MOTOR & CYCLING

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1931, Page 16 (Supplement)

MOTOR & CYCLING

WITH TENT AND MOTOR UNUSUAL SOUTHERN JOURNEY. SPLENDID VACATION TOUR. (By “Trip. s ') Most North Island motorists who visit the south are content to see the recognised tourist resorts and lca\ e it at that. In any case time usually precludes their getting far from, the main roads, and the same is true of many South Island motorists also. If the journey you are about to undertake is the first you have made in the south, you will naturally want to visit places like the West Coast, Mount Cook, and the southern lakes. If you have visited all these places, however, and want something different, 'you can have it to your heart’s content. The journey which I suggest as something out of the ordinary traverses country between Dunedin, Invercargill and Lake Monowi, and, with the exception of the first stage south, keeps you away from main roads. There is magnificent scenery in parts of the journey, you run through much interesting country, and finally at Lake Monowai have the advantages offered by the southern lakes on a slightly lesser scale. ‘On this route, with the exception of Invercar-o-ill, you do not pass through towns equipped with motor camps, but all the way through there are good camping places, so that need not worry you. SOUTH FROM. DUNEDIN. For about fifty mites south from Dunedin you run on the main road, going past Lake Waihola to Milton, and then to Balclutha, where you leave the main road. From here on you run parallel with the coast line, while the main road runs inland to Gore. The road on this route. contains one or two unmetalled stretches, so that chains are advisable in wet weather. There is not a great deal of traffic on it, however, and as a general rule it does not cut up badly. In fine weather it is a delightful run from here to Invercargill, but for full enjoyment of the bush scenery en route you have to camp at various stages, and take advantage of the opportunities offered for fishing and shooting. From Balclutha to Owaka is about 20 miles, and there is good camping both there and at Pounawea, two miles further on. This makes a very easy day from Dunedin, and with a camp here, some of the side-roads (not in very good order) can be explored in fine weather. Between Owaka and ■Chaselands, a distance of about 30 miles, you pass through t some very fine scenery, and the road, though running over one or two fairly steep hills, should give you no trouble. You will, have no difficulty in finding a camping spot tc suit you at Chaselands, and there are beautiful waterfalls there which are well worth seeing. INTERESTING SIDE TRIP. A delightful side-trip is offered you just beyond Chaselands, this being down to" Curio Bay, one of the little-known wonders of New Zealand. From Chaselands you run on the main road to Niagara, and there turn off to Waikawa, which is three miles away, through one of the most beautiful fern-decked roads imaginable. The road is narrow, but is metalled, and there are plenty of places where cars can pass without much difficulty. There aro plenty of places for camping at Waikawa; in fact, I imagine that recently a proper camping ground has been provided there, and some very interesting walks can be tak-

Curio Bay is about three or four miles away, and you walk on a hard, sandy beach. The bay contains the remains of a fossilised forest similar to that uncovered at Arapuni, but on a very much greater scale. For a considerable distance fossilised stumps are to be seen along the beach, and many of the boulders when broken open show fossilised ferns. Geologists consider that this is the remains of a very ancient forest buried under the mud thousands of years ago. The fem impressions in the boulders are perfect, and the interesting part to the layman is in seeing types that do not now. exist. The beaches in this vicinity are well worth exploring, and a camp at Waikawa offers the opportunity for doing this. Returning to the main road again, you make south through Tokanui and Fortrose to Invercargill, along a good road with great bush scenery. There is a road running from Tokanui to Curio Bay, but I have never been over it, and am not certain of its condition. In any case Waikawa offers many advantages from the camper’s point of view, hnd it is an easy day’s run from there to Invercargill, where there is an excellent motor camp close handy to the city itself. UP TO LAKE MONO WAI. Invercargill itself is a good place for a holiday, so that a day or . two can well be spent there before going on up to Lake Monowai. The best plan will be to make the journey to Monowai.. up through Riverton and Tuatapere, and return by a different route. Riverton is one of the finest and cleanest beach resorts in New Zealand, and is only 24 miles from Invercargill. There is a good camping groupd there and opportunity should be taken to stay a day at least. Lake Monowai is about 90 miles from Invercargill and the roads arc good; in fact, this is true of practically all of Southland’s roads, which are very much better surfaced than the Otago roads. The road through Riverton and Tuatapere skirts the southern-most coast of New Zealand and runs up through Clifden to the lake. The country through which you pass varies from in-tensively-farmed dairying land close to Invercargill, to newly broken land near Tuatapere, and virgin forest further on at the lake. .Fishermen will find good sport in some of the streams cn route, and Tuatapere is popular in this respect. There are limestone caves near Clifden, which are supposed to rival the Waitomo caves in some respect but they are not very easy of access, , and I understand should not be attempted without guides From Clifden to Monowai is 30 miles and the road is a good one right to the lake, where there is good camping, This lake is about 13 miles long and of much the same tvpe as the Otago lakes, rugged, bush-clad mountains 'running sheer down to the water's edge. Needless to say, a splendid holiday can be spent there, far away from business worries. For those who wish to visit Manapouri or Wakatipu, the easiest way down from Monowai is through Clifden and Otautau to Winton, and thence to Lumsden. Those who have to make back home can run out through Winton to Gore, by which time they are on the main north road again. The particular •“’jfAntage ftf jihis holiday is’ jfc

takes you off the beaten track for most of the way, through scenery of unusual type and gives you great opportunities for quiet motor camps. It is not suggested as a journey for those who have never previously visited the South Island, but rather as an alternative for those who know the principal tourist resorts already. THE LATE MR. J. B. DUNLOP. TABLET UNVEILED AT BELFAST. Ou December 9, at 26 May Street, Belfast, Sir William Coates, Bart., J.P., the Lord Mayor of Belfast, unveiled a memorial tablet on the wall of the premises where the first pneumatic tyre to secure commercial adoption was made by the late Mr. John Boyd Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon with the largest practice in Ireland, who in 1888 took out a patent for the tyre. J. B. Dqnlon had always been interested in problems of transport, and bad often thought of various types of “spring’’ wheels, with flexible rims. But he became convinced that no steel rim could long stand the bending and flexing strains that would be involved. And then it dawned on him that rubber was the material for the job. It was nis nine-year-old son’s complaint of the difficulty of riding over the uneven stone sets in some of the Belfast streets that turned Dunlop’s idea into definite shape. The first experiment was made in the business yard of the premises on which the memorial tablet has been placed. From sheet rubber, one thirty-second of an inch thick, he made an air tube and fixed it to a wooden disc with a thin strap or cover of linen. Then he removed the front solid tyred wheel of his son’s tricycle, and after inflating the air tube with a football pump he carried the two wheels into his yard. In a casual tone he asked his assistant which of the tyres he thought would travel furthest. "The tricycle tyre, of course,’’ he said. Dunlop threw it along the yard, but it did not go the full ■length. Then he threw the air tyred disc. It went the whole length of the yard and rebounded on the gate. His assistant looked puzzled and said that he could not have thrown them with equal force. So Dunlop gave him both the wheels and told him to throw them himself. He did, with the same result. The pneumatic tyre rolled to the end of the yard and rebounded back a considerable distance. Thus the first pneumatic tyre came into being. John Boyd Dunlop was born and went to school in the tiny village of Dreghorn in Ayrshire. He studied in Edinburgh and went to Belfast at the of 27 to start a veterinary surgeon’s practice. He had a natural inventive genius, which found an outlet in a number of clever devices made to help him in his veterinary work. His painstaking nature is characterised by his refusal to float a company until his tyre was fully tested, although many people asked him to do so. Hie first agents to take; up his tyro were Messrs. Edlin and Sinclair,, of Belfast, who built Dunlops’ experimental bicycles. When the pneumatic tyred machine was first introduced on to the English racing tracks it was met by strenuous opposition from the organisers of crosschannel sports. It was boycotted also by many cycle manufacturers. Its appearance on the racing tracks evoked ridicule. It was called a “steam roller,” and was a source of unbounded merriment to the spectators. The opposition to the pneumatic tyre merely had the effect of advertising its superlative, qualities, with the result that the cycle manufacturers were compelled to adopt it, and in a very short time it was the universal equipment for all machines. With the marked H iccess of the pneumatic tyre for cycles, a larger type of tyre was evolved for arid hackney cars, and it is interesting to note that in the early “nineties” nearly every Jarvey’s car in Dublin was fitted with wired-on pneumatic tyres. The first Dunlop advertisement is almost as interesting as the first tyre. It was written by. Mr. Edlin and was very, brief and to the point. It was inserted in the Irish Cyclist of 1888 and read: “Look out for the new Pneumatic Safety. Vibration impossible. Sole makers —AV. Edlin and Co., Belfast. A better advertisement, and one that sold more bicycle and tricycles was when Edlin, who rode a pneumatic tyred bicycle to and from his work, was cautioned by' a policeman for exceeding the speed limit. . . An example of the way in which the use of Dunlops’ tyres bqs spread over the world is the practice of tribesmen of the North-West Frontier of India, who own old cars, to look for the “Old Man’s Head” stamped on all Dunlop tyres. They do not know anything else about the ‘marking, but if the “Old Man’s Head” is on it, they know it is right. John Boyd Dunlop died m Dublin in 1921.

STANDARD OF ROAD ETHICS. (London Motor Correspondent.)' In commodn with other motorists I have been studying the Highway Code published in draft form by th© British Ministry of Transport. This code is a document of considerable interest, not only to those who will be primarily affected by it, that is to say, road users in Great Britain, but to road users in every part of the world, for it represents the first occasion upon which the Government of any country has laid down.- a definite standard of ethics for all who go by road, whether in a cai, on a motor cycle, a push-bike, a horse or on foot. , i x ' Having thus established the. international importance of the Highway Code, it is. now my duty as a writer on motoring topics to pick holes in it. My first point of criticism is that it engages in too many pious generalities instead of telling road users definitely what they must do and what they must not do. “Always be careful and considerate towards others. As a responsible citizen you have a duty to the community not to endanger or impede others in their lawful use of the King a Highway.” One can almost see road-hogs shedding tears as they read these sentiments and vow to be always, careful and considerate towards others” in the future. The same emotion will be aroused in their breasts as they read on and' are exhorted to “Remember that all persons —pedestrians, cyclists,. persons leading, riding or driving animals and the drivers of motor and horsedrawn vehicles- —have a right to use the highway and/an obligation to respect the rights oi others.” - PATERNAL PRECEPTS. 'Reading on still further one can almost see Mr. Herbert Morrison, the Transport Minister, enunciating with a paternal air the precept: ‘“Bear in mind the difficulties of others .and try not to add to them.” After that a really useful paragraph a little further down urging road users to “take special care in bad weather, when the roads are greasy and all road-users have less control over their movements,” comes almost as an anti-climax. It is only possible to take the Highway Code seriously when these generalities “are concluded and we come down to business. The first thing to note when that stage is reached is that a new rule of the road is introduced for led animals. Instead of being led on the right of the road horses and other animals must now conform to the ordinary flow of traffic and be led on the left of the road. The code warns us that some people,- especially in ■ the country, may take some time to change age-long habits, and road users must therefore still be prepared to meet animals being led on the right of the road. This change in the rule of the road relating to animals is to be welcomed, if only for the sake of novices at the wheel, to whom the spectacle of horses coming along ,on the “wrong side of the road” has Often ‘been disconcerting. “Friend of I the Horse” and . “Animal Lover” will probably write indignant letters to the papers about the change, but it seems a wise thing to make all traffic go one way. CONDUCT ' AT CROSS-ROADS. The provisions' of the code specially directed to the drivers of motor vehicles embody all the hitherto unwritten driving rules, such as overtaking in safety, giving the appropriate signals, and not cutting in. These are too well known to require emphasis. With the conduct to be observed ; by drivers at cross roads the code deals somewhat unsatisfactorily. It is stated in the code that no vehicle has a right of way at cross roads, but traffic on a “major” road has priority over traffic on a ‘'minor” road, and that it is the duty of a driver on a minor road when approaching a major road to go dead-slow and to give way to traffic on it. There is nothing the matter with this rule in itself,' for it is obviously desirable that there should be some understanding as to which driver has the right of way at a cross road. But in practice two difficulties arise. The first is that it is not always possible to say which is a “major” road and . which a “miuor” road. At many cross, roads the roads have an. equal importance from the point of view of traffic density. The provisions in the code can therefore only become applicable if all minor roads, at a suitable distance from their junction with the major roads, are. definitely signposted. To the best of my recollection the Transport Commission referred to this difficulty in one of its reports, and recommended a standardised sign denoting that a road was a minor road. If the code is to become operative local authorities will require to erect such signs near all road junctions in their areas. The Transport Minister is empowered to make grants for this purpose from, the-Road Fund. REVERSING HINTS. ( Now and again the code gives some excellent driving hints. The paragraph relating to reversing should be read with diligence by new drivers and even •by more experienced ones. Observation of the driving of many motorists suggests that a number do not yet know the fundamentals of successful reversing. It is for their benefit that the code suggests that no attempt should be made to turn a vehicle round unless this can be done in one movement or unless the driver can see that the road is clear for a good distance in both directions. As the code slates, it is generally simpler to go to the nearest side road or entrance, back into it and then retrace one’s way. In such a case the driver should always back into the minor road or entrance and come forward into the major road. One provision of the code that is open to considerable criticism is the liberty which it apparently confers upon pedestrians to signal. On the surface it seems desirable that pedestrians should give hand signals similar to those used by drivers of motor vehicles, but the practice may only lead to confusion and abuse. Frivolous persons will see in this permission an excellent opportunity for annoying motorists by putting up their hands to make them stop, after the manner of a traffic policeman, while the village idiot will signal a car to pass him on the right and then dance to the left, like a will o’ the wisp luring to disaster.

THE COOLING SYSTEM. | OVERHAUL NECESSARY. Motorists who wish to enjoy troublefree driving should have, a certain amount of work done periodically on ■the cooling system of their engines. Like any other part of the automobile it requires regular care, and the small cost of the. preventive service needed ■is cheap insurance against engine trouble and possibly heavy repair bills. Hie cooling system should be in the bes possible condition to avoid overheating •in warm weather. The, average car owner probably does not realise that the cooling system may be in need of attention until after a hard drive on a •hot day or some other condition out of •the ordinary brings on overheating. Rust accumulating in the engine block•and radiator seriously interferes with cooling, and a loss of power and overheating will sooner or later result it it is not removed. ' There is no way of telling from outside inspection how badly the cooling system is clogged until overheating develops. The average car requires a more thorough servicing job than meieIv tightening parts to stop leaks and rinsing the radiator with clean water. Radiators showing signs of leakage should be repaired and hose connections should be renewed at least every 10,000 miles. Worn pump packing and leaking water gaskets should be replaced. The •fan belt should be carefully, adjusted or replaced if necessary. Slipping of the fan belt is almost certain, to cause overheating. It is equally important that the- entire cooling system, including both the radiator and the water jacket of the engine be thoroughly cleaned of rust and scale, deposits that have accumulated during previous months of driving. It has been definitely proved that cooling system service must be based on the mileage of x the car and not on its age. In other words,. a car that travels 5,000 miles in six •months requires more attention to the cooling system, than a car that travels only 5,000 miles a year. . Many factors contribute to restricted circulation in the cooling system. Amongst these are rust, scale, particles of rubber from worn hoses, impurities in the water used, grease from waterpump nipples, etc.' Most noticeable of ■all these destructive agents at ■work within the cooling system is rust, which is formed by the action of. air and water in combination, on the iron and steel parts of the cooling system, the greatest exposed areas of which are in the engine block. Rust does not form -n the radiator core, but is carried there by the action of the water. The amount of rust formed is largely governed by the'quantity of air which. is induced as the result of severe operation, fast driving or improper maintenance. The more air the more rust. Air is present in ■that- portion of the top radiator tank not filled with water, and it is drawn ■into the cooling system by various means. If the water level is low enough to expose the top of the radiator core, air will-be drawn into the water passages by the action of. the water pump. As the air is sucked out of the top •tank, it is replaced by a rush of air up the overflow pipe, thus completing the circuit. Air can also: be sucked in directly at the water ptimp. Quite often a small .water leak at the packing ■nut which is noticeable while the car ds standing, becomes a source of aeration when the car is in motion, the suction'of the pump being sufficient to draw air through the leak. . Thus,, no water is lost while the car is in'motion, but air is mixed with the water stream causing greater rust formation. Many radiators have been found to be clogged with grease ■ and rtist, the grease coming from.the water pump, on which the ordinary chassis lubricant has been used. If a good reliable water-proof grease is used to lubricate the pump no trouble will result, but ordinary lubricating grease will soften with hot water and run into the cooling system •where it contributes to clogging of the radiator. A good practical, way to clean ■a cooling system is to drain-the system ■by disconnecting the lower hose. This will evacuate the system quickly and ' the rush of water will carry away some of the accumulated rust. Next connect the lower hose and close the draincocks, pour about a gallon of kerosene into the empty system and almost fill with ■water; then start the engine and allow this mixture to circulate for lo or 20 minutes. Open all draincocks and tic lower hose and allow the oil, water and sediment to gush out. Reassemble the lower hose connection and pour in a solution of washing soda (Jib. of. soda •to each gallon of water) and •nil to about four inches below the top .of the ■radiator. Start the motor and with spark retarded, run at a medium-speed until hot. ' Run hot for 10 to 15 minutes. Stop the engine, disconnect the lower hose and drain the entire system, ‘•A surprisingly large quantity. of rust, ■scale and sediment will be drained out*