MOTORING & CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1303, 15 April 1915, Page 31

MOTORING & CYCLING

The Traffic Committee of the Christchurch Tramways Board has refused to sanction that a motor ’bus service should be established as feeders to the present outlying tramway lines. It is stated the overall expenses would run to Is. 3d. a mile apart from the upkeep of roads, and therefore traffic would not warrant the outlay.

A simple and most ingenious method of signalling from an aeroplane has just been invented by a young French engineer named Means. It is a system of optical telegraph, the dots and dashes of the Morse code being written in the air by short and iong puffs of smoke. The apparatus for discharging these puffs as built by Breguet, consists of a black receptacle for smoke, situated below the aviator’s seat and projecting downward. It is closed at its lower end by a valve that can be opened and shut with a small lever. According to the length of brevity of the opening the puff of smoke is a dash or a dot. The smoke trails horizontally behind the aeroplane and remains a long time in the air if this is still; even in a high wind it remains long enough to be read with a field-glass at a distance of several miles.

The recent amendments made to the Victorian Motor Act provide that “any person proved to have been under the influence of intoxicating liquor whilst driving a motor car or motor cycle shall be liable to a penalty of not less than five pounds or more than thirty pounds or to be imprisoned for a term of not less than fourteen days or more than three months and the license of such person shall be cancelled and such person shall not be again licensed except upon the order of a Court of petty sessions.”

Galicia, which it is reported Austria has offered up as a sop to the Russian bear, will have a large export trade in oil. It is computed that the fields output will in the near future compete closely with the Baku wells.

The Wanganui Motor Cycle Club’s secret hill climb proved very satisfactory, and some very good times were recorded. The results were: —For machines under 350 c.c. (open): A. B. Collins, 1.48 3-5 (Baby Triumph 2% h.p.), 1; J- Shew, 1.54 2-5 (New Hudson, 2%, h.p.), 2; Healey, 2.29 2-5 (Governor, 2% h.p.), 3. For machines over 500 c.c.; private owners: A. B. Collins, 1.29 3-5 (Indian 7 h.p.), 1; J. Griffin, 1.34 3-5 (B.S.A. h.p.), 2; R. Rowan, 1.54 3-5 (Triumph, 4 h.p.), 3.

The world is in all likelihood viewing the outburst of aeroplane activity with eyes of wonder. This form of warfare has played a great part in the present war, and is going to play a still greater part. It has almost destroyed the possibility of surprise tactics by large bodies of troops. The surprise tactics of the future will be purely the work of airships and aeroplanes. At present the Germans are trying to effect a double purpose. They are trying to find out what is the disposition of forces in France, and at the same time trying to confuse the councils of the Allies by taking the nitiative in aerial attacks before the great offensive of the Allies develops. What they fear is that, if they do not attack, the Allies will attack their communication lines in a more intense manner than they have hitherto done. It will be found that when the Allies make a general onset on the German forces of occupation they will send a fleet of aeroplanes to bombard all the German lines of communication. Aeroplanes and their work may be likened to the work of great artillery, which has a range of anywhere from 160 to 200 miles.

The salvation of most of the garrison of Namur, says a Belgian boxer who recently landed in Sydney, was the motor car. A thousand of these cars, almost loaded to breaking strain, dashed out of the beleagured city and brought the soldiers to safety. The roads had already been cut to pieces by heavy military traffic, and the passage of those motor cars for practically two days made the road painful travelling for the refugees on foot and the wounded, who were being brought slowly along. The dust was like a continuous fog, and after emerging from the long march men looked like grimy plaster casts. Beards and hair were caked with dust, and it was thick all over the exposed parts of the body.

It is incontestable that the position created by the war must bring about a huge demand for industrial motors. Even now it is clear that the British makers of commercial vehicles have orders in hand enough to keep them busy, working at enormous pressure, for many months, and this is only the beginning.

A concerted movement for skilled supervision of road work throughout the United States has been launched by the American Highway Association and the National Civil Service Association Reform League.

England has more cars than practically the whole Continent of Europe, and also the most highly-developed road system. She has automobile organisations able to employ this new force effectively. Invaders of Great Britain could not carry many cars, for the simple reason that they do not possess them. And when they landed and got beyond the protection of their fleet’s guns, Britain’s mob.le forces could make rings round them, and check and harry them even more effectively than the Belgians did. Mobility is the great thing in war today, and France and Belgium have carried it to a higher pitch than Germany, the latter country in proportion to her size and population being very badly off as regards motor vehicles.

Quite a large export trade in motor cars has hitherto been done by Germany to the Netherlands, Belgium, taly, Rumania, Russia, Brazil, and Argentine. A very substantial sum of money could and should be diverted to British manufacturers from Germany’s export trade in motor vehicles, amounting to someth ng like 3% million pounds sterling per annum.

Undismayed by the disastrous war now raging in the northern part of France, the Parisian “Journal L’Auto,” which annually promotes the Tour de France, the greatest road race in the world, has announced that it will take place as usual this year.

There can be little doubt, if any at all, that in the matter of weight distribution many motor cycles leave something to be desired. The point is one which affects not only the stability of the construction as a whole, but the comfort of the rider and ease of steering as well. Vibrationary effects are produced in more ways than one. In the first place, we have road shocks which are responsible for the bulk of the trouble, and, secondly, the vibration set up by the engine in its working, and which may range from a slight tremor to a series of oscillatory movements which are disconcerting and uncomfortable in the effect they produce upon the rider, and in the manner in which they wear out the driving tyre. The machine, generally speaking, is adversely affected by the two species of vibrations, and no matter hew well the problem of springing has been tackled, unless weight distribution has also received its share of attention the measures adopted cannot be regarded as wholly efficient.

Lady Reid christened the aeroplane which was presented to the War Office by the Commonwealth of Australia. Lady Reid smashed a bottle of champagne on the propeller, and named ihe aeroplane the Liverpool. It was then handed over to the War Office by Lord Desborough. * •> * * The motor ambulance ordered by Miss Johnston, Fitzherbert Terrace, Wellington, was sent to Cairo on January 21. This ambulance car was built to the specifications of the War Office, and is to be attached to the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. It is understood that a similar car is now being built to the order of Mrs. Johnston, of “Highden.” ❖ * # It has been said that, in proportion to the population, Oamaru and the district round about it has a greater number of motor cars in use than any other town in the South Island. This statement appeared to be borne out at the Tokarahi Estate sale, when it was estimated that upwards of 200 motor cars were drawn up, occupying an area extending over some acres. * * * * The large naval Zeppelins, which were probably those employed on the late raid over the North Sea, are cigarshaped craft, about 525 ft. long and 50ft. in diameter, with a capacity of 775,000 to 1,000,000 cubic feet. They are divided into eighteen compartments, containing the hydrogen gas which sustains them in the air, and have outside those compartments a ring-shaped double bottom containing air or non-flammable gas, the whole enclosed in rubber-coated fabric which is of a silvery-white appearance in the air. They are fitted with a wireless installation capable of sending messages 150 miles, and have a speed of forty-five miles in fine weather. They are propelled usually by three Maybach petrol engines, which jointly exert from 500 to 900 horse power. They are capable of rising to a height of 8000 ft., and in good weather have a radius of action of 500 miles or more. In bad weather they are very liable to injury, as numerous mishaps have shown. The framework of these vessels is of aluminium alloy and wood, maintaining the rigidity of the vast gas bags. They have two or three cars or gondolas slung underneath. It was originally intended to fit them with a platform on top of the gas containers armed with a quickfiring gun to keep off aeroplanes, but it is believed that this part of the design has been modified owing to risk of fire and explosion.