ECONOMY RUNNING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 332, 20 September 1932, Page 2

ECONOMY RUNNING

PETROL CONSUMPTION CAN BE SAYED IN MANY WAYS. Motorists who desire, from ehoice or necessity, to eeonomise in petrol consumption can do so by avoiding certain driving habits that are common to the majority. In the first place they should restriet their average and maximum speeds, instead of driving "all out" whenever it is safe to do so. Every car has its most economical speed; in top gear it usually ranges hetween 25 to 35 miles per hour, on a level road. Ahove that speed the rats of petrol consumption inereases almost in proportion to the increase in m.p.h. A car that runs, say, 30 miles to the gallon when doing 30 m.p.h. may run only 28 m.p.g. at 40 m.p.h., 26 m,p.g. at 45 m,p.h., and 2 m,p.g. less for ever 5 m.p.h. increase in speed. Novices have been met with who imagineu that the quiclcer a given distance is covered the less petrol will be used; that is, of course, quite wrong. Next, frequent and forcible use of the brakes inereases the rate of petrol consumption. The speed at whicT^ the braking commences has probably been gained by using the petrol in the engine, and an appreciable proportion of that petrol is wasted if the speed is "thrown away" (i.e., reduced) in the form of brake friction. So to eeonomise in petrol, corners and traffic blocks should be approached with a gradual reduction of speed due to the early. release of the accelerator. Delay in changing gear on steep hills may increase the petrol consumption, for not infrequently it means that that lowest gear must be used where, with an early change down from top to second, the latter would suffice. Many gallons of petrol in all are last'ed by drivers who keep their engines running unnecessarily with the car standing — waiting for a passenger to get ready, or to make some purchase in a shop for example. The engine should be stopped whenever the car will have to remain stationary for more than a minute or so. Brakes that rub their drums in the "off" position cause waste of petrol. They may rub because they are improperly adjusted or because the lubrication of the shafts, joints, etc., has been neglected; in the latter case the "take-off" springs are not strong enough to ovei*come the excessive friction of unlubricated and possibly rusty parts. Among other ways of gaining petrol economy are to refrain from using a cheap and inferior grade of engine oil, to keep the ignition detail in good trim and the valve adjustments correet, and, not least important, to keep the tyres correctly inflated according to the maker's chart of pressures.