ECONOMICAL SPEEDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18203, 2 March 1929, Page 16

ECONOMICAL SPEEDS.

A SAVING IN FUEL. Some motorists < a:*uot understand how a fast rate of travel causes increased fuel consumption. There is no doubt that complaints concerning, excessive rates of fuel consumption have become more common since the general introduction of medium powered six-cylinder cars of good performance selling at a medium price. Motorists are apt to assume that the six is therefore a wasteful kind of engine and voice the belief—among other thing-—that the mixture must be set too rich in order to prevent missing. There is, of course, a certain amount of truth in this assertion, but a much more vital factor is completely forgotten, namely, that the smoothness and quick get-away which characterises the six-cylinder type of car, encourages the owner-driver to indulge in much higher average speeds than ho would have dreamed of attaining on, Bay, a four-cylinder car three or four years ago.

Improvements in suspension systems, four-wheel braking, and the straightening and flattening of many roads through improvement scheme, have all tended to increase the average rate of travel from point to point, and here lies the chief reason for higher fuel bills. With a six-cylinder car medium power, running on the level, approximately three-eighths throttle opening is required to give a speed ot 30 ra.p.h., and the fuel consumption is then about 25 miles per gallon. The enthusiastic owner of this kind is far more likely to want to travel at threequarter throttle, say, 45 m.p.h., or so *—which will immediately increase his consumption to 18 m.p.g. Again, if he chooses to run at full throttle, say, 60 m.p.h., for some considerable time on one of the new arterial roads, he would find that his consumption of fuel had increased to the remarkable figure of 13 m.p.g. It is, therefore, easy to see liow a high speed will cause an inordinate amount of petrol to be consumed, no matter what precautions may be taken.