CYCLING AND MOTORING.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 March 1916, Page 7

CYCLING AND MOTORING.

jPLBOURNE-SYDNEY RECORD, MOTOR-CAR BEATS EXPRESS. After sending ;for nearly three years, the Melbourne-Sydney motor-car accord of 19 hours 2 minutes has been considerably reduced.: The successful mo- ! torist was Mr. Boyd Edkins, of Sydney, who not only clipped 2 hours 7 minutes off A. V. Turner's record, but beat the Melbourne-Sydney express train time by 15 minutes. Only those who have a knowledge of the rough and heavy nature of the overland route can thoroughly appreciate what a really wonderful achievement Edkins' drive is. Hundreds of miles of loose rutted timber timber-strewn 'bush tracks have to be negotiated, mountains have to be climbed, whilst countless liorrible "V" • gutters and water-crossings threaten to smash one's ear, if taken too fast; Yet JMkins reached Sydney in 1C hours 55 minutes gross time, and in a little over 16 hours driving time. Both car and tyres came through the'ordeal splendidly, and their condition at the end of the journey afforded a striking object lesion as to the high state of efficiency the present-day car and tyres have been brought to. '-.■<;■ NOTES.. The longest handicap motor-cycla race yet held in Australia is set down for decision at Mortlake (Vic.) at Easter time. The event, which is being promoted by the Victorian Motor-cycle Club, js a 200 miles race, around a 33y 2 miles circuit. Some speedy travelling.is likely as this course is the fastest in the Commonwealth. Any motorist who does much night driving on roads frequented by motorcars must have noted the growing nuisance ajid danger arising from the use of glaring electric headlights. To drive into the dazzling rays of such liglits on ;v crowded thoroughfare is absolutely dangerous. Such lights are not required on city roads, and unless, motorists themselves use discretion, in' this direction, it will riot be long ere the dimming n? such light will be made compulsory.

In America the electric headlight glare lias already caused much anxiety, adverse legislation and ill-feeling so much that; the Society of Automobile Engineers has officially recognised it as demanding immediate attention, A series of tests have been worked out which may be used as a standard definition of what constitutes a dangerous "glare," the results of such tests will be ■submitted to manufacturers of bead: lights, with a view to diminishing the ■"glare"—which is,something quite.differcnt from the strength of the light itself, headlights of comparatively low candle-power and short-distance efficiency, yet are abnormally glaring to the eye of the observer stationed somewhere .in front of the car, Future headlights are to be constructed according to scientific formulae, eliminating the glare but thoroughly retaining the far-reaching effects of a searchlight upon the road itself.

Motor-cyclists in general do not realise. the importance of their engine valve rjirings. It should be remembered that when a machine is travelling at 30-m.p.h. on a ratio of 4% to 1, the valves are raised and lowered about 1000 times a 'minute, so it will be "realised that the work of the valve spring is called upon to perform is extremely arduous. It is, of course, appreciated by motorists that it is essential that there should not be the slightest lag in the closing of the valves, as this would materially affect the' timing and running of the engine. During a bench test of an over-head-valved S-h.p. engine, the revolutions were brought up to 4000, At this speed it was impossible for the eye to detect the slightest movement in the springs or the tappets, such was the speed of oscillation, yet tlie even rising power indicator showed that the valves were operating perfectly. The drawback of. the ordinary spring is that the top coils are inclined to loeo their temper and close up owing to the heat of the engine. To this cause mysterious loss of. power, bad hill-climbing and misfiring at nigh speeds can be traced. By far the best type of spring is that, in which the coils graduate from a large' diameter nearest to the engine to, a small diameter at the cotter. Such springs are used on many motor-cycles. On over-head-valve engines special valve springs have to be employed in order to decrease as much as possible the over-all length of the engine. Here we generally find very "short springs of diameter, but under test it has been proved that these do not give such a good result as the longer springs of smaller diameter. To obtain the best results it seems, therefore, that a tapering spring should be employed, together with distance pieces interposed at the top of the spring of reasonable depth, provided with radiating fins in order to carry off. heat from the cylinder. Eventually, perhaps, the spring employed as a means of returning a valve to its seating will be entirely eliminated, such as is the case on many Continental racing cars, in which poppet valves are opened and closed by an interna] cam arrangement. This method, which may be decreed to strike the happy medium between the slide and poppet-valve engines, may in time become universal . On racing cars, where very high revolutions are attained, it has proved a great success, and makes the valve system more silent and more mechanical than when springs are employed.