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MOTOR AND CYCLE.

NEWS AND NOTES. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the year from the automobile point of vii!w !i» the tremendous development of the air services, says the "Auto Car" (Eug.). Temporarily it may be said that motorists have founded a movement of such gigantic proportions that its very success lias, in the majority of cases so far as they are personally concerned, rendered it 'inpossible for them to use t'Ueir cars m England. It is not too mufeh to say that the flying machine to-day is the outcome of the high speed petrol engine which w(as only made possible through the motor car. Had there been no motor cars there would have been no flying services in time for participation in this war, neither would there have ibeen any mechanical transport or tanks; in other words, the thousand and. one uses to which petrol is put in the war to-day would not have existed in all probability. But then, motoring itself would not have existed, and there is a certain grim consolation in the reflection that the development of the 1 modern War machine -as ; exemplified by the despatch motor bicycle, the staff car, the motor ambulance, the motor lorry, the motor boat, the aeroplane, and the tank, to mention only a few of the forms in which the little prime mover of the motor car is utilised, has resulted in demands for liquid fuel, and demands upon the automobile manufacturers which, in combination, have brought about in England a condition of affairs, which is little less than a cessation of [private motoring for the term of the war.

Ralph De Palma, the American crack, [has captured another world's motor !car record at the Sheepshead Bay Track, New York. This well-known ! driver broke the one hour record on November 10th, covering 109 mile 3 in the hour. A few days after this he attacked the si* hours' record on the same track and driving the same car—a twelve cylinder "Packard." Oil this occasion he covered 616 miles in six hours, thus beating by a substantial margin the record made at Brooklands (Eng.) in 1913, on a six cylinder "Sunbeam" which was driven in turns by Chassagne, Resta an.d K- Lee-Guiness, who between them covered 568 miles 588 yards in the allotted time, an average of 94.39 miles per hour. It will be seen that De Palma averaged considerably over 100 miles per -hour, for the actual speed was 102.8 miles per hour As on the occasion of one hour record, De Palma drove very wide of the mark set on the track by the American Automobile Association, when the circuit was officially passed as two miles in the "six hours, or 100.52 miles although the official distance is 616 miles, De Palma actually covered 633 miles in the si* hours, or 10 .52 miles per hour. At no time during the run did the average covered in one hour fall below 101 miles,. the highest official average being 110 miles covered in the first [hour of the run. The total duration of the stops made during the six hours was 15 min. 20 sec., which includes eiglit tyre changes as well as two or three stops for fuel and oil replenishments. Excluding the stops, I the average speed was 111 miles per ihour, and this represents an average engine speed of approximately 3,000 r.pjn.

It is just possible that the war and the experience gained in the air services may revolutionise the motor car engine as we know it. The general adoption of the overhead valves instead of the mushroom type in high efficiency engines points to their becoming moire general in ordinary motor car practice. Other and: more radical changes may also he possible. At the outbreak of war rotary engine was merely in its infancy. ' The v type multi-cylinder engine also became more popular for aeroplane work, the advantages of economy of space and shorter crank shafts being very apparent. Some new horizontally opposed cylinder engines have also come into use for particular war purposes, and have been found to develop very high efficiency in relation to their weight. The fixed cylinder radical engine is another possibility This would have tho shortest moveable crank-shaft of all. The air cooled motor car engine lias also come within the range ot practical politics. Much more is now known about this type than at the 'beginning of the war The difficulty, and there would only remain the difficulty to the sheltering of the sec ond, third and fourth cylinders behind the first, which has the advantage of the whole of the cool draught of air A fixed cylinder, radical engine would get over this difficulty, and there would only remain the difficulty of "the unequal cooling of the front and rear sides of each cylinder. This little resume of some of the new and improved types of motor engines shows the possibilities of the situation, and goes td prove that we are far from finality in motor car engine design. It is always dangerous to prophesy, but it is nob too much to hope that radiators and water cooling; systems may yet become obsolete, fend that we can look forward with. ,iome confidence to higher efficiency a,KI lighter engines in future.

Most of us should liveio see a great I commercial boom in Nation, and it will be interesting if any type of flying .machine is ever, "evolved to take the same place in the world of aviation as the Ford car or the Douglas or Triumph motor-cycles take in motoring now. There is not a great deal of work in an aeroplane when it is produced in quantities. The engine is the most important, and at the same time the most expensive item. But if we are ever to have flying machines for the public, this question of the engine will have to be tackled very seriously, and something cheap to manufacture and economical to run will have to be evolved. The subject of upkeep is an important one, but the question of i!«nger in a few years time will ha-'M • enter into the matter at all. \V< i the first, railway engine, >i cycle or motor car was produced, cv-r one said what a wicked and dangern machine it was. And doubtless, 1.1same was and will be said about the aeroplane But gradually _ people's opinions will be changed and influenced by the extending growth and progress of aviation, until by the time that the next generation are in their prime flying will be quite an ordinary means of getting about the country. Not only that, but of getting a'bout from one 'country to another.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19180405.2.45

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1918, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,118

MOTOR AND CYCLE. Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1918, Page 7

MOTOR AND CYCLE. Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1918, Page 7

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