WORLD’S SPEED RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 360, 22 May 1928, Page 7

WORLD’S SPEED RECORD

METHOD OF CALCULATING Many motorists are puzzled about i the method of calculating the speed l for record breaking, especially as the i cabled reports from Daytona Beach ; mentioned that on one occasion Major ! Se grave did 210 miles an hour and on j another occasion Captain Campbell is i credited with 214 m.p.h. on that beach. The world’s record is at present held by Ray Keech, of Philadelphia, at 207 j m.p.h. The reason for this apparent dis- | >Topancy is found in the method of timing a measured mile. Timed Both Ways Actually the Daytona Beach course is about seven miles long, and record breakers are allowed a three-mile run in which to attain maximum speed, are timed over the central mile, and use the ensuing miles to lose speed and stop. No surface is absolutely level, and no air is entirely still. So that the run on the course from, say, north to .south, may mean that tii€: car is travelling slightly down hill, and may have a following breeze or a helpful sidewind. Reversing that, the car would be travelling slightly uphill and encounter a hampering breeze. To counteract these natural aids or hindrances to speed, a record-breaker i is timed over the measured mile while travelling in both directions, and the average speed is taken. So that if a car travelled from north to south at 215 m.p.h., and from south to north at 200 m.p.h., the average speed would be 207.5 m.p.h.. and that is t]ie speed which would be recorded. Two Different Speeds Though Malcolm Campbell travelled at 214 m.p.h., he did it only in one direction, and his slower rate of travel in the opposite direction brought his i average down. It was claimed for the late Frank Lockhart, who was killed on Wednesday while trying to beat Keech’s fig- ! 11 res. that hi*s Stutz was travelling at 1 230 m.p.h. when approaching the meas!ed mile durin" his attempt in February, when his car ran into the sea. MORE EIGHTS? MAKERS’ EXPERIMENTS • very few motor manufacturers are now ~ experimenting with radical changes in car design. Since the Alvis builders adopted the front wheel drive, a lew American makers have been considering the idea, but only one has actually built an experimental car of this type. Possibilities of a greater swing to small eiglit-eylindered cars two or three vears hence is indicated by the work being done in some American factories with eight-cylinder engines. But all the factors of quantity production will have to be considered before lif ever) these cars are put into production. Searching for Causes Reports from General Motors’ research department show that this corporation is devoting more attention to motor fuels than to changes in design. In the huge laboratories fuels of every kind are being broken down and analvsed to see just what might be added dr extracted to make them better for use in present internal combustion motors. In charge of this work is Mr. Charles F. Kettering, who is responsible for, among other things, the self-starter, Duco, and Ethyl. Motorists who have toured Xew Zealand sav that or.e peculiar tiling about roads in the Auckland Province is the bad approach to bridges. In this province most of t ie bridges are above or below the road level, and in one case, just north of Whakapara, the bridge projects 10 inches above the roadway. In the Southern district it is an almost unknown thing to experience a bump when crossing a bridge.