MOTOR & CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1920, Page 12

MOTOR & CYCLE.

NEWS AND NOTES The popularity of the Englisli-made Rolls Royee motor car (recognised as the finest automobile in the world) is sncli that the whole possible output lias been booked up to June, 1921. Every day the ranks of motorists are growing, and this means that every day novices are boing introduced, to the mechanism of motors. A far greater proportion of the general public ig unacquainted with the principle of the Internal combustion engine than would at first .be credited. People know ta a vague, abstracted way that petroleum spirit is used, or that, in some cases, Steam is the power utilised. But there their knowledge «nds- But the moment a man becomes possessed of a car, his education commences and continues until he is familiar with the complete System and working of his engine, that is, of course, provided he drives himself. Even ladies who possess, or whose brothers or husbands possess, caM : ; become familiar with t,l(o principle, and not infrequently we hear of ladies owning and driving their own cars, whose comprehension of mechanical matters Blight put many a mere man to shame. As the number of motorists increases so trill this knowledge, until, when the horse is finally - banished from the ; road and the triumphant motor takes his plate, mechanical knowledge will *becpme a sine qua lion. Familiarity breeds contempt, and .no better example could be found of .the truth of this saying than in the caseless manner in which petrol spirit has come to be popularly regwrded. Despite Various serious results of this carelessness, despite numerous warnings, accidents continue to occur, and these, one and all, may 'be traceable to some luck of proper caution on the part of the motorist or his chaffeur. All parages are placarded with the legend "No smoking allowed," and motorists invariably instruct their servants not to smoke while attending to their cars. Notwithstanding these precautions, one frequently sees both masters and men working at cars with cigars, cigarettes or pipes between their lips. Another dangerous practice is the filling of petrol tank — Attached to rear of car—whilst the kerosene tail lamp is alight. Many valuable cars have been, lost through "this dangerous habit.. A strange accident recently came under the notice of the writer in this connection. The petrol supply ran out during a country trip, and a trip to the nearest garage was made by another car to obtain a supply. The garage man offered the loan of a funnel to facilitate putting petrol into tank. Upon reaching the stranded car, the funnel was inserted in the tank opening, and the petrol poured into same. Immediately there was an explosion and Conflagration- After much trouble and damage to car, the flames were put out hy sand, the worst result being a bad burning of the cfir owner's left hand. The direct cause of the "flitre*up" was that a cork had, for some reason, been inserted in the small end of the funnel, and the inflammable fluid had simply filled up the funnel, and then run over tho top, splashing into the tail lamp. It was another case of a lucky escape. It's a safe practice never to handle petrol within feet of a naked light. Some very fine speed work was witnessed at the Motor Cycle Race Carnival held at Goulburn (N.S.W.). during the holidays. Most of the racing was conducted over ft 33 1-3 miles triantnllar circuit. The blue riband event of the meeting' was the 10(1 miles Australasian Championship, which attracted many of the fastest riders in the CommonWealth. The winner of the Riband Cup was the South Australian, J. Dixon (7 h.p. Indian and Dunlops) with C. Sainty (N.S.W.) (Hartey-Davidson) second. The last-named rider put up a very fine performance in the Senior Tourist Trophy Race, Which he won, covering the .100 mile* in 108 i minutes —record for the course. The junior T.T. Race (86 miles) was won by R. Pearce on * 3J h.p, Indian hi 1 hour 20 mins. 6!) sees- Numerous other interesting events were decided, and the gathering was a great success.

Some motorists, may not fully realise, says the Autocar, why two sets of brakes acting through the back wheels should not servi l for all purposes as well as two sets of brakes acting on back and front wheels, so long as it is possible to lock the back wheels, if desired, when the brakes are applied. Tt may be pointed out, therefore, that, viewing the matter in one light, the more powerful back wheel brakes are, the less effective they are in use. If a br.il;?, or a set of brakes, is so powerful that with tho slightest effort on the part of the driver the wheels are caused to skid, the retarding is greatest just before the wheels are locked—is immediately reducsd, while, even supposing that skidding floes not occur at once, the sudden application of the brakes on the back' wheels tends to throw forward the weight cf the car as a whole, so that some of the weight normally holding the hack wheels to the ground is thrown on to the front wheels. In this way the co-efficient of friction ill other Words, the adhesion of tl'e back wheels to the road—is reduced, and tho effective brake power proportionately lessened. Further than ...tlutt, immediately skidding takes place steerin c control is lost for the time being, because, as soon as the wheels cease to rotate, their natural resistance to lateral movement no longer exists,, and side-slip occurs on any surface except one which is dead flat! Provided space and time allow, side-slip due to braking can he corrected by the driver with the steering, but space and time for this purpose are not always available, and there is no doubt that a great number of accidents (one expert affirms that 05 per cent, of car accidents are caused by the effect of brake action) are due to los of steerina control owing to sideslip engendered by the application of the brakes.

The recent Motor Show at Olympia. London, was a great financial success, some 2Sf>,ooo people paying for admission. The takings totalled £4o,ooo,'part of which will bb set apart for research work in regard to metals used in Various parts of the ear.