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LESSONS OF 1,000 MILE✨, RALLY.
TRICKS WITH FLUID CLUTCHES.
CAMPBELL'S NEW RACER.
BY A. G. THROSSELL, }
.1.
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 1932.
SPARKS
FROM THE PLUGS
London, March 13-A was ex- be towed its last fifteen miles. pected, the fluid fywheel and self.
Three others. morg
lucky got help changing gear-box combination car-"
from Torquay, did their repairs, ried all the chief prizes in the Torand finished in time. Another eur ay Rally. Indeed, slow running broke its timing chain a hundred counted for,so" much in the flex- | yards from the finish! ibility tests that followed the road section (for which part about 250 nry all got full marks) that the normal transmissione stood, no
chance. Amundi Biley with a plain clutch did gain ninth place on figure of merit, but even that was in the nature of a freak perforin- nner, the car proceeding in a surces
sion of horrid jerks, painful to be- hold, whereas the Daimlers, Lan Chesters, and Armstrong Siddeleys simply glided, as if a mile an hour or less was the most natural paco in the world.
A
|
Most of the competitors took the
rond section too seriously and made
·
-
A VORACIOUS FACTORY.
REQUIREMENTS OF THE MORRIS WORKS.
Ever sineu the announcement some months ago of the Morris 1832 programne, the resources of tho 91f-ere Cowley factory have bean tayed to the uttermost in coping with the volume of orders which has poured in, and continues to do", from all parts of the world. Sir William Morris has sented that from September 1 to Eecember 19, export business show et an inoroase of 35 per cent, con- |pared with the corresponding period
last season.
With this in mind, it is interest.
ROBOT TRAFFIC CONTROL.
CITY SYSTEM FİRST IN EUROPE.
EXPLOSION AT ITS
INAUGURATION
A curious accident accompanied the inauguration of the new electro- matie traffic control system af the Justion of Carnhill and Graco- church-street, London. .
The Lord Mayor had just turned. on the operating switch with a small key, the lights had operated." sudilonly the lights went out, and and trafle had begun to flow, when
there was much confusion.
Examination of the control Box attached to the lamp standard in the middle of the rond showed that two faxes had bean broken by an
of is a far more strenuous affair than it really was. An Austin Seven Showed how it should have been done. While the Rolls-Royce and Daimlers were hustling along, never stopping for more than an hour at a time until they got within as learn a few details regard- explosion of acwer gas which had reach of the finish, the crew of the ing the vast quantities of componentered from the cable ducts. In baby went to bed for seven hours ents required to meet the Morris two minutes the damage was res the first night and three the second, factory's present production capacpaired, and the signals resumed and even so had time to sptre forty of 2,000 cars a week (approxi working.
Alloy steel: 400 tons. Steel tubing Six miles. Malleable iron: 100 tons. Rubber: 77 tons.
the little car's toilet ht Exeter, Amately 100 times the size of the Sir Hugh Turnbull, Commissioner corresponding pre-war output The of Oity Police, in asking the Lord Crossley Ten crew got an equal Several other "ways of making amount of steep; very few others figures given are approximate, and Major to switch on the lights, suid cars crawl were exploited, includ dared to think of bed at all
refer solely to one week's producthat the installation was the first ing a British version of the auto- Incidentally that Austin Seven fition -
of its kind in Europe. It allowed matic clutch" fitted on the intest covered 209 additional miles, in
a more constant flow of trafic than Ameritius, and some contraptions ¦ order to follow roads known to one
any other automatic signalling which quite frankly let the clutch ) or other of the crew. It was..
system, and he hoped that it would slip at will, and I think some paping polier. Every other driver
shortly be installed at other points nufacturers gained experience in I met hail to confess of baking the rally of which we shall see the wrong furnings and getting tied up fruits at the next Olympia, if not in earlicf. Of course, ability to imitate, the email is of no great practical value directly, but it is pushing to extremes a kind lex ibility which is of vory real use:
familiar towns. Ones off the main roads our sign-posting is far from perfect.
Blue Bird. Ph Blue Bird, fresh from her lafest triumphs at Daytona, will be The Fuld Flywheel.
on show at Brooklands on Easter The Daimler fluid flywheel or Monday, and her famous owner has hydraulic clutch consists, very promised to drive her in a demon- roughly, of two hemispheres, or stration n round the track in an bowls, their interiors divided into interval Etween the raceh, This segments by partitions radiating will be ELD appropriate curtain- from the centre. They are mount raiser to a racing season is which ed face to face within a cylindricut we have great hopes not only of casing, one rotating like a flywheel exceptionally Ane spot but of re- on the engine shaft, the other on newing and heightening the prestige the shaft which transmits the power of the British,ear in the eyes of to the gearbox. There is no con- the world." nection between "the two hemis- pheres except a faid which' partly
alls them.
Paint and black enamel (chassis in the City. only); Four tons.
Car area painted: 30 acres, Bolte and nute: 1,800,000. Many million feet of wire arn also required for the various cler trical components. In conclusion, the total number of separate parts required for manufacturing. 2,000 Morris ears in a week is estimated to exceed the astonishing figure of i 20 million.
RACING CAR CRASH AT BROOKLANDS.
13
CLAIM BY INJURED SPECTATOR.
D
Worked" By Vehicles. The system differs from other systems in that the traffic control lights similar in appearance to those now used in many parts of the country--are controlled not by A fixed time a police officer or switch, but by the vehiclex crossing the junction themselves.
Rubber covered "detectors," set flush with the road between 60 and 100 feet from the junction, record the passage of every vehicle over them. They transmit the impulse made by the vehicle to the "con- troller which automatically closes whichever road has least traffic at the moment. It is claimed for the system that it permits a smoother. and more rapid low of traffic than any other.
A high City police official snið that in his view the installation
A lawsuit arising out of an acci-would be a great success as soon dent at Brooklands in May, 1930, as drivers were educated. in its when a car crashed through the use. There had already been, a time saving in the flow of traffic," karried, killed, two people and and by making it possible eventual Jured others, was opened in thely to do away with two point dialty policemen it would lead to a sub- King's Bench, Division.
staatia maving to the ratepayers."
in-
The mechanics who prepared the Blue Bird are now busy rebuilding the big 12-cylinder Sunbeam racer. It is this fluid that does the trick. with which Sir Malcolm hopes to As the engine and flywheel revolve, make things hum ut. Brooklands this the fluid is thrown by contrifugal reas Possibly at the Whitsun force against the segmental partis meeting of the B.A.1.C. he will tions in the other bowl. At low | have a go for the newly - instituted Lieut. Christopher Hall, of Monk- speeds, up to about 300 revolutions Daily Telegraph trophy for thefton Earleigh, Bradford-on-Avon, per minute, the effect is nil, but
as the engine speed rises more and more power is transmitted from one bowl to the other by the drag of the fluid.
"1
mountain lap record.
ال
sued Brooklands Auto-Racing Club; Mr. A. W. Fox, of Chatley, Coh- ham, Surrey; Mr. R. S. S. Heheler, of Patrick Brompton, Bedale; and Mr. C. Ribagliati, of Chelsea Em- bankment, S.W., for damages for injuries.
Ha contended that the barrier
an accident.
A British Racing Car, »" This car will be a welcome addi, tion to the small number of British With the engine ticking over there ring ears. "But not the only one. The Riley firm, so successful in the is complete slip; the clutch is, so to speak, "out." At normal work- 110 cc. class, are now to launch. on into the 14-litro class, where ing speeds of 1,500 r.p.m. and up-
they will be fighting very strong was not strong enough or high ward there is practically no Italian and French rivals. The new enough to prevent competing cars The slustic buffer between engine and gour-bux that the fluid provides neers will have the Riley six-breaking through in the event of enables some startling tricks to be cylinder engine, but with smaller done. In the rally a fluid flywheel cylinders, to bring it under 1,500 car did its hundred yards at about. (about 19 h.p.). Epeeds of 120 a mile an hour, "was then made top.h and more are aimed at, un eupercharged. The Kaye. Don accelerate as fast as possible over Eyston-Eldridge team will tune and another hundred, which it covered as quickly as any but a sports enr and then was put from third speed straight into reverse." That was to help it brakes. Neither gears nor transmission made any protest, and there, whs no jolt or jar for the
passengers..
.."
Defendants denied negligence. Mr. O'Connor (for Lieut. "Hall) said that the carg driven by Mr. Hebeler and Mr. Rabagliati wery entered by Mr. Fox During the drive them, and they will probably race they collided, with the rezult make their bow in the 1,000 miles that one car crashed through the race at Brooklands in June. On barrier. the experience gained with them on the track, the firm intend to pro- deco eventually a small six-cylinder car for ordinary road use.
Later, too, we shall see an MG racing car in the two-three litre class,, tint is of about 18 h,p., nid- racing circles have hopes that tiku. new Bentley now in cmbryo will
Earl Hone's View.
Earl Howe, the racing motorist, said that the care drivon by Hebeler Rabagliati were going too close to each other at the braking point on the track. A skid resulted and caused the accident.
The Fellowship of the Road. One thing accomplished by the rally was to revive, if only for die week; the old camaraderie of the road. The fluttering blue and white eventually emerge in racing trim. Ho anid he thought the track was Fennant made of a thousand But for the moment thers is only, well protected as could be ex motorists one single family, and n one British entry for the great pooled. "I don't think any barrier happy and enthusiastic farails, too! Italian Mille Miglia," and that.
would have prevented this ess get- Many and strangs were.. the tales an MG, entered by Load de Olifting among the crowd," be added, told at Torquay. One car had to ford,
The hearing was adjourned.
43
SCOPE OF THE
BRITISH VAN.. :
SUCCESS OF THE SINGER
MODELS.
ing this market that now, very low Leglous at the inclusive, quoteo "foreign"rans are being purchased, price.
Demand, Foroseen.
This is naturally reflected in tho production programmes of some of This company have foresson the the larger manufacturers, with a small iradeaman's demand for the corresponding increase in employ-light van to enable delivery costs. to be reduced and are offering & ment and a natural decrease in fully designed commercial chassis prica. An interesting example of complete with five-lamp lighting Although it is only two or three the efforts British van manufac and starting set, spare wheel and
turers have made within recent tyre ale for me little as £100, years since commercial vans of for times to recapture this market is oign "origin" predominated on the given by Singer and Co. Ltd., who ronds of England, such great were the first manufacturers in this strides have been made in recover-country to supply a van finished in
As British motor cycles conquered the world's markete, and then Bri- tish cars, now the British van will come into its own.
MOTORDOM PRESENTS
For Service: *FIAT GARAGE: 350, Honnessy Road. Taz. 24821,
THE NEW 1932
FIAT
21c cylinder
22c
6 cylinder
It's a splendid car for the money as you'll find on the road-a car to be proud of. Built on lithe, graceful lines with a motor that has "guts its a wonderful bug at the price.
PRICED FROM $2,850.00
AGENTS:
A. GOEKE & CO.
SPARE PART DEPARTMENT:
CHINA BUILDING.
TELEPHONE 22221.
Showroom':
FIAT CARAGE 950, Hennessy Road
TIL 24821.
THESE
MORRIS-COWLEYS
are, two
out of five
attractive
Models
to suit everyone's need
Au Englus unit improved "out of all recognition, giving comfortable top gear performance, on the Peak. magnetic Finger-tip Control and Dipping, giving maximum visibility in foggy weather.
DODWELL & CO.,
LIMITED ICE HOUSE STREET, HONG KONG CANTON AND AT
Roadster
Saloon with
ytchley sliding head