1928-12-05 — Page 10

10

MOTORING NOTES

TESTING CARS.

PULL MEASURED ON LEVEL AND SLOPE

BRITISH INVENTION USED IN

AMERICA

[PELINE HON, MAYNARD. OKEVILLE}

020

(CONTD.).

MISTAKES WE MAKE.

WHERE THE WOMAN- DRIVER GOES WRONG.

[BY LADY LAWFORD.]

George Meredith declared that wil bis the last thing civilised by man.'' :.

When I motor behind some women drivers on our toads I am inclined to believe him.

woman

The average woman has no love for machinery. Watch her prod at the shuttle of her sewing-machine with a screw-driver or over-wind

During the past year I have tested some 20 cars for review and I have come to the conclusion that it is time to revise the methods I have adopted in the 'past.

There

presumably, two things that people want to know about a new model which they have ! the child's last clockwork engine. not had an opportunity of, trying themselves. First, what is the car's" actual performance, and, secondly, what is the tester's opinion of the vehicle.

The second is easily expressed, but the former is far more difficult. To begin with, there is no abso lute standard wherewith one can

and you will readily be convinced of this. Of course, there are the exceptions, and I have met women motorists more careful and capable than the average man driver--but not many.

The great fault that nearly all women drivers suffer from-and I

write with a good deal of experi

compare a car's performance, and¦ence—is that they cannot leave the to state that the acceleration was middle of the road, for the reason.

terrific or moderate is only an exe doubt, that it is easier to drive

pression of opinion.

1

What people want to know is exactly what a car will do, and for this reason I have always tried to be as explet a possible and to express the actual performance of the vehicle in figures To do this one can give its maximum speed, the time it takes to climb a particular hill, or acceleration figures.

there.

THE HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5th, 1928.

A little to one side, and the cam herls" a bit, so the driver must keep a fairly firm grip of the wheel, which, one grants, is fatiguing on. long-distance runs; hence the 'lins of least resistance.

Sitting Boll Upright. Another factor I have often noted is that "few women drivers "get down to it. They nearly always sit in a bolt-upright, uncomfortable

This, however, gives only an apposition. proximate guide to the car's per formance, and after some months of experiment. I have decided, in future to adopt an instrument that will give the actual pulling power of a car on any gear and at any speed.

Measuring Results. This instrument is known as the Tapley performance meter, and I have one fitted with a clamp which I can attach to any car in a few moments. Briefly, it consists of pendulum suspended in a fluid to damp its violent oscillations and no connected to a "double scale that every movement of the pendulum from the vertical can be read.

When a car is in motion the re- sistance to its motion and the pell of the engine always balance each nother.

If the pull is, altered the speed of the car changes until the resistance exactly equals the new pull, and the car again settles to a constant speed.

When the resistance and the pull

Now, in a long distance rua man lies back comfortably in his the car-a thoroughly easy, natura seat, his body rather sideways in attitude that does not tire, while giving him complete control of the machine.

in

ROAD ACROSS AFRICA,

RACING MOTORIST ARRIVES AT THE CAFE FROM CAIRO,

Although I averaged 200 milės a day over the iron-atone Nubian deserts," Mr. Bouwer states in a the Dunlap Company message to in London, and 500 miles a day on bush track in central Africa, I

TRIUMPHS OF BRITISH ENGINEERING.

RECENT RACE SUCCESSES.

The tremendous success of the

contested by in itse

The Ulster race was precisely Certainly a more exciting race such an event, and Coventry, the car never have been run; although the full distance was 410 miles, only original home of automobile manu 13 seconds divided the first two facture in Great Britain, rose gal. cars. Kaye Don with the Lea- lantly to the occasion by supplying Francis achieved an average speed the first and second-cars to Anish of 64.08 m.p.h., and drove a magni- ficent race. The regularity of his had, a bare thirty hours in which Tourist Trophy race in Ulster fal- Those faint-hearted people who lap speeds was astonishing, but the Through desert and jungle Mr. d. S.. Bouwer, the South African to complete the last and most diflowing the admirale 24-hour race have seen, in the series of foreign Lea-Francis was running wet, with racing motorist, has averaged just foult 1,000 miles and the slightest on the road at Le Mans, in France, Grand Prix races

last Juno, says The Autocar, machines, however excellent they It is not perhaps well known delay would hand ruined my chance. I proves that meter-ear racing on may be, of undoubted freakish con- that this very car had already For 250 miles a day for 0,000 miles For the first time in my experience; the roads to day to achieve succession need from the private achieved access at Brooklands. It on his return journey across Africa I drove this last lap without one and hold public interest must be owner's point of view, the decad-was, of course, a standard hyper from London which he left in puncture; I had never previously confined to vehicles approximately ence of English car manufacturers, sports, supercharged-model-selling- revise their to the public at £495. There could August.to.Cape Town where be based a mechanical trouble at touring cars Topublic opinions. English carmakers have be no greater test of the excel

had fewer than four en that route. very chately, indeed to genuine will now have to just arrived.

all and only one crash when I hit whom, is tired of speed Brobding shown that they can make, cars lence of design workmanship and materials than a road race of this He undertook the advonture to a tree stump at speed, smashed nags or Lilliputs among cars. It superb in sustained speed,

contests between Great Britain has always been nature with the terrife stresses demonstrate the practicability of a front springs, and bent a front wants to

axla."

vehicles which are actually pur able to produce the best in all imposed by almost continuous brak- highway between Cairo and the At one time Mr. Bouwer was 00 chaseable at reasonable commercial į forms of engineering, and in noing and acceleration. Cape and he travelled by a route miles from any water supply and prices and embodying points in de sphere of the art is she mere to It is noteworthy that the winner which he had prepared for himself he carried a 10 gallon petrol tank sign and construction such as the the front than in the production of beat its handicap by 1 minute 47 in the back seat with a five gallen ordinary touring ear normally coh. fast, economical, up-to-date light; seconds, or an average of 3 a000DËR seven, months ago.

auxiliary oil tank,

per lap.

During the eighteen years which I have driven a motor-ear and done all my own repairs I have who know anything worth while come across extremely few women hout, the inside of the machine they were driving. I remember, in this connection, one woman who started off one day with her car making a noise like an eighteen- pounder gun. In between the loud explosions, she explained that it always did that when it was tired..

*

And I met another woman who was fearfully intrigued" when L. showed her the inside of the car- buretter she had always believed it was "solid, and simply could not

understand why the float had a hole

in it...

Just watch the average woman

another car or other vehicle--she hardly ever relies on her mirror, but will nearly always turn her head- dangerous practice likely to lead to complications if not to accidents.

are balanced (ie., whenever the speed is constant) the pendulum is entirely unaffected by either, and driver being overtaken in traffic by it therefore remains vertical If the car is accelerated by depress ing the accelerator, the pendulum, instead of remaining vertical, will lag behind, the amount of haz de pending upon the rate of accelera tion, or what amounts to the same thing the useful pull that the ene

exerts.

The standard gradient scale of the Tapley meter is divided to show the pull as a fraction of the weight of the rar, and in 18. per ton. Whatever pull, is available on depressing-the-accelerator on the level, is also available for climbing ahil and when the pull on the scale shows, say, one-tenth of the car's weight, it will be exactly the pull required to drive the par up a one-in-ten gradient at a constant specd.

"By this means it is not only pos. sible to tell the usefil pull exerted by the car at any speed on any gear, but also the steepness of the hill that the car will climb at a constant speed on its different gcars.

Brake Testing.

The fact that Enelid and geometry de not figure among the usual sub- eets taught in the average girls! school is the probable cause of wo

a drivers taking almost impos- sible corners at hair-raising speeds,, as they frequently do, and this with an airy disregard for the white lines painted on, the road.

The pity of it is that, in my opinion, women would make very good motorists if only they would take the trouble. Too many trust! to men drivers "giving way at all times, and to male courtesy generally, while others, I feary be Bere simply in luck all the time. As a result, women drivers are not

popular on our roads as they

could be.

Again, the resistance offered by

a car to motion includes the rolling

In the same way the retardation resistance-of-the-wheels on the

of the brakes can be measured, but

in order to get more accurate re- sults I have a separate instrument for brake testing, working on the same principle, but which automa tically locks itself at the maximum

road, the resistance due to the air. and the frictional resistance of the mechanism of the car:

Lubricants, And Friction.

air resistance or mechanical resist. By comparing several readings. reading when the brakes are pance in the transmission can be plied, and actually shows the dis Lance in which the car can be stopped from 20 miles an hour,

This is identical with those that

ascertainca, and I have found it possible to detect even different lubricants in the gear-box.

have been crdered by America and actual brake horse power de- Engine friction can be measured police authorities for testing brakes in the United States, as I stated livered at the road wheels can he in the Morning Post some time ago. the weight of the car be known,

ascertained at different speeds if With the performance meter it is not only possible to obtain the I propose in future to give briefly actual pull of the car in pounds per with cath account of a car trial ton, hut a few simple calculationg readings from the meter and cal will give its performance in many cillations on most of these points. other directions.

so that it will be possible to cam-

It is, of course, necessary to set Pare the actual performances of the meter level before taking the different. cars far more accurately readings, and this is done with a than was possible with the old key. As an example, suppose that method.

a car is being driven on top gear Of course performance is not on a level road at ten m.p.h. On everything. A car may have a very depressing the accelerator a maxi good performance and yet be rough mum indication of one-in-18is and uncomfortable to drive. reached. The mte of acceleration shall continue to describe my im 8. "Antrefoto" 22715, or approxnatepressions of the comfort and

miles per hour per eccond goporal qualities of the vehicle-I- “(Continued" "on"bell" Dolunay am trying

cains,

050

motor cara,"

THOUSANDS

NOW ENJOY ITS

MORE

BEAUTY. POWER AND ECONOMY

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Tourer (5 passenger)

Tourer (7 passenger)

Roadster

Coach

Sedan (5 passenger)

Standard Special Great Size

.R.K. $2,850 3,350

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.H.K. $3,000 3,450

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(Prices and specifications subject to change without notice).

WILLYS KNIGHT SIXES

WILLYS-KNIGHT

Things

Distributors for Hong Kong and S. China: GILMAN & CO., LTD. HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI BANK BUILDING.

WILLYS

TEL. C. 290.

OVERLAND

Service:

DURO" MOTOR CO., LTD.

NATHAN ROAD, KOWLOON.

TEL. K. 226.

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