THE MOTOR WORLD

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17015, 13 April 1923, Page 3

THE MOTOR WORLD

Notec and News by

"Radiator."

ON THE WEST COAST. Tlie city motor and traffic inspector (Mr H. Macintosh) lias spent a holiday on tlie West Coast and returned the other day. -Mr Macintosh has had an enjoyable holiday and has come back wit-h tome interesting views concerning motoring in this much maligned, much praised province. The inspector left Cnristehnroh Oy motor, and met with good roads all the way across the plains practioaliy. The Kowhai River was at its best, and was easily negotiable. Fishermen were busy at the various

hikes on tlie road, and they were evidently getting one hauls by the look of the fish lying about. The party easily crossed the Waimakanri at the i*ealey. although there was a fanamount of water in it. On arrival at j Arthur’s Pass the party were met by j many tourists who had been on the • coast for ten days, and alj. of them had been wet. Anxious. inquiries were made as to whether the outward bound j party was going to have its run of [ good luck with the weather broken. “ The winding road from Arthur's j Pass to Otira would! be very acceptable . to me as a testing ground for drivers j if it were nearer Christchurch,” said 1 Air Macintosh to *“ Radiator,” lauglimgiy. “ There is no earthly reason j why there should be any accidents on i this road if drivers go at a reasonable j pace and take the corners as they \ should do." The road between Otira j and Hokitika was found to be in a j good condition, except for small I stretches used by heavy timber drays- j A SUGGESTION. This route would make a splendid course for a two-day motor reliability trial, according to Air Macintosh. The trial could easily be extended to three days if tiie committee liked to put a day in over there. Apart from the ex oefience oi tlm route for testing purposes, the trip would be exceptionally good from the scenic point of view. NOT SUFFICIENT WARNING. Just before approaching Hokitika the party had a narrow shave from colliding with a railway train. “My experience on this trip is that the drivers of the trains do not blow their whistles sufficiently long. They leave the blowing till they arc right on the corner. too,' said Air Macintosh. “ This was the case on the crossing just before we got to Hokitika. Our driver had to pull up suddenly. In the semi-darkness the train seemed to come from nowhere. The drivers should blow tlieir whistles earlier and & All the rivers were easily fordable, they being well known to the experienced service car drivers. The Wailangi gives private cars and motorcycles "trouble, however. The bridge at this place is now three parts built. The metal being used on the roads is certainly not the best, in the opinion of Mr Macintosh, but it is not such an enemy to tyres as the rough cut metal if the drivers drive reasonably. Tlie stray cattle nuisance is very bad on the roads traversed, said the speaker. Ail the way to the Franz Josef Glacier there were wandering cattle everywhere which, at the last moment, c : edged across the road. The by-laws in this district, made by the P.W.D., provided that each heavy vehicle should pa\ a tee- of £l5O per year. There are about twenty of these licenses, and tlie money seemed by the issuing of them is spent on bridging. NOT ADVERTISED ENOUGH. Amongst the party at the glacier- Mr Macintosh met an Adelaide tourist, who, when be was arranging his New /calami itinerary in the Adelaide touri. t oifn e. was informed there that there was nothing in the South Island to see! He informed Air Alaeintosli that lie had seen so much really worth while in tlie lakes of Quenstown and the gorge scenery on the West Coast that he tegretted that he had not more time to spend in the South Island. “Radiator” understands that a Christchurch member of Parliament will be introducing this matter to Parliament at the next session. FIVE-DAY TRIAL. If the Automobile Association want a five-day reliability trial. combined with a holiday they would easily get it in a run to this famous glacier.” said Mr Aiacintosh.” The trial if held, would have to be undertaken outside tlie summer months, as in that ]>eriod the rivers are dry in July arid August.”

JOTTINGS. The Wnimairi County Council have derided to frame a by-law prohibiting traffic from passing between the kerb ing up or putting down passengers. 'lbis council is also going into the matter of heavy traffic by-law revison. “ Are you in favour of the public motor-car parking places in the city being in charge of attendants at night, these attendants to he paid a minimum fee of 6d. payable by the motorist and subsidised by the council?” This, and other questions relating to the prevention of lire at such parking places through the leakage of petrol and the necessity fpr some precautions being taken to guard against thefts of valuables from parked ears, were asked of the candidate.** at the Choral Hall meeting the other evening when ad-

dresses were given by Citizens’ Association nominees for seats on the City Council. Answering the questions. Mr J. A. Flesfior said that the parking places were provided free in different places in tlie city, and motorists should be. thankful for that room. If they were prepared to pay 6d for an attendant lie (Air Flesher) would be thankful. As to fires from the leakage of petrol he had never heard of any occurring. As to thefts from phi**. if a motorist chose to leave a ear in « public place with valuable contents in it then he must continue to run J he risk of having them stolen and leave the police to try and trace them. The Traffic Inspector’s department hae carried out instructions recently received and made a round of the city streets the other day. ft is understood* that tliere have been about fifty 3 nmliers recorded of persons leaving motor-cars about busy thoroughfares tot periods from half an hour to two hours. *No doubt these will he receiving “communications” shortly. In the Court the other day a Stipendiary Magistrate said that the motor inspector should not- show discrimination towards by-law breakers, ft can he said tV <t the inspectors make it their duty r«> bring up each and every offender they catch, but where tlie discrimination is shown is in the various areas. For .instance, supervision is extended to those parts pi the city where traffic is thickest. No one would expect that the inspectors should take proceedings against a per‘ou for leaving a car in a public place where its presence would disturb no cue. At the pre sent time one may say with justice that in areas which should lie kept free from inconveniences o* any description the- inspectors keep a commendable vigilance. bile the T nited States of America can claim to have the largest number of motor users per cent of its popula tion. it is a fact that the motor bicycle lias not attained anything like a eorre spending degree of popularity. To such a small extent is tlie motor-bicycle in use in America that cron the most op i timistic of traders do not regard it as possible to sell more than one machine to every 1000 of the population, as against one motor-car to every ten of the population of America. A remarkable performance was re centlv established on the Los Angeles speedway by tlie American driver. J. Murphy, who carried off the French “Grand Prix ” road classic tiro years back. .Murphy in a 250 miles contest broke all world’s records from 100 miles upwards. Ho drove a “straight eight ” Durant, fitted with four carburetters. His time for the 250 miles was 2hr 1 Omni 53 1-lOsec, his average speed being 114£ miles per hour. The bore and stroke of the Miller engine which is fitted to this car are respectivelv 2 ] 1-1 bin and 4in. giving off 120 h.p. at 4400 revolutions.

There is no doubt that the spring gaiter lias now become almost as much an accepted part of high class car equipment as the electric lighting set There are some who maintain that it is a mistaken policy to cover up the leaf springs on a car, on the ground that, should a fracture oi one leaf occur, it jitay easily pass . unnoticed for some time, and may eventually result in an accident or serious damage. In the first place, we have never heard of sevi ous damage or an accident occurring through this cause, and our experience goes to show that a properly lubricated spring enclosed in a good gaiter is less liable to fracture than a spring exposed to the action of wet and mud. Also, such a spring, unless given regular attention, tends to seize and becomes very harsh and stiff, thus throwing heavier shocks on the leaves and impairing the comfort of tlie car. For the owner driver, too. the proper lubri cation of these springs is a troublesome and dirtv job, and the springs are giving the most efficient results for a small proportion of the time only. At first they are too well lubricated, and tlie car has a tendency to bounce, and afterwards, as the grease works out from between the leaves, the suspension .’s inclined to become too stiff. A good gaiter, besides considerably improving the appearance of any car. keeps the springs in a state of constant unvarying lubrication, and relieves the driver of all worry as to their condition. The Royal Automobile Club of England recently carried out some experiments with a number of non-dazzling head lamps. Of the eight submitted two were awarded gold medals—the successful lamps were the “Moonbeam ” and the “ Anti-dazlo.” From the tests carried out some very good results were obtained. With ordinary standard lamps—with a total candle power of 51.5—the maximum range of light was 270 ft, with a “ dazzle ” to within 14ft of the lamps. The “ Moonbeam.” with 38.2 candle power, had a maximum range of 360 ft. and dazzle, ceased 1.50 ft from the lamps. The “ Anti-dazlo ” equipped with 39 candle power lamps, had a range of 225 ft, and ceased to dazzle at 157 ft. It was obvious that the lighting effect of these two lamps was in no way impaired. An interesting note occurs in the report of the test of tlie standard lamps where it is stated that “each lamp was fitted with a metal filament electric bully of 12 candle power (reputed). A photometric test of the bulbs was made, at a pressure of twelve volts, giving the following results:— Nearside bulb 2 36 amperes—27.7 candle power : ofF-ide bulb 2.37 amperes—23.B candle power.” It certainly seems

extraordinary that a well-known manufacturer should sell bulbs marked as 42 candle power when they can actually only give slightly over half that amount of light. From the result of these tests it appears quite possible that the time is not far distant when the lamp manufacturers will standardise on their products some fqrm of anti-dazzle device that will go a long way towards solving the dazzle problem without adding materially to the expense of their lamps. In endeavouring to meet all the requirements of the owner-driver class of motorist, most motor-car manufacturers appear to have overlooked the possibility of the stove enamelling process. as applied to fittings usually finished in nickel-plating or .polished brass. One ha,s only to inspect some of the high-grade “all-weather” models of pedal cycles to appreciate the handsome appearance afforded by carefully enamelled fittings; whilst it is perfectly obvious that when the practice is ado’pted the work of cleaning and polishing is reduced by about- 80 per cent. The man whose motor is in constant daily use has to spend a good deal of time in cleaning up polished parts, or else allow his car to become more or less disreputable in appearance. The enamelling process applied to lamps, dashboard and bodywork fittings produces a very pleasing effect, and enables a busy driver to preserve a neat and tidy appearance for his car, without much waste time. Apart from the radiator, which should be heavily plated in nickel, all other fittings may he treated in black finish, the tout ensemble thus provided being in no way sombre, as those who are accustomed to-a blaze of polished metal work might suppose. It is i«n direc* : tious such as those mentioned above that the modern motorist needs the practical foresight of tlie -manufacturer. whose owner-driven models should certainly he of such design as to eliminate all unnecessary waste of time in Hie direction of continually cleaning metal work.