THE MOTOR WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16496, 5 August 1921, Page 3

THE MOTOR WORLD.

NEWS AND NOTES

By

“RADIATOR.")

T-snition trouble mar sometime? b» traced to the use of an unsuitable type of sparking ping. A ping with uv> short a reach may be operating in an atmosphere of spent gas, whereas if the point reached down only a lrttla further, the spark would occur in the midst of the fresh charge. *.* A novel warning sign has been erected by one of the American railway companies at a dangerous level crossing. A motor-car, which was badly damaged by a collieion at the crossing, and was useless, was acquired by the railway authorities, who erected it, at the crossing on a wooden pedestal, carrying a large sign worded as follows: "Did the driver of this Stop, lK>ok, Listen.’’ Needless to say, the sign is effective, Motoring is not quite such an expensive luxury as might appear at first sight. The motorist is able to live out of town where rents are lower; he extracts pleasure from his motoring and has, therefore, less caJl to spend money on other amusements. He secures business which misses the nonmotorist. He acquires health, 3nd so pays a smaller cheque to the doctor each year, and then, of course, he also saves in shoe-leather. Undoubtedly, motoring has its advantages. *■ *

..- in Germany if a collision occurs between a motorist and a pedestrian on the road, the motorist can arrest- the walker. Conversely. 0F course, if :1 car finds itself on the pavement the pedes‘ trian is able to git-Allis own back.

An innovation to. figure on some new American cars is the “courtesy” lamp. This is recessed in the side of the body and when switched on it. may be used to light up the running board, the rays of the lamp extending sulficiently to illuminate the features of people on the side-walk.

To permit tyres to scrape against the kerb is poor economy. The rubber is not very thick oh the side of the tyre and such practice is likély to tear 03 a. section of this protective Mating. leaving the bare fabric exposed to ihe elements. “'hen this happens the fabric soon rots and a, blow-out, occurs. This may, of course, be prevented bf repairing the wound. but when [his ex. penditure of time. trouble and money may be avoided by allowing .1 little: safety margin when swinging into the kerb,—-" Blotor Life.”

From particulars to hand from America it appears that the Jndianapolis “ 000 ” was won by T. M3Hon on , a “ Durant 5; and not a berg ” car, as surmised at the time, owing to the driver having previously established many fine speed runs on the latter make of maehifie. Twenty-three * cars started, including representatives from France and England. Early in the race R. de Palma took up the running and at 250 miles he was three laps to the good from Milton. Tyre troubles then lost de Palma most of his advantage, and when he got going again he only had a slight lead, but later on, when the race looked his, engine troubles to his “ Ballot ?3 caused his retirement, but not before he had won some £2OOO in lap prizes. At 350 miles the English “ Sunbeams,*’ driven by R. Thomas and D. Resta, were third and fourth respectively. The final placing* were:—T. Milton, first, on a Durant,” with an average speed of nearly DO miles an hour for the 500 miles. By his success he won nearly £I7OO in prizes. Sarles. on a “JDuesenberg,” was second ; Ellingboe. third, on a ‘‘ Frontcnac; Murphy, fourth, on a Pucsenberg *' ; and Resta,, fifth, on a “ Sunbeam.” Over one hundred thousand people witnessed the contest, which was decided under fine weather conditions. Last year Milton finished second in this great event, being only three miles behind the winner. GChevrolet. The average speed on that, occasion was slightly over 88 miles an hour. The. previous winners «if the cla is j r race are:— 1911, Harroun ( ;i Martnon," America). 1912, Dawson (National.” America'*. 1913, Jtiles Goux (** Peugeot."' France). 1914, Rene Thomas ( <s Delarge,** France)). 1915, Ralph de Palma (“ Mercedes,’ 7 Germany). 1916, Rosta (*” Peugeot, 3 ' France). 1919, Wilcox (** Peugeot.” France). 1929. Gaston Chevrolet (*‘Monroe." America). Statistics compiled by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce of America show that- automobile passenger travel neared the five thousand million mark in 1920. Fully 4.932,000.000 persons were carried by motor-car duriug this period, as compared with the 1.234,222.559 revenue passengers of the railroads. Motor trucks hauled 1.290.000,000 tons of freight, or nearly haJf the amount carried by rail lines, which totalled 2.501.000,000 tons.