MOTORING

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1933, Page 13 (Supplement)

MOTORING

ATTRACTION FOR TOURISTS SUMMER SEASON REVIEWED. EASTER HOLIDAY PROMISE. (By “Spotlight”) With the summer holiday tourist traffic practically over and the Easter visitors still to be expected, Taranaki people should realise their good fortune in possessing so many and varied picturesque spots that offer attraction to the touring motorist. The service officer to the Taranaki Automobile Association (Mr. R. Gredig) reports that numbers of the visiting motorists with whom he came in contact over the summer holidays remarked on the* wide field Taranaki offers the tourist, and the ease with which they found it possible to visit places of interest from the towns of the province. There is no doubt that Taranaki has much of interest to the tourist within its boundaries, but it is only the advent of the modern motor and the formation of splendid, highways and good by-roads that has placed these spots within reach of the visitor. It is only a matter of a few hours in a car from any town in the province for people to reach virgin native bush, beaches or the mountain and the fact that the facilities are within such comparatively easy reach must result in many additional visitors from other parts of the Dominion. But the visitor is by no means the only person to appreciate the beauties of the province. At this time of the year, picnic parties are to be encountered on any road the motorist chooses to follow during the week-end. From Awakino to Waverley, by-roads heading towards sea almost invariably lead to beaches. Inland there is the rugged hill-country with its native bush and sweeping views. At other times of the year, too, motorists are to be found traversing these roads in search of relaxation in the way of fishing or shooting. The numerous, clear and rapid mountain streams have been stocked with trout and keen fishermen set out every week-end of the season from New Plymouth, Inglewood, Stratford and Hawera.

With settled weather over the Easter holidays, it seems almost certain that there will again be steady streams of motorists from outside centres passing and availing themselves of the established camping sites as bases for their dailytours.

LAND SPEED RECORD.

SUCCESS OF “BLUE BIRD.”

The skill and courage of Sir- Malcolm Campbey, the famous racing motorist, were afiiply demonstrated at Daytona Beach, Florida, recently, when he created a new land speed record of over 272 miles an hour with his rebuilt “Blue Bird.” Sir Malcolm’s performance was all the more remarkable in view of the fact that the beach surface was not good, visibility was only fair, and he was forced to drive with one hand, one arm having been sprained recently. It had been the hope of Sir Malcolm to reach 300 miles an hour, but the opinion was expressed before he left England that the “Blue Bird” would set a new record at between 270-280 miles an hour. An indication of the rough nature of the course may be gained from the fact that although on the first , run the revolution indicator showed an engine speed equivalent to 330 miles an hour, the actual road speed was 273, the difference being due to wheel-spin caused by the uneven beach. It is thus apparent that the capabilities of the “Blue Bird” were by no means fully explored, and Sir Malcolm has already announced that he hopes to make another attempt next year to reach 300 miles an hour. Some of the problems with which the designer of the car was confronted were related by the brilliant young engineer, Mr. R. A. Railton, who was responsible for the alterations to the “Blue Bird,” in the Motor recently. He said that in most respects the “Blue Bird” was an enlarged edition of a modern racing car, the conponents being larger and stronger to withstand the extraordinary strains to which they would be subjected. Wheeladhesion was one of the most difficult problems, and, had expense been no object, the whole car would have been redesigned and fitted with four-wheel drive. Using two-wheel drive, however, the adhesion of the rear tyres was improved by carrying about three-quarters of a ton of lead over the rear axle, while the tubular cross-members at the back of the chassis were filled with lead, and the driver sat immediately over a large ingot of the same metaL The huge fin on the tail of the car was finally selected after exhaustive wind-tunnel tests, and was incorporated with a view to keeping the car on its course. The gyroscopic effect of the front wheels would also tend to pull the car automatically out of a skid, the force being so great as to spin the steeringwheel through the driver’s hands. It was possible to run up to 100 miles an hour on low gear and 200 on second without harming the engine in any way, and the car was designed to give 300 in the top gear of 1.2 to 1, under perfect conditions. Owing to its size and the gear ratio employed, the Rolls Royce motor, even at 300 miles an hour,' would not be working comparatively any harder than the engine of an ordinary touring car at normal road speeds. SELF-CHANGING GEARS.

A full-scale experiment is now being conducted by the London General Omnibus Company with a self-changing gearbox as fitted to London omnibuses. Seventy-five vehicles have been so fitted, 50 of them having been added during the past year, and it is hoped that a decision as to the more extended use of the gear will be possible 1 in the near future. The gear-box is the epicyclic self-chang-ing type originally designed for tanks during the war, and subsequently taken up by the Armstrong Siddeley Company for private motor-cars. In the private cars a small pre-selector lever is mounted of the steering wheel, and the change of gear is completed, after setting this lever, by a single full depression of the clutch pedal. In the omnibuses the system »of changing is slightly different owing, partly, to the incorporation of a fluid fly-wheel with the self-changing gear-box. The pre-selector lever resembles the ordinary gear lever, and is situated at the driver’s left hand, the hand brake being at his right. The gear train is brought into action by the tightening of a self-wrapping band brake round the appropriate drum in the gearbox.

In Maryland, United States of America, the annual campaign known as “Save-a-Life” has revealed, as a result of an examination of 100,000 motor cars, that fully 50 per cent, were being used with faulty headlights, and over 30 per cent with defective brakes. The commissioner has refused to license for the new year cars not subjected to the inspection.

There are in France 40,000 levelcrossings. Some 20,000 of are on main lines, 16,200 on local linnes, and 3800 on goods lines. Thirty were removed during 1918-31, and efforts are to be made to abolish othera.

MOTOR-CAR DESIGN TREND OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS. THE CARS OF THE FUTURE. (By Our Motoring Correspondent.) At the beginning of another year one is prompted to wonder what it will bring forth, as far as motoring is concerned, in the way of new developments. As regards automobile design, it is generally appreciated that conditions are not static. Some part of the car is always being improved, and some new device for rendering motoring safer, or easier or more comfortable, is always being tried out. But motor engineering is not a form of activity in which sudden, sensational change is to be expected, or is even desirable. There is too much at stake from the point of view of public safety and the reputation of the manufacturers. It often happens that an inventor comes along with some revolutionary idea which, theoretically, seems to fulfil some long felt want The invention may even do all that is claimed for it in actual demonstration tests. But that is not enough. It must be tested for many months and sometimes for a- year or two before’the car manufacturer is prepared to incorporate it as an integral part of his car. This is highly desirable, for theories have a habit of going all to pieces when they are subjected to the exacting tests, not only of a few months’ trial on the road but of a couple of years trial. That is why we hear so often of inventions which superficially carry the promise of a radical change in the way of better cars, but of which subsequently little more is heard. The boon of four-wheel brakes did not suddenly burst upon a delighted and receptive world. They had been experimented with for years, and even when it was proved beyond all doubt that they could be safely employed, the new system was only taken up gingerly at first by the motor manufacturers, who found it necessary in doing so to adopt the precaution of fixing a red warning triangle at the rear of the car denoting that the vehicle was liable to stop with great suddenness. Some of the older models still bear this device, but it is absent on all the newer ones.

CAUTIOUS POLICY DESIRABLE. This hesitancy in the adoption of new devices is not the result of timidity but of caution—an entirely different thing. The year that has just concluded will always be remembered as a “Transmission Year” for it saw the adoption to a very wide extent of new easy gearchanging devices. Yet, such devices have been in 'use on cars for years. But the majority of makers who ultimately adopted them decided to take no chances, and they preferred to wait until the new ; systems had proved themselves beyond jail doubt to be sound in every way. This is all to the advantage of the miotorlist, who will perhaps be less ready to accuse manufacturers of timorousness if they do not at once seize a new invention with both hands and let the purchasers of their cars have the benefit of it without delay. Really sound inventions, making for better motoring, inevitably become a Stan Hard fitting in all cars sooner or later. New models may come on the market with some new gadget or other which has the merit of complete novelty, but it will be noted that in few cases hava these accessories anything to do with the safe running of the car. _ It does not matter much if a new direction indicator is introduced, which is subsequently shown to fall short of the expected efficiency, or if a new form of engine mounting reveals Itself, after all, to have made less reduction than expected in the amount of vibration transmitted to the passengers. The comparative failure of such devices makes little difference to the actual running of the car or the safety of its passengers. But no maker is prepared to take a chance in regard to such vital matters as brakes, steering or any component of major importance. I know that some manufacturers are experimenting with various new devices of importance, but 1 doubt whether we shall see many of them incorporated in the cars that will make their appearance before this year comes to an end. Suspension is coming in for a good deal of attention, and experiments are in progress with engines adapted to use fuel other than petrolcrude oil and town gas for instance—but it will be surprising if any really radical developments will manifest themselves this year. Let those who think of buying a new car shortly do so without the fear that in the autumn some new development will be introduced which will render their models obsolete. Nothing of a startling nature is likely to be seen, and improvements presented during the next twelve months will be of a minor character. They will have to do with such matters as ventilation, ease of maintenance, accessibility and general appearance. A general tendency is observable in respect of tidying up the rear of the car while providinng at the same time better facilities for carrying luggage. LONG-DISTANCE MOTORING.

How well additional space for carrying luggage and extra articles on a long trip can be provided while adding actually to the comfort of the passengers, is shown by a Sunbeam “Speed Model” which I saw prior to its departure for Bucharest where it will start for the Monte Carlo Rally. The body has four doors but no centre door pillars. The interior is fitted with numerous special features designed to provide the fullest comfort for the occupants, who will spend four days and nights almost continuously in the car. An example is the locker in each of the rear door panels for carrying Thermos flasks. At the rear is a large built-ixi boot or luggage container, the top portion . holding the tool kit, spare bulbs, etc. all neatly arranged in a tray and easily accessible if required. The centre locker for_ carrying non-skid chains and other equipment. The rear number plate is neatly sunk in the lower panel of the boot. To give a list of the special fittings on this car is really to forecast to some extent what will become standard prac--1 tice in the future as far as cars for long- ' distance touring are concerned. For instance, there are two large capacity batteries, one mounted in the scuttle with a change-over switch; special fog lamps; a revolving light on the dashboard for map reading; electrically heated, and anti-frost and fog visors fitted inside which can be dropped flat on to the windscreen when weather conditions make their use necessary, and twin windscreen wipers so arranged that if one should cease to function it can be worked off the operating mechanism of the other. , . -j The practice of fitting sun visors inside the car is growing and it is certainly a commendable development which, ii*e other good devices, will probably soon find its way even to the lowest-priced cars. Interior sun visors which can be pulled down with a movement of the hand if the rays of the sun are troublesome, are a great improvement on the old type of fixed visor outside the screen. It will be noted that this type of visor ,has almost completely disappeared in the

new models, and their departure will be regretted by no one, for not only aid they do nothing to protect the eyes from the sun but they formed an ugly excrescence on the car itself. It furnishes a case of an “improvement” which is subsequently rejected as worthless. Theoretically, an external sun visor ought to protect the eyes, even though it is fixed, but practice has again proved at variance with theory. Even if the worthlessness of the old type of visor had not been discovered it would have disappeared with the advent of the “eddyfree” front which not only gives the car a better appearance but helps to dirpinish wind resistance.