MOTOR AND CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1922, Page 11

MOTOR AND CYCLE.

NEWS AND NOTES. The dazzling motor car headlight problem has been partly solved by an American electrical concern which has placed, on the market a patented diminishing switch which enables the driver to gradually dim his headlights when approaching another car coming in the opposite direction. This switch, known as the “Rex,” ia embodied in a metal tube or cylinder about 3in. in length, which is clipped to the steering column and is controlled by a horizontal lever which is given, a quarter rotary turn by a finger of the hand on the wheel, this movement gradually reducing the light from full on to dead out. On meeting another vehicle, the driver commences to reduce the light some 300 or 400 yards away, and continues the operation gradually until it has passed by. The gradual reduction of the light enables the eyes to accommodate themselves to the darkened conditions until the point is reached when it is impossible to reduce the light any further and still drive with safety. Those who have experimented with this variable electrical light dimmer speak well of this fitment - and forecast that in time the dimmer will be incorporated in the lighting system of all up-to-date cars. ENGLISH IMPORTS. The value of motor cars imported into England for the first 10 months of 1921 was £5,0»5,577, as against £20,778,411 for the same period in 1920—a drop of over fifteen, and a half million. SALES AT THE OLYMPIA. It is reported that during the opening day of the motor cycle exhibition at Olympia, London, machines to the value of £1,000.000 were sold. Three large firms booked orders which will absorb the whole of their output for 1922. Lightweight motor cycles w*ere exhibited priced at £35, whilst the more elaborate side-car outfits ranged as high as 250 guineas. SIX AND EIGHT WHEELERS. The view is expressed by some automobile experts that in time to come many of the heavier types of motors will be fitted with 6 or 8 wheels instead of 4 as at present, the contention being that as the weight and pace of big powered cars increase the w’eight imposed on each wheel of a four-wheeled vehicle will become disproportionate to its size, for the simple reasop that one wheel can only rest on a limited amount of road surface. With more wheels the load would bo distributed over a greater area of road surface. Other important features claimed, are that better suspension, and better road adhesion would follow the use of 6 or 8 wheels. On many powerful ears there is now trouble on m-easy roads of obtaining sufficient road Srip to transmit driving power, and obviously if same can be transmitted through more than two wheels, more engine “power can be used, with an accompanying increase in speed, acceleration and retardation. This fact is amply proved by the well-known efficiency of the four-wheeled braking systems. Already several experimental cars have been constructed in Europe in which 6 wheels are being used and from wniffi oreatlv improved results are said to be obtained as against the Present fourwheeled vehicle. On rough roads the difference in favor of the six-wheeled ear is said to be most marked. ENGINE DIMENSIONS. One of the outstanding features of motor racing practice has been the rapid decrease in the size of engine dimensions, particularly during the last two yeu.s. in the earlier days of racing ongmes with a 6in. bore were not uncommon, to-dav they are down to a size that the average motor cyclist of a few years back would have scoff cd at. Higher efficiency has brought about this reduction in size and weight. For the leading 1022 motor oars races in Europe ana America, the two litre engine, (2000 cubic centimetres capacity) has been adopted, and when it is mentioned that many of the big twin engined motor cycles ruunin<* about on our roads just come under the” 1000 C.C. mark, it will be " a ’'^ d what small engines the world s speediest cars will be fitted with, for many of them carry eight cylinders. In this year’s French Grand Prix the weight of the ' contesting cars has h . e<!n d , 850 kilogrammes (approximately UOO lbs), .this being inclusive, ol. racing ■ y -.but empty fuel and oil tanks. He American “Duesen’berg. driven by Mm phy. which carried oil this classic event fn 1921 was ian eight eylmdered eat of three litre capacity (3000 ' of the cylinders be.ng only, 63* m ill metres with a stroke of HO 4 '? ml “‘ metres. As these dimensions will now have to be reduced by a third, it wi be realised how small the racing engines, of tlm “straight eights” will have o be to comply with the conditions set for the French Grand Prix, Indianapolis events, etc.