The Motorist.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 769, 1 December 1904, Page 14

The Motorist.

(By

“Petrol ”)

Messrs Ryan and Co. exhibited two Oldsmobiles at the Agricultural Show. The 10-h.p. touring car looked a picture. * * * * Mr Leyland was out on Sunday with his new 15-h.p. Darracq. The run up Razorback was taken on the medium gear. # Messrs Cousins and Atkin are haying a busy week landing the Takapuna Chelmsford stea... 'buses. * * * * Mr Spry shipped his car to Rotorua on Saturday. 1 understand that Mrs Grierson, of Wairakei, has given an order for a 12-h.p. Darracq for the use of the guests at the popular sanatorium.

Dr. Caro had the misfortune to have his n-w steam car badly burned last week.

The monthly meeting of the Auckland Automobile Association takes place this (Thursday) evening, at 8 p.m.

The A.A.A. run on Saturday will be through Otahuhu to Onehunga, taking afternoon tea at the Kiosk,. Cars meet at the foot of Queen-street at 2.30 p,m.

His Excellency the Governor Lord Plunket and Lady Plunket were diiven through the Domain and thence on to Cornwall Park in Mr D. Crozier’s Cadillac last week. '1 he outing proved very enjoyable. His Excellency is a keen motorist, and indulged freely in the pastime in the Old Country. During the run he expressed his satisfaction at the way the car performed, and also was greatly charmed with the picturesquencss of the route.

Mr D. Crozier is again on a business visit to the South Island, and reports Cadillac business to be brisk. He has secured orders in (. hristcliurcli and Dunedin.

Mr Ford, of Liverpool, has just completed a wonderful performance with a 15-h.p. Darracq in making the iongest driving performance ever accomplished in the world on a self-propelled vehicle. The engine was kept running continuously for eight and a-half days, and the actual distance driven was 2390 miles. During the time tne driver was resting the engine was under observation, and •was kept continuously running. This test is a further proof of the reliability and usefulness of the Darracq cars.

Preliminary arrangements arc. row being made in France for the holding of the 1.905 Gordon-Bennett Cup Race. The course has not yet been definitely decided on, but a race circuit at Aix-lcs-Bains is spoken of as being 87 miles around, including one straight stretch of twenty miles. In the event of the big motor race being held in this popular health.resort, the district proposed guaranteeing a large sum of money towards the cost of organism- +*>«• race and preparing the course.

An English motorist has added forty miles to the mileage of the non-stop run, having covered a distance of 3,3 0 miles in 204 hours, during which his engine was running continuously. This is still stronger evidence that absolute reliability is nearer attainment, and that the efforts of the manufacturers to bring about this result aie being rewarded.

A useful illustration of the military value of the combined motor car and Maxim gun was provided during the manoeuvres of Swag - camp in Hampshire (Eno-land) by the 2nd London Rifles Volunteers. They took the field with an automobile, on which they had mounted a Maxim, and, travelling at twenty miles an hour along the roads, they were able effectively to bring the gun into action at a number of different points in the sham-fight. On one occasion the gun was set up on the top of a. bank, with its attendant automobile waiting near at hand in the rear, when determined efforts were made to capture the gun. It was, however, quickly transferred to the motor car, rushed along the road to a sufficient distance to prevent capture, unloaded again and effectually turned on the approaching foe, delivering a fire which, in actual warfare, would have put them out of action. Captain Scott was the first to illustrate at the Portsmouth manoeuvres the value* c-f a Maxim gun mounted on a motor car.. In that case however, the. gin was lis-dv attached to the vehicle. It is interesting to learn that an ordinary Maxim gun, without special attachment, tan be shipped cn board an ordinary automobile, and the two converted into an effective military unit. . *

A conclusion which will be universally drawn from this year s English reliability small car trials is that more discretion, rather than less, should be allowed to the judges. We refer (says Melbourne “Punch”) to certain hardships due to the automatic effect of the non-stop regulations. Hardships of this kind (such as affected the Cadillac, one. of the De pions and one of the Swifts) need not arise at all if the judges were allowed full poweis to decide what sort of breakdowns 01 stoppao-es should render ineligible, and which should be merely taken note ot and not allowed to disqualify the car altogether. Illustration will make it clear. Thus one car (the Cadillac) was troubled with a hot bearing. It was only a matter of grit in it, and after it was put right the car continued to run unofficiallN in the neighbourhood without the slightest hitch. 'The arbitrary effect of the purely automatic action of the rules was also forcibly illustrated in the case of the De Lion team. Both composing it ran without stoppage till the last day of the trials, when, owing to ill-luck, with the carburettor on one of them, which was not rectified within the statutory twenty minutes, rendered the car ineligible for a non-stop award, and this in turn made it impossible to give a non-stop award to the team, which, but for the precise nature of the misfortune, otherwise exactly equalled the brilliant running of the M olseley team., The De Dion carburettor stuck “up '’ while the Wolseley stuck Town. . pad tl-e driver been longer or more familiar with the De Dion car, what was wrong would probably have been ascertained within the twenty minutes, and then the Do Dion team would have equalled the seley team ini the non-stop awards. An even more insignificant derangement upset the non-stop record of one of the Swift ears. This consisted merely in a loose contact inside the induction coil, which is a sort of thing a car-maker can hardly be looked upon as responsible for, and which, when discovered, can be remedied almost immediately. 1 his, however, was enough to stop the Swift nonstop record, but it is satisfactory to see that the judges have awarded it a silver medal.

Every motorist has heard before of Magistrate Cornell, of New York. He is generally known as the shooting magistrate. because he is reported to have recommended tl'.e shooting of motorists, and has been petitioned by motorists in armour in consequence. He has now given a ruling which oug - ht to .go down to posterity, to the effect that in future, if drivers of cars infringe the law, the owners of the cars will be sent to prison without the option. T his is the sort of fanatic who acts in an idiotic niannei simply to obtain notoriety, oblivious of the fact that he is making himself a public laughing stock.

In a case in England against a motor driver a policeman said that by the time he got out his whistle the car had gone over a bridge 330 yards away. It took him three seconds to get out his whistle, and at this rate the car was travelling at the rate of over 20<> miles an bout.

An automobile, containing nn? versons, six of whom were women, while speeding on an elevated roadwav in the upper part of New York; jumped on to the railway running beneath. H was night, and’a fast train due at Ihe moment struck the car as it reached the track. Four of the rassen°:ers were killed, and three seriously injured.

The Dunlop T yre Company is pushing on arrangements for their big Motor Reliability ride from Sydney to Melbourne, in February next. Judging by the inquiries and applications for particulars of the contest, the event promises to draw a big entry. Printed rules and conditions of the contest, maps, etc., will be available for distribution at an early date.

No little misconception exists as to how the power for driving a motor is obtained, and being explained, many cannot realise that there is no boiler, and ihat there is nothing containing pressure except the cylinder. Perhaps the simplest explanation of the present internal combustion engine is the cannon. A charge is placed in the gun, is ignited, and the projectile is forced out. The same thing takes place constantly in the cylinder of a motor, only, instead of gunpowder, a mixture of air and oil is introduced and ignited by an electric spark, while the projectile gives place to the piston. The piston, is not thrust out on every occasion, every other time it draws i'll a charge (the proportions of the air and oil being regulated by the driver), to be exploded on its next return. Therefore, there can be no such tiling as an explosion through unduly high pressure.

The amount of capital invested in the motor industry in the States this year reaches five millions sterling, which, is about double that of last year. It is anticipated that, owing to the interest being taken in business vehicles—motoromnibuses, waggons. and agricultural implements—l9os will see even a greater increase. Motor cyclists should keep their accumulator cells well packed, so that they will not jump about in the battery-box; if allowed to do so there is a chance of their short-circuiting. Although the sparking may not be affected at once, the life of the battery will be considerably shortened. * * * * M. Merland, a Parisian dealer in automobile accessories, and formerly a racing cyclist, possesses a 1 little terrier passionately fond of motoring (says an English exchange). She is frequently to be seen in her master’s motor, wearing a diminutive pair of motor goggles, and with a little pipe stuck in her mouth, seeded in the foremost part of the car. “Finette” passes the whole day -s -ated in the car waiting for M. Merland to take ncr for a ride ; and when he is -omnailed by the cares of business ro remain at home she becomes tired of waiting, and jumps into the first car she sees, where she is always welcome. She wears a collar bearins' the following inscrijition “ Finette has a passion for riding in m- tors. Please bring her back to her master, M. Morland, Rue Oberkampf.” A few cays aizo M. Merland was somewhat surprised to receive a postcard from Switzerland, saying that “ Finette ” was very well, and would shortly return to Paris ; and a few days later the little dog walked into her master’s shop, somewhat tired from her long trip, but with her love for motors in no wav diminished.

An order has been issued by the High Court of Grant County, West Virginia, the finest touring county of the State, prohibiting the running of automobiles on any of the roads traversing the county, owing to the injury to person and property sustained by citizens of the county.