Patrol Prices in Britain.
On the subject of petrol The Motor points out a significant refer- ence to petrol prices which was made by Ale., Wan, Graham, Fre- sident of the Board of Trade, in the House of Commons, when he introduced the Government's Con- sumers' Council Bill; The journal named quotes his remarks concern. ing this particular commodity as
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1930.
MOTOR NOTES.
given in Hansard, the official report ITALIAN 1,000 MILES. made a downhill rus. Caracciola,
of Parliamentary Debates. This is
what he said:--
There is the case of petrol prices, the raw material of an enormous industry and of a good deal of public enjoyment-the re- port produced last year when this controversy was before the House. There is the question as to how far, by the operation of the com- bine in this country, based upon determination of the wholesale price related to Mexico Gult prices in the United States, there is too high a price to the con- sumer, and whether that could be reduced.
J
GREAT ROAD RACE.
in the Mercedes Benz in which ne won the tourist trophy race in Ireland, was at a disadvantage in the mountainous country, and dropped back from second to seventh place; Arcangeli, after leading to Bologna, had trouble with his takes, and was slightly injured when his car ran off the
In the first of the great European car road races of the year, the
road; and between Florence and 1,000 miles in Italy, from Brescia round a circuit which took the com- Rome Campari, who won the last petitors as far south as Rome and two races, missed a corner, and also ran off the road. Campari alight- touched at many of the principally bent his axle, and this reduced towns in the north, there were the efficiency of his brakes for the about 150 starters this year,
rest of the race, so he played a waiting game instead of forcing the pace.
Long Drive in the Dark.
5,780-MILES TO WIN HALF-A-CROWN.
LAHORE TO LONDON BY
MOTOR CAR.
A few Englishmen were sitting in the Punjab Club, Lahore, one evening, talking about "Bome."
Said one: "I've a jolly good mind to motor home to England." you halfe
Said another: crown you don't."
There was an instant cry bf "Done" from two of the company, and done it has been. The two Englishmen arrived in London re-
|
The party was made up of Mr.! J. A. A Bromage, S. T. Stubbs (a road engineer), Mahamed (the Io- dian chauffeur), and 3. 20 h.p. Armstrong-Siddeley car.
Year's Preparation.
I
Over a year was spent in mak- ing preparations and equipping the car with necessary extra storage them over the long stretches of un- inhabited country and desert.
Road conditions were in many places appalling. Over 1,500 miles of unmetalled ronds were covered,
The course resembles, a great From this, it would appear to be indicated by the President of the figure eight from Brexia in the Board of Trade that the new Coun-Lombardy Plains through Bologna, eil, whose function it will be to inves-Florence, Rome, "Ancona, Bologna
At Rome, Nuvolari and Achillecently after travelling 5,780 miles tigate questions concerning the pro-
in 7 days for the sake of half a Varzi, in Alfa Romeos, were first duction, distribution and price of again, Trovise, Feltre, Vicenza, and second, with Campari third.
crown and the fun of the thing. food and other commodities, is Verona, and back to Brescia. It Caracciola had dropped back to likely to have the matter of petrol was the fourth annual event. Aa ninth. Then followed a hilly, wind- prices referred to it if the Board of Trade considers it necessary and interesting sidelight on the publicing drive of 240 miles in the dark through Perugia to Ancona; specta- desirable,
sporting spirit in Italy was that, tors, many of whom carried tor-
Professor Low On Road Safety.
although the roads were not closed ches, lined roads all night long. The cars reached Bologna for the second Writing in The Light Car and to other traffic, and the only warn-
time at a.m., Nuvolari. Varzi, Pyrenu on the question of safetying to people in the vicinity of and Campari, all in Alfa Romeos en the roads. Professor A. M. Low, the course was an appeal in news still being the first three. Carac- the famous seientist and Inventor, says: "I do not believe that papers to the public to leave theciala, aided by a. lang, Hairly tanks for petrol and water to carry.
straight run during the night, how- there is any one remedy for road course clear, the cars were able to ever, had moved ap into "fourth Recidents, but in my opinion it is run at speeds of 90 miles an hour place again in the big Mercedes necessary to substitute the slogan-in some cases over level, dusty roads Benz The last section of the race Plain Education First-il an improve-
Was ACTOR the Venetian ment in motoring conditions is to through towns and villages, and through Vicenza, Verona, and over be obtained. If every cinematograph the spectators kept religiously to perfect highways to the finishing theatre in the country show a five-the places where they could watch paint at Brescia, which was reach minute film once a week illustrating
ed in the early hours of the morn- the need for thought on the part the race in safety.
ing, Nuvolari was the first arriv of drivers and particularly, rede-
al, with Varzi 10 minutes later; atrians, accidents would undoubted-
both of them had handsomely re- ly be reduced. Raised kerbs might
In Balogan, for example, the duced the previous record for the indicate to the careless walker that timekeepers established themselves race. The winner averaged 62.41 he was entering upon new ground.
miles an hour for the distance, Many streets are lit badly, many at a table on the footpath, outside which was really 1007 miles in Eng- others have pavements which tempt barber's shop; the barber's clients lieb measurements. Results:-" the pedestrian into the roadway. watched the proceedings with in-Nuvolari and Guidotti (17520.. In spite of these difficulties, conterest while being shaved, and a
Alfa Romeo), 18h 15m 50 1-5s i xide that one main cause of a young woman upstairs missed no cidents is the selfish and discourte details of the race, Trang rumbl Varzi and Canavesi (1752c.. Alfa ous attitude adopted by those who along in the intervala during are too ignorant to know that they the race, and were stopped when must train their mind to think in ever rager came in sigat, some fructions of a second rather than of the tramdrivers, in fact, alowed of minutes."
A tendency to stop altogether to watch the race until ordeind to move on again by the authorities. At each of the seven control stat-
The Safe Mctor-Cycie.
in
A writer on Safety First the current issue of Mutor Curling pleads for greater public tolerance towards the motor-cycle. In these days," he says, it has excellent brakes. its steering and manuv. rability are levend reproach. "Its speed is a distinct asset from the safety point of view, because it is just as important to be able to Accelerate out of an awkward situa tion as it is to pull up before hit- ting anything. Skidding is the motorcycle's principal reputed fail ing. but this inclination has been reduced enormously of late years against that you have to offeet the fnet that a motor-cycle can be driven safely through spaces far too narrow to admit the passage of a car. Everyone has seen incidents on the road in which only a motor- cycle could get away with it' and in which a car would have been piled up."
B. S. A.
WIN
SIX CUPS
in a month
Cotswold Cup Trial" B.S.A. won
Wm. Box Trophy Gloucestershire Cup
TEAM PRIZE
5 Gold Medals
Victory Cup "Trial
B.S.A. won
3 CUPS
2 Gold Medals
Colmore Cup Trial
B.S.A. won
Cranmore Trophy 2 Gold Medals
ead the Way
on a B.S.A.
SINCERE'S
SOLE AGENTS."
Public Interest,·
long a log book carried on the car
assigned by an official and a evenpointed lead star carried by the driver was punched.
Up the Mountain-Side.
Romeo), 18h. 20m. 518 Campari, and Marinoni (1752c.c.!
Alfa Romeo), 18h 59m 83 3-5s 3
Ghersi and Cortesi (1752c.c. Alfa
Romeo), 17h 16m 313... Bassi and Gazzabini (Q.M.), 17h
18m 54.23s
Caracciola and Werner" (Mercedes
2
Benz), 17h 20m 20 2-56. 6 Thirty-seven cars were timed at the finish, the slowest being Biagioni's little Fint, which tock 24h 47m 8x to cover the 1007 miles, Altertraversing the Plain of a splendid average considering the Lombardy in the first section of varied nature of the country and the course, the cars entered the of the roads Nuvolari, the win- Apennine Mountains, climbingning driver, and Achille Varzi, se- 3200ft to the top of Raticos Pass cond, are both well-known racing in about a milce. In the run motor drivers. Nuvolari won the from Boleges to Florence; 185 Garda Circuit in 1924, and has had miles. the cars ascended this paas several successes since in Rome Tri- and the Futa Fass, 200ft, and then poli, and Menza.
MICHELIN
THE NON-SKIDDING TYRE.
Distributore:
Tel. 22221 A. GOEKE & Co. Tel. 22221.
China Building, 4th Floor. DEPOT FIAT GARAGE: 67, Des Voeux Road Central. We give free tyre service to Michelia owners at our Depots.
Tel. 24821.
and 1,000 miles over country that boasts no roads at all, including 500 miles of arid desert. At least
1,000 miles were travelled in low-under British control and to or second gear.
make that plant available to all sections of the industry in relation to the development and production of steel motor bodies and pressings for motor-cars.
Car Dug Out. On one part of the route the party travelled over a military highway which Mr. Stubbs had surveyed and built during the war; on another occasion they took hours to cover 10 miles, digging, the car out at frequent intervals.
Apart from this, they encounter- ed little adventure, except on one occasion when the carburetter fell of and the car took fire.
During the whole journey they only had two punctures, and the trip cost exactly £400 inclusive of quite a large number of spare parts which were not used.
Mr. Bromage cabled to Labore
for his half-crown!
The ear, which is four years old, had already run 54,000 miles.
STEEL BODIES FOR MOTOR-CARS.
RATIONALISATION PLAN
Sir William Morris Interested. The Pressed Steel Company" of Great Britain, Limited, was regis tered as a private company in April, 1998, and converted into a public company in July, of the same year. It acquired cortain licences to work patents from the Edward G. Buld Manufacturing Company, of Philadelphia, for £440,000 ordin ary shares Sir William Morris is a director of the company,
The arrangements made with the company are expected to give great impetus to the rationalisation of the motor industry. By taking the plant of the company available to all sections of the industry the British car manufactures will be following the lead of the United States, where a similar pressed steel company is responsible for most of the car bodies, required by the industry,
The pressed steel industry grow up in America and was first in- A new stop to help the British troduced on a large scale into this motor industry was announced at country by the Pressed Steel Com
recent meeting of the committee pany of Great Britain. British representing various branches of capital already holds a large in the industry formed at the sgges-terest in the company, but it is tion of Mr. J. H. Thomas, the anticipated that this will be in Secretary for the Dominions.
Arrangements have now been cop. cluded to place the plant of the Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain--the largest in the country
What makes a
creased by the now arrangements. By standardising manufacture at
the company's works at Cowley it is anticipated that the costs of pro
duction will be decreased.
A NEW ENGINE DISCOVERY.
WHEN DECOKING" MAY BE ONLY A BAD DREAM.
During a round of visits to Mid- land motor factories, writes Cap- tain Normanville in a London pa-.. per, I encountered several interest- ing new moves in the perpetual effort to perfect the motor-car.
We' shall all sing praises if one new invention proves really prac of engines will become merely, a ticable, for then the decarbonising nightmare of the past...
I am not allowed to give details, although I gratuitously offered the company the advertising glogan "Decoking Dead as Dodo."
Seriously, that vista may become reality.
New Gearboxes, Several firms are experimenting with new gearboxes, all with the view of obtaining quiet, indirect drives, which promise to be a fen- ture of the next show.
At the Rover works I spotted an interesting little detail in construc tion which I was assured, plays an important part in the produc tion of exceptional engine efficiency,
The difference between normal. and exceptional efficiency in well-made engine of given site is traced, of course, to detail perfec- tions
In the case in question it is hoped- to obtain minimum loss of speed for the gases passing through the induction pipe.
An Ingenious Solution: It is impracticable to machine it internally.
An ingenious solution is found in almost filling the manifold with steel balls, and then attaching the manifold to a mechanical "cocktail shaker."
This (after eight hours' shaking). leaves the interior of the passagen burnished to the desired degree of super-efficient gas fic.
GOOD TRUCK
The Willys Six is the best truck in its price class-DURABILITY-SPEED
ECONOMY-LOW FIRST COST-these
are the essentials to the owner.
Never before has a combination of design
14
and units resulting in rugged construc-
tion, for speedy operation, been offered
as in the Willys Six.
The Willys Six has value far above its
selling price.
WILLYS SIX
11⁄2 Ton
TRUCK
Price: $2,600
(All prices and specifications subject
to change without notice.)
Agents:
Do not purchase any truck until the near-
est Willys-Overland dealer has given you
all information; he has FACTS to prove
these statements.
GILMAN & CO., LTD.
44, DES VOUX BOAD.
LONG
28011
Garage & Service Station: “DURO" MOTOR CO., LTD.
132, NATHAN ROAD, KOWLOON. TEL. 57228.
ECONOMT CA L
LIFE