MOTORING NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXX, Issue XXVI, 27 June 1903, Page 1784

MOTORING NOTES.

(By "Sparkling Plug.”) Drivers of motor ears in and about Auckland will be confronted daily with the trouble of our roads. The word “roads.” which I have just used, is much too ! good a name to employ—l real!v mean those places whereon vehicles of all kinds are supposed to proceed," and which' our various Road Boards have designated roads. If one thinks of all the various highways and bye-ways in and'around our city there are extremely few that can be called good, and in this our , winter time, they become terrible. Apart from the mud and slush present at this time of the year there are numerous to bo given to - motorists. UNEVENNESS OF ROADS. Unless- you see in front of you a stretch, rd road of very fine evenness of surface do not put your car into full speed gear. The continual bumping, if it does not break a spring, will most assuredly shake things loose, and certainly lessen the life of a car. Therefore, do not drive furiously, even if the road is clear for you. unless it be smooth and free from hollows and depressions. Tram Lines.—Shun train lines as you’d shun the devil. In wet weather they cause "skidding” and "side slipping,” and in line, dry weather they are very apt to cut the tyres and destroy their smooth' surface. Talking of “skidding” and slipping brings me now to asphalt pavements, watering carts, slight showers of rain and elay mud, all these may bo the cause of this most dangerous mishap. We have seen motors in Queenstreet describe an almost complete circle owing to their drivers driving too quickly on a wet day and attempting to use their pedal brake to check the speed of the car. Do not do this. . If one travels in town travel slowly; do not put speed on. A good plan is to take the car out of gear altogether, allowing it to travel by its own weight with an occasional touch on the half, or full speed gear. Keep your foot over

the pedal brake, not on it, and, if necessary, use it very gradually and very slowly. Of course if you must put the brake hard down to escape accident, then the must be risked. Watering Carts and Slight Showers of Kain. —In suinnit'r time with thick dust upon the roads a thin layer of soft mud is caused by these two factors, which, being super-imposed upon the hard underlying surface, is very apt to cause “skidding.” Clay-mud.—By this is meant that mud consisting of clay, soft, greasy, sloppy and sticky, which we so often meet with on our country roads. Some hills, the surfaces of which are composed of this clay-mud, are absolutely ’uuclimable, even by a very powerful 15-22 h.p. car. The remedy is simple—carry a few old sacks. When these hills are met with wrap pieces of sacking around your tyres. The effect is wonderful —the wheels grip and up goes the car. Driving at Night,—The law states that “from one hour after sunset to one hour before dawn, the motor-car must carry a white light on the ‘oft’ side of the car. visible for a reasonable distance in which the car is proceeding or is intended to proceed.” Motorists will do well to carry three lamps, one on the ‘‘‘off” and one on tho “near” tide, exhibited for the sake of the general traffic, and one in the centre of his car low down in front in order to illuminate the roadway. Should fog or mist be present he or she will.do well to swathe one of his lamps, say the “off” side one. in a single layer of white cotton handkerchief. This plan serves to soften the light, and helps to diffuse it through the surrounding fog, making it easier for the driver.