A SPEED MONSTROSITY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18230, 14 November 1924, Page 5

A SPEED MONSTROSITY.

OLAMPIYA

A 350-H.P. ENGINE. INTERESTING NOTES FROM HOME. (By Our Motor Correspondent.) LONDON, October I The day is not far distant when the "silly season" discussions in England will include the subject : "Are motorcars becoming too fast?" Speeds mount up almost alarmingly, and thanks to the super-chargcr a nomical 12 h.p. engine can now develop 100 h.p. on the bench. What "freak" car 8 can be" made to do was proved again the other day on the sands at Pendine, Carmarthenshire, when Mr Malcolm Campbell drove his 350 h.p. twclve-jcylinder Sunbeam, both ways, over a three-quarter mile course at an aveiage speed of 146.16 miles an hour, the speedometer at one point touching 168 miles an hour! But, of course, cars of this type could hardly be driven at all by the ordinary motorist. Mr Campbell's monstrosity was built up from a 350 horse-power airship engine, constructed by the Sunbeam people during the war. When the greatraonftict ended, it had not been used, and was virtually thrown - on the scrap-heap. A speed maniac bought it and put a car round it, but seems to have been rather overawed by its terrific power. ■lt passed" into the hands of Mr Malcolm Campbell, who built it into a one-seater speed machine, and succeeded in harnessing its immense strength sufficiently to permit of bursts of amazing pace on selected courses.

But the monstrosity cannot be used on an ordinary road, or in ordinary traffic. It does 60 miles per hour on bottom gear. On second gear it climbs up to 140 miles per hour. Only when the speedometer touches that figure does Mr Campbell put in top gear, and even now its maximum capabilities have not been revealed. The machine was taken to Pendine 1 sands on a motorlorry. It was pushed from the garage there to the sands. Its explosions are so terrific that it would be arrested in the street by any self-respecting policeman. After a few tremendous bursts of speed, it is tuned up by mechanics. Every time von let in the clutch, the car jumps about a quarter of a mile/ but even at 150 miles per hour it is said to bo extraordinarily steady—provided the surface is right". : However, its license fee in England is £350 a year, which alcne would be sufficient to place it beyond the reach of the ordinary motorist, even though suffering from a bad attack of "soeeditis."

Tho Super-Charger." But these - immense engines are not essential for high speed, thanks' to the invention of the supercliarger. The nominal I'2 h.p. Darracq cars, which lapped Brooklands at a steady 102 miles per. (i hQur,:in. the ,smaU r car race, and Can, it is said," hie got up to 115 miles per hour, were fitted with superchargers, as. indeed, .have been all , the winning .ears in'.recent big .races.. To avoid technical details, it may be. said that the supercharger is a "blower," or -high speed fan, which either blows pure air into the carburetter. oi* sucks the petrol-air mixture from the carburetter and pumps it at high pressure into the engine. Expert opinion differs as to which is the better practice. _The victorious Darracqs were fitted' with blowers between the carburetter and. the engine, .which Bucked the petrol-air mixture from the carburetter and pumped it into the cylinders. On the other hand, the Grand Prix was won this year bv a car which was fitted with the type which blows pure air into the carburetter.

ALL-WEATHER MOTOR-CYCLES

In either case what the supercharger does is to give a sort of forc.ed draught to tho engine. Extra air , inlets are more common oversea than in England, and most of hiss they set'up at speed l . The super-, charger is a kind of forced feed of; the same type and its_ note in racing! reaches a scream. It increases petrol consumption by forcing a greater volume of gas into the cylinders; but then higher speeds-always call for more, petrol. ' One foreign firm is already building touring cars with superchargers, but whether the practice will become common is not certain yet. They increase the strain on an engine, and it is claimed that to meet the heavier stresses there will have to be roller or ball bearings for crankshafts and big-end<3, which tend to make engines very rough, especially when picking up. The mechanism works at very high speed, and

must be perfectly fitted, and _ ma y ' therefore, add to the troubles of the owner-driver, who is not of a mechanical turn of mind, and wants absolute reliability more than anything ' else. Probably supercharged engines will first be extended to sports models. It is doubtful if their state of development makes them suitable for ordinary touring cars.

Prejudice Against Bumpers. I alluded the other week to the almost entire absence of "bumpers in Englaiid. I have looked for the iitment among the thousands of cars i see in London every day, but have not noticed one in a month. The attitude of the English motorists, as revealed m some recent letters in the motor press, is decidedly curious and insular. Bumpers have been bitterly attacked! They are fiercely denounced as outward and. visible evidence of bad driving; as fittings only necessary, for some strange reason, 011 "cheap American cars"; as an insult" to English motorists; and so on. AH of which, of course, is sheer rubbish. To my mind, bumpers would be very useful over here, where one is so often moving with a car only a few inches ahead and another nearly grazing one's petrol tank. I believe they would prevent a good manv minor mishaps. But there is that blind prejudice against them, which lias long handicapped British motor firms in the oversea markets, bv persuading them that England represents the last word in rnotordom, and that what is not considered essential here is useless anywhere else in the world.

Overseas Requirements. There are signs, however, that England is sitting up and taking notice in | other respects. The motor journals are full of letters from men with Indian and Colonial experience, emphasising the special requirements of oversea motorists, and urging British makers | to pay more attention to them, when reviewing their designs. All agree that there is ample -.room for British cars oversea, if only more trouble is taken in supplying what the oversea motorist wants. I believe that the hour of awakening is at hand, and that a real effort will soon be made to get a bigger footing for British cars in the oversea markets. English reliability and English finish need fear nothing. All that is reqiiired is a closer study of oversea needs and tastes. The British factories can turn out the stuff. But thev must see it is the right stuff for Greater Britain—and the right price. "When it comto wear and economical running, there are many models in England which are hard indeed, to beat. The T)it.v is they do not to-day pet a fair trial oversea, owing to disabilities j in price or design. r

There was a time, and that not so. very long ago, when it was something of an adventure in England to start out on a longish day's run in winter on a motor-bicycle (states an exchange). That time has not yet gone, although, its hazards have to a. great extent been mitigated by improved weight distribution giving greater stability on slippery roads, better tyres, more acceptable mudguarding, and the a i most universal disappearance of the belt form of drive, ,As we have frequently pointed out, however, there still exists, a good deal of room for improvement in rendering the twowheeler a more desirable vehicle for 'allweather use, and generally speaking we have found the open design of frame the mora suitable type botn from the point' of view of shielding the mechanism and providing the. rider with better facilities for protecting himself from the elements. We believe that Vere the open design of frame more popularly employed, a considerable advanoe in the comfort and handiness of the motor-bicycle would be achieved and in consequence riding ini inclement weather would be fraught with less inconvenience than at present. Special dress is one of the bug-bears of motorcycling, and we are glad to observe that in some machines definite steps have been taken, to render its use unnecessary, at least so far as ordinary running about is concerned.