MOTORING & CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1349, 2 March 1916, Page 28

MOTORING & CYCLING

Captain George Patterson, who was killed in action in France, visited Dunedin some four years ago, and in his honour the Motor Cycle Club organised a hill climb, which was fought out on Saddle Hill, Mr. Patterson scooping the pool in the lightweight class.

Amongst those around Hikutaia (Ohinemuri d strict) who have recently secured motor cars are Messrs. Sid Bax, Hugh Morrison, Ernest Elliott, and Vivian Young. Other cars for farmers in this part of the district are on order.

Dr. and Mrs. Mackin recently returned to Wellington from a motoring tour of New Plymouth and Mount Egmont.

Captam R. P. Going, foreman of the Wanganui River Trust, who recently tendered his resignation to attend the Aviation School in Auckland, with a view to obtaining a pilot’s certificate, has teen granted 12 month’s leave of absence. On receiving his pilot’s certificate as an aviator, he will proceed to Brita n and enrol in the Royal Flying Corps.

Mr. U. O. Fairhurst, of Dannevirke, who has signed on the liner Tainui for the run Home, recently patented a new device for use on aircraft, and is going to England in order to lay it before the War Office. He intends to join the Aviation Corps.

W. J. Scott, with a 20 h.p. Prince Henry Vauxhall, was the only competitor in the Dominion motor car speed champ onsliip at the Patriotic Motor Carnival in Christchurch, and consequently there was no race. However, he gave a fine expos.tion of racing on the track.

Speaking at a local bodies’ conference in Timaru with regard to motor traffic, Mr. Flatman said another matter requiring attention was the dan ger caused by high gorse fences obscuring the view. Mr. Orbell said that Levels County Council had done a good deal in this respect. In England they were taking away live fences at corners and putting up wire fences in their stead. Mr. Rhodes said they had done that in Waimate County.

It is stated that a motor car service is to commence shortly between Hiku* taia and Thames. On sale days particularly the present train service Is unsuitable for those who come up from the Thames and intermediate stations, as it leaves Hikutaia before the sale is finished.

One has to be careful when he is only a novice in motor car driving, and an Eltham resident has discovered the fact. It was brought home to him by the accident of placing his foot on the accelerator pedal. Before he had time to think the car had shot against and torn an opening in the galvanised iron wall of the budding containing the car, which escaped with a few scratches.

The other day, at Christchurch, a Bleriot monoplane was sold at auction by Messrs. Harris Bros. The machine, which was the property of the late M. Claude Couturier, who was killed in France in a fight with two German warplanes, was bought for £62 10s. by Mr. D. Crozier, who, it is said, intends making some experiments.

Messrs. Souter, of Cambridge, who have lately made a tour of the Dominion in their Ford car, say it is lamentable to witness the dearth of herbage in Canterbury, where they have had drought for nearly two years; and in the northern part of that district people drive their cattle slowly along the roads in order that they may get what little grass is growing thereon. The best-looking country they saw on their tour was near Dannevirke, and the best roads were in the neighbourhood of Hawera, where they are asphalted and tarred right out into the country. The Titiokura hill, between Taupo and Napier, which was formerly the dread of motorists,

has been graded and deviated until it is hardly perceptible. * * * * The success of the Grand Patriotic Motor Carnival held in Christchurch exceeded all expectations. The highest possible pra'se is due to the officials, who kept events very well up to time, in addition to conducting them in a most exacting manner. The track was in good order at the start, but before many races had been run several nasty dusty patches were made. The most dangerous portion was the corner on the right hand side of the track, but, despite this, many of the riders took it at a terrific speed. The races themselves were hair-rais-ing exhibitions of track racing. A. Woodman and H. R. Crawley, the two most successful men of the day, gave a display that will remain in the minds of those who witnessed it for many a long day to come. Both men, on the record of the “Sun,” rode like demons, and the way in which the corners were taken left one spellbound.

The principal races in connection with the Patriotic Motor Carnival in Christchurch resulted as follows: — Dominion Lightweight Championship, ten miles: H. E. Edmonds (Wellington), 2% h.p. Royal Ruby, 1; J. H. Robinson (Timaru), 2% h.p. A.J.S., 2; P. A. Foden (Timaru), h.p. (New Hudson, 3. Time, 12min. 55 3-ssec. Dominion Middleweight Championship, ten miles: A. Woodman (Christchurch), 4 h.p. Triumph, 1; N. Mackersey (Hastings), 4 h.p. 8.5. A., 2; A. W. Moreland (Rakaia), h.p. Triumph, 3. Time, lOmin. 25 3-ssec. Dominion Heavyweight Championship, fifteen miles (for Elgar Championship Silver Cup): H. R. Crawley (Carterton), 7 h.p. Excelsior, 1; P. Dawber (Palmerston North), 7 h.p. Indian, 2; P. Coleman (Wellington;, 7 h.p. Excelsior, 3. Time, 14min. 24sec. The Dominion High Bicycle Championship, one mile, was won by K. B. Garland, with A. B. L. Smith second. North Island beat South for the championship.

A conference of South Canterbury local bodies was held. in Timaru for the purpose of considering the regulation of motor traffic. Mr. Orbell, who presided, said it was apparent to everybody that a limit should be put on the speed of cars, and licenses should be made compulsory. Motor cycles should be included in any bylaw that might be made as they were even more dangerous than motor cars. Mr. Rhodes said he thought they ought to license drivers of cars. The speed at which one could travel in the country safely varied a good deal according to the traffic on the roads and the locality one was travelling in. He did not like a by-law which could not be enforced, and he felt sure they

would not be able to enforce a by-law ’f they made one for a limit of speed. He thought the best thing to do was to license the drivers of cars and devote the money thus received in employing inspectors to regulate motor traffic. Sufficient money could be obtained in this way, as there were over 1000 owners of motor cars between the Rakaia and the Waitaki rivers. These inspectors would go round the country and watch motorists, and thereby a lot of good could be done. If they made a by-law limiting the speed to 25 miles an hour, it would be broken every two minutes of the day. After considerable discussion the following resolution was carried: That a limit of speed for cars and motor bicycles be fixed throughout South Canterbury; that application be made to the Government by the Levels Council for the necessary authority to pass such a by-law; that the drivers of cars and riders of motor bicycles be licensed; and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to all County Councils, Road and Town Boards throughout the Dominion.

One of the first women motorists in America advises women learning to drive to familiarise themselves with the details of the car’s mechanism, how to locate the trouble if anything goes wrong with the car, and how to handle the various tools. “When you drive your car yourself,” she says, “and possess such knowledge you are thoroughly equipped to meet the emergency, and are quite independent of road assistance. The most successful, and therefore economical driver is the one who is familiar with her car.” • » • * A party of motorists from Dunedin had an interesting- time the other morning on the Clyde-Cromwell road, in the vicinity of the recent wash-outs. In avoiding- tbie boulders at one point the

machine backed over an embankment, and was only brought up 15ft below the road surface by a clump of trees. How to regain the road was a problem, but fortunately some tools left by surfacemen were discovered near by, and the motorists set to work to build a track. Just as their labours had been concluded the coach came along with a welcome reinforcement of four willing men, and the car was soon back on the road. Next 'morning, however, further trouble was encountered; this time near the Bald Hill Flat, on the Clyde-Roxburgh road Here . a cloud-burst had created a gap 30ft wide, by about 12ft deep in the roadway. While the motorists were reviewing the situation they were joined by the occupants of two other cars, and the whole party set to work and made a track down the bank by the side of the road. Within two hours they had got to the other side of the crater.

The smallest motor ever produced for commercial purposes is described by the “Edison Monthly.’’ It drives a dentist’s hand drill, which, including the motor, is not much larger than a fountain pen.

The motor weighs five ounces, one and three-quarters inches long, and is rated at one-sixty-second horse-power. Current is supplied by means of wires which lead from the office switchboard, while a floor rheostat regulates the speed. Starting, stopping and reversing are controlled through- a switch on the motor. Its armature is hand wound with No. 40 wire, the ball-bearings are one-six-teenth of an inch in diameter, while the air gap between the armature and the field measures only twenty-five-ten-thgusandthS of an inch. The motor draws twelve watts, and has . a speed of 15,000 revolutions a minute. There is a speed reduction of one-fourth between the shaft, and the dental burr is connected direct to the shaft.