SPEED NOT ONLY FACTOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue CXXIII, 10 April 1937, Page 28

SPEED NOT ONLY FACTOR

The speed of' which cars are. capable has steadily, increased so' that today track tests ; are. usually necessary if performance is to be checked with any pretensions to accuracy (states: the "Motor" • editorially.). . This situation raises the important question: of whether ;the speed which can eventually be reached when an unlimited distance is .available ,for acceleration is any longer useful or interesting >. to the average. motorist.. We are often told, that "the motoring-public^ displays ah incorrigible keenness :» to ' -know "what the car will dp.". Motor-car advertisers have pandered to this fad, and only recently have attempts,been made to help' motorists to appreciate the importance of other factors, such' as • acceleration,, braking, and. steering under, avecage road conditions. In; America, competitive advertising of claims, for maxiinurn : speed has ; largely been abandoned, it. being appreciated -.that almost every car on the market is already capable of travelling" a good deal faster,than the average motorist cares to-drive. One of the ways of. emphasising the extent. to.' which speed. may ori-may not be, usable on the road" is to \ gilve results which'show the velocity, which can be reached after acceleration over a limited ' distance. .. At a time when Brooklands track repairs,:.ni'ade high-speed trials temporarily - impossible, we initiated a test of this kind. It remains to be seen-whether-this-form of trial will have the same appeal to the public as their old favourite, "maximum speed." , ....

Plans are being drawn, up for- a marine drive from Swansea .to the. Mumbles under .the. Swansea Corporation's' five-year-plan.; ' There, will ,be' dual'carriageways. and "' separate cycle tracks. . . . .