MOTOR AND CYCLE

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1915, Page 11 (Supplement)

MOTOR AND CYCLE

NEWS AND XOTES. Sixteen municipalities in England employ electric delivery vans in place of horse or petrol vehicles.

The Wairarapa Automobile Association opened the year with a membership of 117 and closed with 213 members.

English roads have been so cut up by heavy motor traffic for military purposes that local district councils are making claims upon the military authorities for damage to the roads.

An English motor-cycling journalist recently drove 2000 miles on 24 jiallons of petrol without a single involuntary stop. Such is the reliability of the modern motor-cycle.

In lflO.l tile total output from all the Russian oil fields reached 2,954.0110.000 gallons; in 1!)07 the yield had increased to .1,104,000,000 gallons, the increase being largely due to the opening up of the deposits on the Austro-Hunrarion frontiers.

From 1917 the French Government will make denaturised alcohol a State monopoly, and will take the necessary steps to encourage the use of this fuel in motor vehicles. The movement is stated to be part of a drastic scheme for the reform of the liquor traffic. *.♦ * a

The departure 'or the front of so many London taxi drivers has left the city rather short of good men. The want is being supplied by drivers over the military age to such an extent that there are at present drivers of seventy years of age. • * • •

A leading American motor cycle manufacturer lias just placed on the market ;i novel machine which is a great departure from the standard type of motorcycle. The machine in question is driven by a single-cylinder air-cooled 1 '/jj-h.p. engine which is incorporated in tile front wheel. The power is transmitted to the front tyre through a reduction wear. The whole weight of the machine is about llolbs, and it is said to have had very satisfactory results in its road trials.

The following are the official results of the recent Melbourne-Marysville mo-tor-cycle reliability trail held under the auspices of the Victorian Motor Cycle Club:—Side-ear class: T. Rogers Ist prize, H. J. (iarnham novice prize; solos under COO c.c: E. Tayler Ist prize, H. Godfrey novice prize; solos over GOO c.c.: B. Finley Ist prize. The "Winner Cup," the premier prize, was won by T. Rogers. The test, owing to the wintry weather conditions and heavy state of this mountainous route, was one of the most strenuous yet held in Victoria.

Edison on the car of the future:— "Then everybody should have an electric runabout—something cheap—that will cost a few hundred dollars, instead of these great expensive motor-ears that we now have. We ought to be able to get a car charged every few miles anywhere, and we ought to have roads that would make an electric car a delight. It h bound to come. What's the use of talking about luxuries for the rich? Everybody should have everything. We will discover a way to fly, too, as soon as we take a. good look at the bumblebee. The bumblebee is really the bird, after all. Just note how the bumblebee's body is several hundred times heavier than his wings, and yet he beats the air with such tremendous rapidity that he lifts his weight, goes where he pleases, and comes down when he wants to. It is a matter of striking the air enough times per second. The atmosphere is solid when you hit it quick enough. What we want is to invent a machine that will work wings with a rapidity of two thousand vibrations to a second." » » » »

Friends in New York of John Cyril Porte, squadron commander of the Royal Naval Aviation depot at Hendon, England, were released from a pledge not to reveal his recent visit to the United States until he was back across the Atlantic, when they learned that the White Star liner Adriatic had safely reached Liverpool landing stage. Commander Porte spent eighteen days in the United States and Canada on an inspection tour for the British Government. He visited the aviation factories in New York State at Hammondsport, and then went to Toronto, where he witnessed the official test of the "Canada,'* the new giant aerial destroyer, of which the British Government lias ordered an unlimited number. They will be built at Toronto. The ''Canada" is the first of its class and is bigger and faster than the German "Airatiaks," according to Commander Porte. It is said to have exceeded all requirements by 20 per cent. Carrying a load of 200i)lbs, it is said to have attained a speed of 95 mile* an hour. It mounts rapid-fire guns fore and aft. arranged so as to enable it to attack aeroplanes, both above and below. Hitherto it has been necessary for the aviator to climb above his enemy before he could deliver the death-blow The "Canada" class will have two propellers, each driven by a ISO horse-power motor of the latest type, which are said to combine economy of fuel with absolute lack of vibration. Commander Porte said that their new air destroyers will carry at least "20(IOlbs of explosives in the shape of bombs, weighing 23, SO, 125 or 2Oolbs. Accuracy in bomb-throwing is said to be assured by a new device, which will be used for the first time with these machines.

Much interest has been aroused in America by this greatest of all air destrovers.

By the death of Mr. Syd. Day in Sydney last week, Australia loses one of its pioneer and most popular motorists. Since 1901 Mr. Day had been closely associated with every phase of the sport, first as a racing motor-cyclist, then as a carist. He took a prominent part in every inter-State motor-car reliability trial, and few of those intimately connected with the Ifl&j event between Melbourne and Sydney will forget the plucky performance put up in this, the most strenuous car test ever held in Australia, by Mr. Day. Tn this reliability trial the competitors started away from Melbourne for Sydney, but upon arrival in Sydney the result was not conclusive enough to determine a winner, and a further test was held from Sydney to the Bine Mountains and back. Still six competitors remained In with full points, Mr. Day on Wa Wu». De Dion bo in? one

of them. To decide u winner it was necessary to continue the test, a nonstop engine run back from Sydney to Melbourne being decided. Considering that some TOO miles had already been negotiated, it was little wollde;- that several of the contestants demurred at an additional 572 miles, under such stringent conditions, being "tacked on" to the trial, but Mr. Day, although driving the smallest powered machine of the lot, entered into the spirit of the test, and set himself the severe task of getting his badly shaken little car back to Melbourne without loss of points. He eventually reached his destination triumphant with badly broken springs, bent front axle, and steering gear that would not permit of his steering on one lock. His machine was a wreck, but its owner's pluck and resourcefulness brought it through a 1270 miles test successfully whore hundreds of present-day motorists, with their up-to-date cars, would fail. Over the same inter-State route Mr. Day in later years succeeded in establishing a car record between Sydney and Melbourne, negotiating the ,"<72 miles in 20 hours lflmin. It was a tine, performance, particularly as he drove from start to finish. Tt was Mr. Day's ambition for years to hold this inter-State record, and perseverance and grit won him the honor.