MOTOR & CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 September 1919, Page 10

MOTOR & CYCLE.

HEWS AND NOTES KNOWING THE STARTER. Everyone who has a ear provided with a starter, which, of course, in these days, means the electric variety, should go to considerable pains, "The Motor" (England), to learn its principles off by heart. An up-to-date car owner should know the starter at leastto the same extent that he knows the engine, that is to say, the cycle of operations and the construction of the engine and functions of the many component parts. Nevertheless, strange to say, there are many owners and drivers to-day who do not know the fundamental principles of the internal-combustion engine that they handle and it is stranger still that so long as matters go all right they do not take the trouble to learn. However, it is safe to say that when such knowledge is wanted it is needed very urgently indeed, and it means considerable expense and loss of time in getting other people to carry out simple jobs that the owner or driver could do himself. The electric starter is, fortunately for the motorist, one of the simplest pieces of mechanism—if it can be strictly called "mechanism" at all—in existence, and he benefits enormously from the fact that' the electric motor has been used for many years as the most successful of all power-produc-ing machines. It has reached a degree of reliability which is superior to that of the internal combustion engine, as an electric motor will work under conditions of neglect in a way that no internal combustion engine- could possibly be expected to do. This, however, must not be taken to mean that the electric starter can be entirely neglected and left to look after itself, as there are undoubtedly points wherein it may give trouble if grossly neglected.

BIG PRICES FOR SECOND-HAND CAES. Motorists in this country have little conception of the big prices high grade second-hand cars are bringing in England just now. The following selection from one English motor journal gives a fair idea of what pre-war "second-hands" are bringing in London, and incidentally the great shortage of first-class cars in England and Europe; Wolaeley, 24-30 hp., £1000; Mercedes, 25-30 h.p., (1914), £1000; Austro-Daimler, 27 h.p. (1014), £1300; Vaui'hall, 25 h.p. (1919), £1350; Sunbeam, 25-30 h.p., £1450; Lancia, 35 h.p. (1914), £ISOO. INCREASING STRENGTH OF WHEELS AND TYRES. The tendency to increase the size and strength of wheels and tyres as applied to motor-cycles is unquestionably a move in the right direction. With a view to keeping down weight and for other considerations as well maybe, the practice in the past has very largely been that of restricting the size of the tyres as much as possible without, of course, actually weakening the construction by that means. Nowadays it is considered the best practice to fit larger tjres and in some cases larger and more heavilybuilt wheels as well, and the plan is one to be commended. Larger wheels and tyres not only increase the strength and stability of the construction, but. they provide greater comfort for the rider and assure to him added reliability in a direction that is particularly desirable. Heavyweight machines and those of the medium class are being constructed to a specification that includes wheels of larger diameter shod with tyres of increased section, 28in by 3in and 3jin tyres for 6 h.p. and 8 h.p. motor-cycles, and 26in by 2Jin (or even 650 by 65mm.) for Zy 2 to 4-5 h.p. machines being now the order in very many cases. The motpr-cyele of the future will depend as to current models- for their reliability and satisfactory performance upon the behaviour of the tyres, and a development that should become, absolutely common is that of fitting every machine with detachable wheels in 'the sense that it becomes actually quicker to take the wheel out of the frame than to repair the tyre with the wheel in position. Motor-cycles already exist in which this is the case and in one well-known model it is possible to "lay bare" the whole of the rear wheel in' a couple of minutes by merely removing three nuts, when the back mudguard with carrier, stays, and tool tjags, can be lifted clear, thus exposing the top half of the complete wheel and making it easy to locate and remedy a puncture or other defect in much less time than would otherwise be possible without taking the wheel completely out. In this case there is plenty of elbow room in which to work, and the operator has no longer to adopt the inconvenient crouching attitude inseparable from the task of mending punctures when he has only available a small part of the tyre near the ground clear of obstructions. By such means motor-cycle design is being improved, and it is to be hoped that where tyres as well as other parts are concerned the efforts to increase accessibility will continue and not be relaxed until it can be said with truth that the motor-cycle equals, if it is not indeed, the superior in this respect of any other class of road motor.conveyance. A LIGHT ENGLISH CAR. One of the most interesting after-war English designed chassis yet announced is undoubtedly the 10 h.p.'five-oylindered radial-cngined Enficld-Alklay light car. It is a bold and well conceived attempt to introduce into a light car certain thoroughly-tried features of the most advanced aero-engine design, with a view of reducing the weight per horse-power as compared with that of the usual line-ahead water-cooled engine of standard automobile practice. Not only, however, does the air-cooled stationary radial engine (the bore and stroke of which are 03 and 80 m.m. respectively—--1250 c-c.) constitute a distinct innovation so far as car design is concerned, but the chassis also has many features exhibiting pronounced originality. These features have not been included merely for the sake of making difference, but with a distinct and laudable object in view—the reduction of weight with the maintenance of rigidity of construction. The complete chassis weighs but 7 uwt. The power developed by the engine is 32 h.p. The car complete weighs 10 cwt and is to be marketed in England at £295, with detachable wheels and one spare. ,' A FRENCH PURCHASE. The French Government is purchasing from America the entire motor car, motor truck, and motor cycle equipment that was in France with the American Army. These vehicles will comprise 7575 passenger cars, 32,300 motor trucks and 40,000 motor cycles. The French authorities will dispose of these vehicles in Europe.