He Makes Them Jump!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 149, 1 May 1942, Page 10

He Makes Them Jump!

ACK SPENCE (above), who is | chief test driver and inspector at the New Zealand plant which makes Universal Carriers, has taken some pretty hard jolts in the course of his work. Not only does he drive a Carrier at high speed ‘over rough ground, but one of his tests is to jump it anything from 12 to 15 feet through the air. It is a spectacular test, and one which he does not recommend to the average car driver. Taking a long run, he quickly reaches a speed of well over 30 miles an hour, then hurtles off a low ramp. There is a full-throated roar from the engine, a flurry of flying stones and Ji:t as the Carrier poises a foot or two off the ground, and then a crash as it lands, nose up, and roars away. It is the sort of experience for which the Army driver, operating at high speed over rough ground, must be prepared at any moment. The secret, says Mr. Spence, is to grab the steering wheel tightly and half stand up, taking all the jolt in your knees. The first time he jumped a Carrier, he hadn't worked this out, and he broke a small bone in his elbow and jarred every bone in his body. The Carrier itself seems to | thrive on this treatment, and will, in fact, stand up to almost anything. There is one story told of a vehicle of this type which fell over a 60-foot bank. There were three men in it, one of whom was thrown out and received minor injuries. The other two held on tightly, and although the Carrier turned over twice before coming to rest, they were unhurt, and the Carrier, battered a little, to be sure, went off under its own power.