MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2485, 11 June 1915, Page 9

MOTORS & MOTORING

fr[BY Ohitoh.l Walrarapa Coast Road, The engineer's report has still to comc on tho proposed' Orongorongo-Western Lake Road, giving access to the Wairarapa from this city via tho coast. Mr. Stott, secretary of tho 'Wellington Automobile Club, who was one of tho party on tho recent tour of inspection c>f the . route, states that tho length of read ■ to be constructed is about thirteen i niiies. Tho first five miles from the terminus of tho Western Lake Koad piei sent-s no difficulties of construction, and tho last five miles to Orongorongo is also easy going. In tho centre, however, is a three-mile strotch with several engineering probloms to be solved, as steep and loose hill-sides come right on to tho beaoh, and the several awkward points have to be negotiated. The report of the engineer, Mr. Toogood, will be awaited with interest. _ Mr. Stott states that the two Wellington representatives on the trip, Mr. C. 51. Banks and himself, were met by , members of the Wairarapa Automobile Association, and two members of that association very kindly brought out their cars at four in the morning and ran the party down to the beach in Palliser Bay, from whioli point the route had necessarily to be covered on foot. On Sunday Mr. Magnus took his cai out to Orongorongo to fetch the party into town. The critical stage now reached in the war has naturally prevented muoh. attention being given to topics suoh as the motor tax. "Clutch" had Hoped to have published this week the views oi representative motorists, on the suggestion of Mr. P. 8. il'Lean, president oi the Automobile Union, that the tas should be on a basis of horse-power and weight combined, but has been obligee to leave the matter over to a later date 1 The proposal as outlined by Mr. M'Lean certainly seems about the most reasonable and equitable that has been put • forward, and "Clutch" would bo pleasec to publish the views of readers on it, The idea, briefly, is that the rating shall be at, say, 2s. 6d. per horse-power, and ss. for every five cwt. A small cai of 10 h.p. and weighing 10 cwt. would thus pay £1 12s. 6d., while a large cai of SO h.p. and weighing a ton woulc be taxed at £4 15s. per annum. Such i basis should represent approximately the difference in tho wear and tear or the roads of the two types of vehicles Lessons of the War. * The lessons of the war for the Britisl motoring industry were raviewed bj Mr. H. IVlassac Buist in a recent issue of tho "Morning Post." In concluding his article, Mr. Buist said:— In tho war thp chief manufacturer! are each represented by scores and ever ' hundreds of vehicles. It would be im possible to pick mechanics and driver: of exceptional ability to put in charg< of each machine. Every part of evorj vehicle is made of raw materials placec on the market in the ordinary cours< of commerce. The routes to bo traversed are not specially prepared tracks but roads that rapidly fall into ill-repaii Under the exigencies of war. Thej therefore represent conditions of serVice more akin to those which have tc be met by such machines as give satisfaction in our Oversea Dominions anc oilier lands where roads, as we understand theni, are only beginning to b< evolved. Unfortunately, there is sometimes t tendency to regard these conditions oi service as something which 110 manufacturer need trouble himself aboul oompletely satisfying, beoause it u assumed- that so great a war oannoi recur for a generation or more, anc that tho oondltions of sorvico are wholly abnormal and vastly more severe thai any other which motor vehioles may hi oalled upon to oope with. There hai always beep the greatest difficulty abotv, increasing tho severity of our motoi trials. Our long road races in Euxoix are certainly not more than double th< distance, and often only the eamo dis tance, aB those organised in the in fancy of the movement at the end of tin last century. Moreover, if, as in a re liability trial in England, some rout* not of billiard table surface has beei chosen, with the consequence that then has been a pronounced increase in tin percentage of eliminations in a trial there_ ha 6 promptly followed angr; criticism of the organising body. In variably it has been accused of devising freak conditions: as if any lane tha could be discovered in these island surpasses in difficulty routes that an being travelled by motor vehicles in thi outposts of Empire day after day al tho year round. This attitude is thi prime explanation of the insienifloan proportion of British vehicles to Ameri can sold in countries that are onl; beginning to be developed. Allowing fo: a few notable exceptions, our moto manufacturers as a whole have the er roneous idea that our elaborate an< ever-developing road system is the onl; one they need study. Apparently the; 1 assume that our colonies and other ne\ countries will be so eager to acquir British-built vehicles that they will de relop elaborate and costly highway am byway systems to suit them: as if tho; had the traffic to justify such action and as if the distances to be traverse in vast oountries were not very mucl greater than those at home. Whil the bulk of our manufacturers set ver; strict limits to the rough _ treatmen , they consider a motor vehicle shoul he 'subjected t«, foreign manufacturer with first-hand exnerienoe of the worl as it exists beyond our sTiore find ther n highly profitable trade for their ware If sentiment were all that mattered that, profit would instead be reaped b; our own makers. Will It be Utilised? As it is, one could almost count o: tho fingers of both hands tho makes o British motor vehicles that are beini used in any appreciable numbers in th theatres of war. They, of course, in elude those- firms which by past enter prise have made British motoring his tory. Never have they had so, gran* an opportunity of doing so as the one o which they are now making use. Bu they will not really profit by the occa sion in more than passing fashion un less they have the enterprise to inresti gate and classify details of the cause of any failure that may befall thei vehioles. This greatest motor competi fcion in the world differs from all tha havo gono before in this fundamenta fact: in tfooso that have preceded it th* idea has been always to bring the vehi cle through the ordeal ' unscathed whereas on this occasion every machin has to be drivon until it breaks down Then, if possible, it has to be repairej or patched up and again driven until i breaks down, and so on until the ma chine becomes quite useless. For thi reason the manufacturer has an unpre cedented and poßsibly never-to-be repcatodi opportunity of getting at tin root of all the weaknesses of his design materials, or methods of production. I is his business to profit by tho onl; absolutely exhaustive test that has eve been made sinco the inception of tin motoring movement. It is one in whicl lie will bo ablo to distinguish easily ho tween the element of chance and of rea weakness which it is his business pre sontly to eliminate. Will he profit tho occasion? The future of our ovor sea motor trade depends almost entirol; on the answer. Care of the Ignition. The only part of the magneto thai may require attention in the shape,o: adjustment is the raake-and-break, anc it is not an exaggeration to say that in usual circumstances, and assuming that the is a first-class mathis .rail apt feo necessary pfteno)

, tlian once in every; 2000 miles. Many 1 car owners there aro, in faot, who would ' bo surprised if they had to do it mora than onca in a season's running of 6000 miles. The adjustment is, moreover, quito a simple operation, viz., that or loosening a tiny nut wiUi a special 1 spanner supplied by the makers of the magneto and giving a platinum-tipped screw a half-turn, so that the aotual 1 broak or gap between tho two oontaots 1 is not greater than J mm., and as an aid to getting this correct the magneto makers supply a gauge that will just I fit 111 the gap whon it is correctly set. The surface of the platinum contacts 1 may require trimming. It is unlikely that there will be muoh "pitting" of the surfaces, as the up-to-date magneto is so designed that the spark at the . break is so minuto that it has no injurious effect on the platinum. If any oil gats on the surface there may be some slight pitting, but this can be re- , moved by drawing a slip of fine emery paper between the platinums whilst they ar ® Pressed together. If this is not , sufficient- tie trimming can bo done with ■ a special file, very thin and of fine out; ' it is known as a contact file. The only I other detail about tho magneto that 1 - will require periodical attention is the • lubrication, and this is only a matter of 7 supplying it with a few drops of oil I every 500 miles, though it is safer to ' t adopt Hie maker's recommendation on ] t this matter as to the quantity and sort 1 of oil to use. 1 The sparking plugs, although veTy re--3 liable nowadays, should receive an. . sional inspection rather than bo left to 1 r look after themselves till they compel ' attention. One reason for this is that - the correct setting of the spark gap B can be judged. It has a tendency to - become wider, and this may have the* b effeot of making it more difficult to start 3 up, because a wide gap offers undue f resistance to the ourrent. Most plugs - allow of the gap being reset to l-60th in. f Any abnormal carbonisation of the inc sulator can at the same time bo noted 1 and cleaned off -with a stiff brush and 1 some petrol. Tho magneto cables very '• rarely call for any attention unless they 1 have been originally fitted in a careless - manner. Thus they should not 'have so t much "slack" in them as to touch tho d engine head or any adjacent metal work, '• for the simple reason that sooner or ? later the insulatioh: i.e., the rubber ', covering, will, with the continual muver ment, chafe through and result in a 1 short circuit. Any contact with heat r or oil is also deleterious. The connac--3 tions at each end of the cable should a always be maintained in good condition, y They are not likely to go wrong if n proper connector ends are fitted. At the 1. magneto either plug and sockets or terminals will be used. In r.lie latter caso the cable end should not merely , be twisted and hooked under the milled head of the terminal, but be fitted with copper end pieces. Tho same applies _ to the sparking plug ends of tho oables. g -"The Motor." s Here and There, n Legal time for lighting-Aip motor-carß and motor-cycles:—To-day, 4.26 p.m.; next Friday, 4.26 p.m. 1 The lighting-up tunes given above are the earliest that will be reached this year, and on to-morrow week the even- ' ings will begin to lengthen out ugain. . It is said that fanners are taking very kindly to cars now in many parts of Britain, owing to the shortage of horses. r _ It is quite i>ossible (says the "Auto--0 car") to toll if a tire coyer has been overloaded, that is to say, if it has been j used on a car which is too fast cr too r _ heavy for the size of tire used. A tire l 0 which has suffered from overloading commences to give way in the casing: n the threads break all round inside, ana ,f if a careful examination be made friyed j. lines will be seen wliich, though not very noticeable, yet when once seen can [ a always be recognised.