MOTORING WORLD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 24, 24 December 1932, Page 9

MOTORING WORLD

NOTES. In a non-pinking explosion in a cylinder the flame travels at about 80ft per second. Drivers in England have been advised to wear white gloves to enable roadusers to see their signals at night. The nominal working pressure of most hydraulio braking systems is between 8001 b. and 10001 b. per square inch. Microphones and loud speakers are being fitted to double-deck buses in Leeds so that the conductors can announce the various stopping places. A revision has taken place in French road law. Previously drivers gave way at crossings to enrs approaching from the right. Priority is now given in every case to vehicles on the main road. Light oil containing 33 per cent, petrol is reported to have been discovered in Brunei, British Borneo. A company had persistently searched for oil in that district, but previously had discovered only heavy oil in shallow wells. The numerous unlawful conversions of motor-cycles that have occurred recently have resulted in the Auckland Motor Cycle Club establishing a vigilance committee to endeavour to check the trouble, and also to assist in the recovery of missing machines. Soviet Russia has started a synthetic rubber plant, alcohol being the basic ingredient.

An old, disused canal, which runs through the American town of Syracuse, has become the graveyard or so many worn-out cars that the local authorities have ordered the arrest of anyone caught dumping machines into it.

MORE MILES PER GALLON. “While fuel costs are relatively, trifling in light cars as compared with larger and heavier vehicles, a few milos a gallon less than one should reasonably expect represent, even with small engines, quite an appreciable sum a year if the mileage covered is at all considerable. The most general complaint by carowners is that their vehicles are not averaging the fuel consumptions guaranteed, yet the fault lies in most cases not with the car, but with the driver. Apart from power and fuel losses caused by unnecessary friction, such as occui'3 with binding brakes, incorrectly inflated tyres and unlubricated joints, there are three factors which have a vital effect on fuel consumption. They are engine compression, valve settings and spark plugs. Few owners realise this, and concentrate all their economy endeavours into adjustment and alteration of the carburettor. If you demand economical running from yonr car you must give it regular settings. To maintain good compression the pistons and rings must maintain good fits in the cylinders. Also, the valves must be correctly gapped when hot, and must be making gas-tight seatings. Even one valve, set incorrectly, so that it cannot open fully or seat properly, can make big inroads into your pocket by wasting fuel.

SIGNALLING FROM CARS. A new system of motor car. signalling, which* it is believed, will supersede the old confusing method, will be fitted to the 1933 British cars, states the London Times. It has already received the approval of the Ministry of Transport, and is expected to give a lead which will be extensively followed by other manufacturers. The idea was inspired by the traffic signals now so numerous throughout Britain. On each side of the car are fitted miniature lights similar to those used at cross-roads. They are worked from a switchboard inside the machine and it is claimed that they are as near “fool-proof” as possible. The three lights are amber, red and green, and when a driver wishes to show, for example, that he intends to turn to the right he will show the danger signal on that side wliile indicating on the other that the near side will be safe for following vehicles to pass. Hand signalling has long been recognised as unsatisfactory. Quite recently, indeed, it was the subject of an appeal by the Ministry of Transport, who urged that drivers should practise the signals in order to avoid mistakes, which in not a few cases have had serious consequences. The new signals will lead to greater comfort for drivers of closed cars, for they will no longer have to take one hand off the steering wheel to put it through the window to signal. An important feature of the new signals is that the amber light, which warns following drivers to watch lor the next signal, is the first to appear when the switch is used, and no other signal can be given until it has been shown. Thus a driver will have the means to signify his intentions before acting on a signal. It is predicted that eventually signalling on the roads will become purely a matter of mechanical control, and uniformity is brought a step nearer by the new mechanical signals for cars.

FOR GREATER CARE. In Rome and Florence horn sounding is forbidden between midnight and 6 a.m., but a more drastic suggestion has been made by a correspondent in a letter to a London daily paper. He holds that the one way of teaching carefulness to all, drivers and pedestrians alike, is to abolish entirely the use of the horn. He states that everyone, from the worst road hog to the most inoffensive old lady driver, depends to a certain, and no doubt varying, degree on horn sounding. The Motor, in an editorial, agrees that far too many modern drivers use their hooters much more often than they need do, but it is far too drastic to suggest the entire abolition of the horn. Drivers of long experience know that tho hooter should be used as little as possible as a warning to pedestrians, for a sudden blast mav in too many cases alarm rather than warn, and every driver knows that hesitation often creates as embarrassing a situation as a sudden dive. In driving nothing requires such fine discrimination as horn sounding, and any motorist who is prone to frequent use of the warning instrument should practise driving with as little use as possible of the horn. If he is a safe driver, he will find that he can confine its use to very few occasions as a warning of his presence at blind turnings. Now that rear reflectors are in general use it is not necessary to use the hooter so often when desiring to pass other vehicles.