MOTOR & CYCLING

Taranaki Daily News, 10 May 1930, Page 20 (Supplement)

MOTOR & CYCLING

CAR VERSUS TRAIN.

SPEED IN THE WRONG PLACE.

(Special to News. —London. March 20.) While paying tribute to the enterprise of certain firm*?, I feel I must join in the chorus of dissuasion from further attempts to pit motor-care against express trains. The whole thing can easily become absurd, is du any event dangerous, and is quite unnecessary. Two or three years ago an enterprising driver drove an American car, I believe, from London to Aberdeen in the space of a comparatively few hours, but instead of gaining the enthusiastic plaudits of a sport-loving nation the feat wan rather frowned, upon, which helps to demonstrate that the average individual, fond as he is of sport,* liken it in the right place, which is not the public highway, where the sportsman may easily involve himself and others in disaster. In the same way these attempts to rush from one end of France to the other can only serve to make British motorists unpopular across the Channel. Besides, such attempts prove nothing that is not already proved, namely, that a good class of modern car is capable of very high speeds sustained over! long distances. The bestway of drawing attention to the capabilities of a ear in respect of speed aiid endurance is to enter it in such a race as the Tourist Trophy, entries for which are now being received. This race, which is again being run in Ulster in August, already promises excellent sport and interesting performances, for among the entries already received are a’ team of three 8-eylindcr front wheel drive Alvis cars, three super-charged Austin Sevens, four Alfa Roniecfl, a Lea Francis and Triumph and Riley cars. LOW-PRICED “EIGHT” VOGUE. The Alvis <yitry is interesting not only because the cars are of the front wheel drive type but because they have eight-cylinder engines, thus emphasising the boom that seems, to be developing this year in eight-cylinder cans. So far American manufacturers are forcing the pace'* with this type of mutlicylinder vehicle. Their slogan is apparently ’ “multi-eylindera for the masses,” for some of them are concentrating on eight-cylinder saloons costing a remarkably low figure. Two American-built cars which I recently inspected cost much less than £4OO as fully equipped saloon models. I had a run on one of them and exceeded 70 miles per hour with ease. Not so long ago, it was impossible to obtain a six-cylinder ear for lees than £4OO, and it speaks volumes for the enhanced standard of car value now available that- it should be possible to buy straight-eights at so low a figure. The* other low-priced American car I have not yet had an opportunity of testing, but its appearance and price certainly appeal. But the low-priced straighteight market is by no means dominated by the Americans. Hillman were the pioneers of the low-priced straighteight in this country. It is almost impossible to resist the conclusion that the straight-eight, as prices , are at present tending, is bound to make a considerable impression in the markets of the world this year, for an eight-cylinder engine gives flexibility and power that must be experienced, to be appreciated to the full. Even on low-priced “eights” gear changing is abolished except for really steep hills of the single figure variety, and at high speeds the engine Is unobtrusive. In traffic it is possible to crawl along on top and then shoot away at the first opportunity, for, besides being very flexible, the straight-eight engine is usually capable of flashing acceleration. As the price range is ascended these qualities are of course accentuated, and memories are left, after a run, of fleeting, effortless riding.

BRITISH AND OTHER “GADGETS.”

It is interesting to find, from a list recently issued-by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the governing body of the motor industry in the British Islands, that Britkh car makers are'not much behind their opposite numbers in the United States in the matter of providing' free “gadgets” for their cars. According to a recent analysis of the list the American car •has only three ' more ‘ items of equipment on the average than the Britishbuilt car. As against this difference must be set the fact that British makers give a larger variety. American makers <rive their customers much more freclv than do the British makers such items of equipment as air cleaners, bumpers, petrol gauges, thief-proof locks, oil purifiers, radiator shutters and spare wheel covers; but British makers, on the other hand, are more lavish with such accessories as bulb and electric i horns, radiator guards, superchargers, revolution counters and direction indicators. The American car is scarcely considered a car unless it has a cigar lighter, but if fewer British cars have this useful accessory they - at least shine in anqther direction, that of ehrqnology, for Great Britain has a definite superiority in the matter of bestowiim free clocks. We lag sadly behind in the provision of such things as spare tyre covers, sun visois and ail cleaners, but patriotic motorists will welcome the information that as against this deficiency we can place more luggage grids, more safety glass, more adjustable, front seats, more shock absorbers and more spring gaiters and luggage trunks. LEGAL ASPECT OF SKIDDING. If the law is, as alleged, an ase, it also has its moments of perspicacity. One of these moments came recently when a King’s Bench Divisional Corirt decided that a skid does not necessarily imply negligence on the part of the driver. The facts in the case were that a motor-car, skidding on some tram lines, hurtled first to one side of the street and then to the other where it mounted the pavement and Silled a pedestrian. An action was brought by the relatives against the owner oi the car, but the trial judge dismissed the action because there was uo evidence of negligence, and his judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal on the ground of positive evidence that there had been no such negligence and that the driver was, in point of fact, at the mercy of hie car. The argument

. advanced by the appellants that the | very extent of the skid—a matter alI together of over 30 yards — was in. itself evidence of negligence did not impress the judges. It is bad enough to find oneself in the disagreeable throes of an involuntary skid witnout being accused of ne<di"enco. At the same time the need for caution in driving when road conditions are bad cannot he too often insisted upon in everybody’s interest. There is-only one safe course of action on a greasy or otherwise slippery load surface and that is to drive slowly, to concentrate the mind on the probability of a sudden skid and thus be prepared to check the jazzing ear by steering irently into the skid and keeping the Toot off the brake pedal. At a low speed few skiffs are dangeious. and they are capable of easy On tram lines caution is particularly necessary, for it is dangerous, when the wheels have begun to run on them, to attempt to steer off them abruptly. The process of getting off the rails should be very gradual with only a very gentle and cautious turning oi the steering wheel. SURA TUTTED WIN DSH IE LDS. SIMPLE REMEDY AVAILABLE. It is occasionally desirable to remove small scratches from the surface of the windshield or ear windows, and if the scratches are not too deep they may be removed by the following method. The materials needed are very simple and may be secured from practically any glass supply house. The} 7 consist of'a block of hard felt and some powdered rouge. The rouge may be obtained in either black or red, but black is usually preferred because if it conies in contact with the upholstery it is not so noticeable after cleaning as the red might be. The rouge should be mixed into a ■paste by the addition of water and rolled up into a lump or ball, after which it is allowed to dry and is then ready for use. The procedure in using the materials is simple. Merely wet the end of the felt block 'in water and then rub the lump of rouge on it until the felt is covbred with the rouge. The rouge-cov-ered end of the felt block is then applied to the glass in the-'vicinity of the scratch until the abrasive action of the rouge levels off the glass to the depth of the scratch. Until the scratch is nearly removed rubbing mostly across the scratch will be found the best method. It should be borne, in mind that this method is for light scratches only and if the scratch is deep it would require an excessive amount of labour to remove it. TESTING AND PROVING. MOTORDOM’S GREAT TASK. No other industry in history has ever devoted so much attention to and spent so much money on proving its products before they go to the general public as the automobile industry does to-day. The big companies all spend hundreds of thousands of pounds yearly in. testing their new products. ' They maintain great laboratories and proving grounds, where new productions can be tried under conditions approximating actual operating service. The buyer of a new car or a new model to-day need not have the slightest fear that the product is in any way untried. And yet in spite of all th© costly precautions taken the ultimate laboratory is still the general public. When a new car is being developed the engineers will break up perhaps a dozen of them on proving ground roads. They will have them run continuously at high speed until they fail, and then the vehicles will be disassembled and the individual parts will be studied • with microscopic care. In this way the engineers can determine which parts need strengthening to bring the design up to a certain level of excellence.

Nevertheless despite all this, when the cars get out into the hands of the public faults sometimes appear. A part which has been strengthened to meet every demand of the proving ground may begin to show some weakness when the public owner gets his or her hand on the wheel. The basic cause of this difference between laboratory and public service lies undoubtedly in tho realm of driver psychology. The laboratory driver, while ho is trying to destroy, still docs it skilfully. His gear changing, braking, and steering are all skilfully carried out. On the other hand, a certain proportion o f the general public ie definitely unskilful. It rasps gear shifts, jams brakes on, steers uncertainly, and does other things clumsily; and this is probably the reason why small defects sometimes appear in the best of cars in spite of all the money that has been spent on making them as perfect as human ingenuity can achieve. In the tyro industry also, a considerable amount of money is spent annually by the manufacturers in exhaustive tests before offering their product to the public. Hundreds of thousands of miles on the roads are covered by the tyre companies testing cars each year. One of tho largest companies maintains a big fleet of cars, trucks, motor-cycles and bicycles controlled and run by its development department, and tremendous mileages are run by all cars in the fleet in the direct interest of motorists. During the process of testing tyres on Australian roads by the company’s fleet of cars a distance of 29,009 miles has been covered in six months by one touring car alone. The cars are loaded with bags of sand to the approximate weight of five adults and are driven over all sorts of roads. ROAD INFORMATION. MANY COUNTRIES INQUIRE. The promotion of motor transport in various parts of the world is indicated by the recent visits to the United States of representatives of five leaders in the automobile world in connection with highway programmes and bus development. Mr. D. R. Onrubia, who is on the staff of the Manila Railroad Company of tho Philippine Islands, is making a study of motor bus operation

and also of the manner in which American railroads are co-ordinating motor trucks and buses with rail transportation. Mr. W. Ostwald, from Germany, is studying American methods of motor taxation and highway finance as a basis for a. series of articles to rationalise the German tax and highway system. Mr. William Boockl, a highway authority of Austria, is gathering data regarding the construction of concrete and other better types of roadways. Messrs. T. Watanabo and K. lanyosln, the first of whom is the director and the other the chief engineer of the Nippon Asbestos Company of Tokio, Japan, are studying the use of asbestos brake lining in American motor-cars. Mr. J. E. Tuokkola, former president of the Finnish Automobile Dealers’ Association, and at present director of traffic in Finland, reports great interest in highway construction and intimates that the Finnish Government soon is likely to seek a substantial foreign loan which will be used to bring existing roads into good condition and to qompleto new ones. He is in America to study highway construction. “WIZARD” SMITH’S RECORD. THE NINETY MILE BEACH. After receiving particulars of the claim of Norman “Wizard” Smith, the Australian racing motorist, to have beaten the 10-mile world’s speed record recently at Ninety Mile Beach, Kaitaia, New Zealand, by covering the distance at 148.63 miles per hour, the Royal Automobile Chib of Great Britain points out that it is not able to submit the “record” made to the A.1.A.C.R., the official body, for recognition, on the ground that the international regulations covering attempts on world’s and international class records up to 10 miles shall bo automatically timed by apparatus registering to within 1-100th of a second, and if attempted on a straightaway course the distance shall be covered in two directions, and the average speed of these two runs shall bo the recognised speed. As these conditions were not complied with. Smith’s record has been disallowed. It is to be regretted that this fine performance cannot be officially recognised as a world’s record.

In view of the fact that the Ninety Mile beach in its natural state is suitable for such high speeds as Smith recorded, it would seem that this beach could possibly be made an ideal course for record breaking and high sjieed tests without a great expenditure of money Judging from the latest experience of Kaye Don conditions on Daytona beach cannot be relied upon as being safe for speeds exceeding much over 200 miles an hour, and no doubt other places will evidently have to be looked for as car speeds increase. It would therefore be interesting to know how tho Ninety Mile Beach compares with Daytona. As its name implies, it is of considerable length, which is an'advantage over the nine mile course in America. There are certain qualifications, of course, such as visibility, condition of sand, wind. etc., which are necessary, and will no doubt be investigated. '

THE HIRE-PURCHASE SYSTEM.

A REALLY MODERN PROBLEM.

JOINTS FOR .WOULD-BE OWNERS. ■ i (By “’Autoscribe.”) There is probably no problem which gives the. would-be .motorist as much food for thought as that concerning hire-purchase. fie may be studying the engine and chassis details of a dozen different makes, he may be flirting with the idea of first one make, and then another, but when he comes down to earth finally his problem is to decide whether to save hard: and amass the hard cash before purchase, or to avail himself of a hire-purchase agreement; and buy out of .income. It may as well be. stated frankly now that at is almost as difficult- to advise him. However, by knowing what has been done elsewhere, and by realising the obligations attaching to hire-purchase, he will be lab ter fitted to decide for himself.

In the first place, hire-purchase, is •know’ll under half a dozen different names, such as “buying out. of income,” ’’instalment income,” etc., and its conimafcial soundness has been a source <of debate amongst economists for the last dozen years or so, during which .time it has made remarkable, growth. In the days when grandfather was a lad hire-purchase under that name was unknown, but those who bought houses Jiad still to purchase them in ways that toally amounted to hire-purchase under a different name. Few people have ever ibeeu sufficiently well gifted with this world's goods to be able to pay cash for their homes, and the provision of mortgages, especially where these .are on an amortising basis, is essentially a form of hire-purchase. America was the first country to exitend the system to articles of everyday use, and long before the motor-car Avas laboriously making headway from the “chug chugging’' article of the. past :to the present efficient machine, ait enter prising sewing machine manufacturer had extended its benefits to his Clients. Aear by year the system grew in popularity, and from being confined almost exclusively to sewing machines jand pianos, ft came into use in the purchased' furniture, and almost every luxury under the sun. Motor-ear manufacturers adopted it to stimulate their uales (so that they could reduce the (overhead costs of manufacture and thus reduce selling prices), but they were by ho means the first to introduce it.

THE OPPOSITION’ ARGUMENTS. The older school of economists at once .took the offensive against this new idea. They asserted that it encouraged people 'to live up to. or beyond. their means, instead of saving for the future. A slower school of economists asset ted equally strongly that it was. raising the standard of living by making luxuries more accessible to people, that it, ■encouraged them to save instead of flittering their money away, and that it lowered considerably the cost of production through greatly stimulating the demand. The argument is still going’ on, and likely to be for generations yet. Those who were against time-pay-lueut assorted that the losses thiough ■people making default in instalments' would be enormous. Experience in America has shown that the losses m this direction are almost negligible. Whether the recent disastrous slump there will materially alter that position yet remains to be seen. A person buying anything under this system, and particularly a motor-car, should know exactly what obligations he undertakes.. It sounds almost silly ■to put it as simply as that, but it is a fact that hundred's of buyers sign on the dotted line each year without ever reading through their agreements carefully. No one who cannot afioid the regular monthly instalments that will fall due under the hire-purchase agreement, should buy a car by tins method. The very name indicates wmit it 16, namely, a hiring -to purchase. . L u 1 such time as the last instalment is paid off the car is not the property ot the buyer, and he cannot deal with it as lie wishes. .There are certain other clauses in aareements which should be eqnaUj well understood, oven though they are not rigidly enforced, lor instance, default in the payment of any one instalment the ear liable to seizure, even though all 'but one instalment may have been paid. Actually no company would seize under these circumstances, and generally they are prepared to allow « fair degree of latitude where exceptional contingencies have arisen. ACT! A GEY A HIRER. Tiie position during the currency of a hire-purchase agreement, is that the purchaser is really a hirer, until the final payment has been made, and as a hirer it is his duty to take care of the car on behalf of the seller. It is obvious that since the purchaser under this system is called upon to do a good num/things, lie should be certain that he is dealing with a reputable concern. This is especially necessary where a second-hand car is bought, or it might well be that the car had outworn its usefulness 'before the final instalment had been paid to the seller. Agreements differ to some extent, and every buyer should read his particular agreement through very carefully, and it he does not understand the legal pluaseoloay ask questions. H he wants ccitain definite guarantees from the seller } l6 should see that they are included in the document, or given him in »u This need cause no worry when low ms are being bought, as \ir tiallv r >ocs with them, but it Inmost essential when a second-hand h changing hands on hire-pui-

has not been much help so far it/ this article towards deciding the question as to whether or not hire-pur-diase should be used. The l ,ol “ ts and a"ain?t have 'been brought out. “ you «re sure that the monthly paywill not embarrass you in any ““ tS it Vou realise tM ta add lion t» running expenses you will have to mcet the depreciation inevitable in motoi lug, grid if you can pay the needed first

instalment, hire-purchase will put you in immediate possession of a car that you might not otherwise own for years. You will have at your command all the joys of motoring whether it be for business or pleasure, and will he able Jo have holidays nune cheaply than over before.

The-case for hire-purclmse in commercial motoring is, of course, very much stronger, for a properly conducted -motor carrying business may well pay the trucks off out of profits. There are plenty of instances where that has been done. There.are also cases wuere too optimistic a view as to freights has resulted in the reverse.

A concrete instance of the value of hire-purchase may be given. A friend of the writer whose work takes him round the country is given an allowance per year, for supplying a car, and the- running expenses of the car are paid for him. He buys a ear under hire-purchase, and at the end of two years, when the final instalment has just been paid, trades it- in and ‘buys another. Thus in fact, lift hardly ever is the actual owner of a car, but his monthly payments are always less than the allowance. 'Time payment is a boon to him. saving him capital outlay.

AUTOMOBILES GAIbL

INCREASING REGISTRARS>NS.

Indicative, of the progress automotive transportation is making all over the world is the fact that, exclusive of the. United States, registration of motor vehicles has increased 16.5 per cent, in the last year. While there are. only four countries iu the world that have as many as a million automobiles, the .total number of passenger cars, motor trucks and Luses in operation iu all nations is reported at 32,C00,000. The Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific, has the smallest automobile registration. with but two motor-cars in the group. Next to the United States, New Zealand has the greatest number of automobiles per capita, the figure being one for each 8.9 inhabitants. Canada is third with one car to each nine persons. While 77 per cent, of the world's motor vehicles arc in the United States the country has manufactured 83.5 per cent, of the world's production of automobiles. Last year European automobile makers produced nearly fiOOIKW cars and trucks.

FOUR-CYLINDER CARS

RIN ORD-BREAKING MACHINE

The sturdy, efficient, reliable and economical four-cylinder unit is being gradually replaced by the six-cylinder engine,- arid no fewer than eighteen of the leading British manufacturers have dropped the four to concentrate upon the six or eight-cylinder car. Some well established, honoured mid famous names have vanished from the four-cylinde.red world, and to-day there are only thirteen British firms which have, clung to the four-cylinder design. Of these there are seven more or less unknown to the average motorist, but five are making popular aud extremely efficient four cylinder models, while ths sixth produces a sound two-cylindei’ car. There are only two French firms producing nothing but four-cylinder engines, and only one American manufacturer has remained faithful to the fourcylinder. The appeal of the six-cylinder car is, of course, a good top-gear performance, But there are some fourcyliudej- cars with a very excellent performance on top. For the ordinary man who wants a good car, but who has not a great deal of money to spend upon motoring, the four-ieylinder engine is ideal. In the racing and sporting field of motoring no great advantage seems to have been gained by the mere fact of multiplying the number vf cylinders, and there are many light cars with fourcylinder engines, which, without being freak designs, are capable of extremely high speeds, and whore economy is concerned these four-cylinder cars are supreme. In this connection it is interesting- to note that just recently, at Brooklands track, England, Captain H. R. Birkin, driving a four-cylinder car, established a lap record of 135.33 miles an hour, defeating Kaye Don's previous record of 134.4(1 miles an hour. As Brooklands track is designed for speed not greater than 120 miles an hour this is a remarkable performance of both car and driver.

ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

BAROMETER FOR CAR

'.l’he mountainous country over which most of the main roads in New Zealand twist and turn often produces tiic question ‘How high did we go?” Except from an accurate contour map or perhaps an informative signpost by the road side, there exists no other extraneous means of gleaning this interesting information. The driver who wishes to be constantly shown whether he is at 2000 feet over'a certain stretch of road or not can fit an aneroid barometer, graduated in feet above sea level, io the dashboard of his car. A new aneroid, of course, costs too much for this use, but there are plenty to be had from the Aircraft Disposals Board in England.

Barometers are mainly in three types. There is the long mercury instrument in which ’the pressure of the atmosphere jesting upon the surface of a dish of mercury supports the weight of the mercury column which 'has been allowed to fall down a long inverted glass lube. The best-known pattern, however, is that in which an evacuated metal container, often in the form of a tube of oval section, is connected by Jink-work to a needle, I lie effect oi pressure in the lube is to cause it to unbend so that any change in atmospheric density makes this flattened tube straighten out or contract against the action of a small spring, and at the same time moves lhe needle, which is graduated in terms of inches of mercury, height above sea level, or pressure of air. Barometric pressure falls . approximately to any increase in height, and, other things being equal, quite an accurate level can be 'thus obtained. One must allow for any sudden influence of storm or finer weather, as the former will have the effect of giving too high

a reading consequent from the drop in pressure, and the hitter exactly ’tile opposite result, It should be remembered, too, that if the barometer is set before commencing a journey, the reading of the highest point reached will only indicate the number of feet above sea level. Therefore, the difference between the height recorded and the known altitude of that same .spot gives the height above ®ea level of the point from which the day's run was commenced. NEW SPEED REGISTER. A very interesting and useful automobile accessory has been recently noticed on . the the market, which it is claimed will tell at a glance the speed at which one’s ear or truck has been travelling at any hour or minute- of the day or night, tells how many stops are made and how long, and gives the total mileage covered. Tire device, which is called the “Ohmer Record ograf,” is placed on the instrument board of the car under lock and key, and is driven from the transmission.

All this information about the vehicle’s operation is recorded on a tape 36 hours long, divided by means of vertical lines into hourly periods. The hours are again' subdivided into fiveminute periods. The tape moves at a uniform speed under the marker, and the speed is so regulated thait exactly five minutes are required to move the tape from one vertical line to the next. The distance travelled is shown by hori-

zontal lines, each representing onefourth of a mile. When the vehicle moves the marker travels obliquely over the tape. When the pencil line extends from the bottom to the top or from top to bottom of the tape, a total distance of two miles has been covered. The pencil lines are oblique when the vehicle is moving and horizontal when it is standing still. Thus a horizontal line denotes that the vehicle remains stationary five minutes for each square- through which it travels. Idle time can be computed iu total and the exact time of the day that the vehicle remained standing' can bn ascertained. The faster the vehicle travels, the more oblique are the pencil lines and enables the owner of the vehicle to compute the exact speed at which he has travelled at any time during the previous 36 hours. This instrument should be invaluable to motorists, and especially to truck owners who can by its aid better determine operating costs and, moreover, in controversies or disputes arising, regarding rate of speed travelled.