MOTOR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 210, 12 February 1915, Page 3

MOTOR NOTES.

NEWS AND XOTES. Sir John French, in his official report to Lord Kitchener, makes many references to the valuable work accomplished by the cyclist soldiers, anil evidently holds a high opinion of the vlu-01-inen. It is " possible that the »raiso givtn the riders, coupled with the British general's demand for more cyclistSj had a good deal to do in influencing Lord Kitchener to form a new cyclist corps. A n extract from one of Sir John French's report reads as follows: —"Carrying dispatches and messages at all hours of the day and night, in every kind of weather, and often traversing bad roads blocked will, transport, they have been conspicuously successful in maintaining an extraordinary degree of efficiency in the service of communications. .Many casualties have occurred in their ranks, but no amount of difliculty or danger has ever checked the energy and ardour which has distinguished the corps through the operations.''

A rather unusual trial was recently conducted witli an American car, when it was driven on Hie. low pear for 11'/. hour*, during which Mil miles Vi'tTi! covered, showing an average speed of 14.S miles an hour. T?;.: test was m:ulc to <lemonstrat<' that it would not overheat. the ear being of the small sixcylinder type. It carried four passengers and lull touring equipment, an 1 was driven over numerous stretches of had road and many steep hills. Xo water was put into the radiator during the trial, and none was needed, and en in iieetion after the test the water level was found to but one-duarter of an inch lower than at the start, Xever once did the water boil, while the maximum temperature (as indicated liy a niotometer on the radiator) did not exceed l.iO degrees I'ahr. The quantity of petrol consumed was '2,'J gallons, which gives an average, of 7-S miles'pcr gallon. The weight of the car was, complete with passengers, 3SftOlin, while the lowpear ratio w;'.s 11.7S to 1, whieh means that the crankshaft revolved ]1 ! ;' ( times to one of the ,'Min driving winds. Tic results obtained are wonderfully good.