THE MOTOR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1440, 15 May 1912, Page 4

THE MOTOR.

(By Aufjiivs.)

Some interesting raws were held on tho New Brighton (Cliristchnrch) beach on Thursday last. Tho weather conditions were perfect, without wind and , mild in temperature. Excellent limes were recorded. The trials were carried out without accident or mishap of any kind. The 20mi!e handicap was won by Montgomery from scratch, on a 2j New Hudson machine, lie uuught up the field at the sixmile post, -ami was never afterwards headed. The honours in the 40-milo raco fell to a J.A.J.', engine, which secured first place from a large field. _ The scratch machine compassed the distanco in the astonishing time of {Omin. SOsec., which compares more than favourably with the times scheduled on the English and Continental tracks. Shock Absorbers, Great attention is being paid by tho loading motor manufacturers of the present day to the advisability of fitting their cars with shock absorbers. Tho question which appears to bo puzzling tiie experts and giving rise io much discussion is whether tho absorbers increase or decrease tho expenditure-on tyres.- 'So the casual ajiiulcur this question" appears e£sy of solution if tested, but that does not blink tho fact that even after numerous tests the «xperls are fnr from unanimity upon tho question. The motor critic of the "Illustrated London News" says that it is undeniable that the day of the shock absorber—or the road equaliser, as some people prefer to call it—is with us. The utmost refinement in Hie design' and niivterial of simple laminated springs has failed to attain perfection or anything near it. 11 the road springs of a car arc designed to withstand heavy plungings they cannot absorb the smaller shock. These

proceed moro jiorticularly from the rear springs, which from time to time are very unequally loaded, tho car being sometimes full and sometimes empty. A device which wjis shown for the, first time at the Scottish show is the Telesco shock absorber, which is incorporated with the ordinary laminated spring, nnd has a braking effect introduced which effectually prevents the surging and rebounds—so unpleasant to tho occupiers y>f the back seats of a car. Tho Telesco shock absorbers nro being put upon tho market by Messrs. Polyrhoe Carburetters, Ltd., and if they absorb shock as well as the Polyrhoo serves mixture to au engine, they must bo good indeed. Learning to Change Gear. Most men learning how to drive a car find great difficulty in changing eear, and not infrequently being nervous, they 'strip" a gear. This is especially the case when coining down to a lower gear in climbing a hill or slowing in traffic, Tho nervous beginner is afraid that tho ear will run back or stop, and he will , make a mess of things generally. One of the leading motor journals advises beginners to practise in the nioior-liouse or anywhere private. Block up the rear axle well and stably, so that the tyros are at least two inches from the ground level, and wedge the front wheels at front and back with substantial wedges or planks. Start up the engine again, and sit-at tho steering-wheel seat; depress the clutch pedal slightly, and gently work the .spoed-levoi , (o fry and bring it

into the iirsl'-sppcil notch'. Probably a grating noise.will be henrd, and j-on'mnj . fail tn get the wheels properly in mesh. Let bnck the lever to its original position, and try again. If the lever goes into Iho notch, then at once let up the clutch pedal gently, and you will notice tho rear wheels will at onco commence to revolve. .Depress the.clutch, and.they will stop; let it in again, and they start Practise this, and afterwards try to get in tho next speed' higher, first *jy depressing the clutch, and at the same inMnnt bring the speed lever into (lie next higher notch, and immediately let the

clutch in gently without loss of time/ The rear wheels will now revolve faster, and you can then try higher speeds; then practise reducing (he gear by doing everything in the same order. Whilst on each of the gears', the 1 engine can be run fast or slow with Hie throttle and spark lovers, as before mentioned. Tho reverse can then be tried exactly in the same manner,: most curs having (lie reverse and forward speeds actuatedby means of ono lever. In iho exceptions to this rule there is no. difficulty in following out the operations to be gone through if Hie levers are carefully examined and their 'effect noted when they arc operated. A Good Tyre Tip. A correspondent of the "Autocar" gives tho following tip for a tyre mystery which puzzles a good many people. It is the pcculiiir way in which one particular tube on a car will time afler time get nipped and burst; sometimes nipping and bursting occur repeatedly with u succession of tubes on one particular wheel, and (he suspicion is aroused that the rim of that wheel must be to blame; but tests reveal its accuracy. A. enso of the kind ouco came under our notice, which we successfully diagnosed and cured. It was the offside driving wheel tyre of the car which the owner described as continually (riving trouble, not from genuine punctures, but from nipping and bursting; repeatedly the covor would be found with one of its edges out of the rim, so that the air tube had burst through tho orifice between tho rim and tyre cover. This had occurred, although the cover had been taken- off and interchanged with covers from tho other wheels; no matter whnt cover was put oii this particular wht-cl. it never seemed to fit securely. Careful examination showed that the wing nuts on (he tyre-holding bolts were screwed up quite'tightly, but we noticed that one of the bolts seemed to be shorter .than tho others, and by using a pair oi pliers wo found that (lie wing nut on this bolt could bo screwed up by the u=o of some force lo the extent of quite three-eighths of an inch more. Here was the explanation. The thread of that particular bolt was too tight a fit for tho wing nut, so that, although the latter appeared to l>3 screwed up as far as it would go, it was merely screwed up to the tight part of the thread, but the head of the bolt _ insido the tyre was not drawn down into close contact with the edges of tho cover. Consequently, this bolt had l>een tho

cause of repeated failures, the edges of the cover slipping out from between the run and the. bolt, and sometimes nipping, and at other times bursting, the air tube. It follows that every tyre bolt should be suspected of similar imperfection, and the manipulator should not be content to screw Hie wing nut up as far as the lingers can turn it; but if the length of the bo!t projecting beyond tho wing nut is not what it should be, pincers or a- spanner should bs used to force the nut io draw the bolt down further. Latest Motor Cycle. Though somewhat expensive, the latest model of the Zedel 51-G horse-power motor evele is certainly one of the best machine-; that have as ynt been imported to this country. The Hedcl engines are well known from the-wide-spread success "ained by their cars. Mention was recently made of their light-weight machine of 2.1 horse-power, and the nrst |>i their heavy-weight, machines has recently been imported. It is fitted with twin cvlindcrs and .silencers, and two-speed graded gears controlled from tho nv.iUlcbar. The magneto is placed in a cavity on the tank, and is out «f the way ot the wet.' The machine is vory fast when opened out. and an excellent hill-climber.