ON THE ROUGH STUFF

Shannon News, 26 February 1929, Page 4

ON THE ROUGH STUFF

! How to Handle the Gar —____ i Frequently it happens that a driver .comes across a sudden bump or a pothole in the roadway when it is too lato to avoid it. Often such an obstacle is only seen <at the last moment, when it is impossible materially to reduce the speed of the car in time.

Under these circumstances, the best thing to do is to apply the hand brake without declutching. In other words, allow the car to keep going at tho same speed, more or less, but stead v it by the application of the brake, always providing that it acts on the rear wheels only. If this is done, it will be found that the braking effort against the normal acceleration of the car will tend to hold the road wheels closer to the surface, and the resultant bump will be minimised.

Considerable wear on the springs and working parts Will be avoided, and the comfort of the passengers also will be improved. It must be emphasised that to achieve this effect the foot must not be removed from clutch or accelerator.

When travelling over loose metal during road-intiking operations, the reverse process should bo adopted. On approaching the loose patch of metal, the clutch should be put right out, and neither brake should be touched, leaving thq momentum of the vehicle to carry it over the rough surface. . In this way the power of the engine will momentarily be removed from the transmission, and the back wheels will ride lightly over the sharp stones.. Although the speed should be reduced when crossing such a ridge of loose gear, and many of the bad cuts in back tyres are caused by traversing loose metal with the engine pulling in gear. atones, it is a mistake to engage a low