap. He must have replaced it carelessly for when I arrived at my destination the cap had gone and I had unwittingly run the risk of having my car in flames through a lighted match being thrown near the open tank. I tied a piece of rag round the orifice and went in search of a cap, but the garages I tried either did not stock them or stocked caps for all but my make of car. In the end I had to make a special journey to the other side of London for it.

In addition to standardisation of such things as petrol tank caps .1 should like to sec safer methods adopted of keeping them from falling off. Some ears have caps.that clip on and are fastened to a chain as a precaution. But the chain snaps sooner or later, usually through rust or inherent weakness. The screw-down cap is really the safest.

Interesting food for reflection is furnished by two recent law court cases affecting motorists. At a county court the other day the judge enunciated what must seem to many non-motorists a novel principle, namely, that it is ns necessary for a pedestrian to keep a lock-out as it is for the driver of a car. In this particular case a pedestrian walked against a motor-cycle with the. result that the cyclist was thrown off his machine.. lie brought an action against the pedestrian ami was awarded damages.

We hear a lot these days of the duty of the motorist who is invariably held responsible for all the ills to which users of the road are heir. He pays handsomely for the privilege of using the King’s highway, yet he' is looked upon by prejudiced people as an interloper upon whom the duty is cast not only of avoiding the pedestrian but of ensuring by some obscure means that the pedestrian is not permitted to suffer as a result of his own negligence. It has now been declared in a court of law that responsibility for safety on the road must be shouldered by all road users whether afoot or awheel.

Another interesting court case is that in which a private car driver alleged that a motor coach driver persistently obstructed him when he desired to pass, despite tho fact that he sounded his horn repeatedly.

Most motorists have come across the obstructionist type of coach or lorry

driver and they are probably ready to hail as a public benefactor any ear owner who has the pluck to bring such an offender to book. As a consequence of the magisterial decision in the case commented upon, however, it is improbable that the number of such public benefactors will increase, for the successful defence was pleaded that as the motor coach driver was going at 20 miles per hour and the private car driver obviously wanted to exceed the legal speed limit, it was the motor coach driver who was the real benefactor for his obstructive tactics prevented the motorist from breaking the law by exceeding the legal speed limit. THE SPEED LIMIT. There is an element of Puckish humour in this decision which motorists can appreciate though it is directed against themselves. But this decision forms one more argument for the abolition of the speed limit which, besides being generally ignored, must lead to serious congestion of the roads if an attempt is made to enforce it.

The question of the speed limit is again becoming a live one in view of the promised new Motor Bill, and attempts are being made to show that the retention of the speed limit is essential to road safety. ’ The arguments for and against are too well know to require repeating. Personally I favour its abolition because it is largely a legislative farce and because I am convinced that if it goes the authorities will put in its place something much more likely to prevent accidents, namely, new sanctions against dangerous, reckless or careless driving. But while 1 favour the abolition of the present limit I recognise that many persons have a genuine fear that it will lead to unlimited speed, and as a genuine- fear of any sort is to be sympathised with, perhaps the simplest way. out would be not to retain the speed limit but to raise it to about 40 miles per hour —a speed which is perfectly safe under ordinary road conditions and with the safeguards afforded by modern high-efficiency brakes. KAYE DON’S NEW SPEEDSTER. The new car constructed for Mr. Kaye Don is described in the last issue of The Motor. Ahead of the driver there are two engines, coupled in tandem. The original 1000 h.p. Sunbeam, in which Major Henry Segrave first exceeded 200 m.p.h., also had two engines, but theoe were placed at the en<U of the chassis, with the driver in the centre. On the new car there is a distributor gear behind the rearmost engine which conveys the power to a pair of propeller shafts driving the rear wheels, and the driver sits low down between the shafts, as in the Golden Arrow.

Each engine is a 12-cylinder job, with two banks (of six cylinders each) forming a V on a common crankcase, and the general design is very similar to that of the power unit of the Sunbeam Tiger, which Kaye Don has driven at Brookiands with such success. Each row of six cylinders is fed by an independent induction system and supercharger. sc that there are four blowers in all.

At maximum revolutions, it is expected that the really astounding total of 4000 h.p. will be obtained. This will make the car by far the most powerful automobile ever built. Another feature in which the Sunbeam resembles Captain Irving’s design for .the Golden Arrow consists of the radiators, which are of the surface type and form rectangular slabs filling in the space between the front aud rear wheels at each side of the body. It has been discovered that this form of pairing’ has a very beneficial effect on the stability of the car at colossal speeds such as* that contemplated. Careful measurements were -made of Kaye Don’s sturdy frame before the designs were put in hand, and so cramped for space i° his cockpit that the steering wheel has to be detached in order to allow him to enter or leave the car.

The pedals are swung from pivots in a transverse bulkhead which separates the driver from the rearmost engine. The seat cushion is only 12 inches from the ground level, and. the back of the seat, which can be adjusted for rake, extends upwards beyond the driver’s shoulders in order to give support to his head. In front of him there is a small sloping transparent panelling built into the body shell. The rear axle, incidentally, will rise and fall only a few inches behind the back of the seat. An • ingenious springing system has been evolved for the seat itself in order to intercept vibrations. The highest point- reached by the bodywork is situated just aft of the driver's head, but even here it stands about" 4ft above ground. The wheels are three feet in diameter measured over the tire treads.