JULY 8TH, 1905,
THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propelleb roab carrtage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
No. 507. VoL. XV.] SATURDAY, JULY 8TH, 1905.
[PRICE 6D.
-TlfE AUTOCAR.
(Published Weekly.)
Rqistered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom. Entered as second-class matter at the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.
EDITORIAL OFFICE :
COVENTRY.
PUBLISHING OFFICES :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.
CONTENTS.
NOTES: THE FRENCH WITHDRAWAL-THE DAILY PRESS AND MOTOR
AccroENTs-To AMEND THE MOTOR CAR AcT ...
. .. 33-34
USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS: REVARNISHING MOTOR BODIES-ATTENTION
TO AUTOMATIC CARBURETTERS-UNCONNECTED CLUTCH AND BRAKES-FLARE PATCHES 35 THE GoaooN-BENN~TT RAcE. BgFoRE THE START ... 36-38 PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE MOTOR CAR ACT 39 THE 18-24 B.A.C.S. CAR (illustrated) ... .. . 40-41 OccASJONAL Goss1P, By" The Autocrat" 42 ls RACING ANY LONGER USEFUL ? By Henry Sturmey ... 43-44 TALBOT-MOND~Y SYNCHRONISED lGNITION (illustrated) 45 GENERALITIES. By Rutulan 46 Two-IN-ONE COAT (illustrated)-AN INTERESTING ENGINE (illustrated)
-THE S&NYAB PETROL FILTER (illustrated) • • • ... • .. ... 47 ROYAL PARKS MOTOR REGULATIONS 48 CORRESPONDENCE: To ALLAY THE AGITATION-A HINT ABOUT TH&
KREBS CARBURETTF.R-ADVANTAGES OF PNEUMATIC TYRES-THE HYDE PARK REGULATION - DESTRUCTION OF IN5ULATION BY OILFOR PETROL AND THE CHAUFFEUR-CHILDREN AND MOTORS-A VETERAN LADY AUTOMOBILIST (illustrated)-RECORD JN Gooo RUNNING- THE CIRCUMVENTION OF POLICE TRAPS-HARSH TREATMENT BY MAGISTRATES-TAXATION OF MOTOR CAWS -WHIT~ METAL B&ARINGS-lGNITION-TRIAL AFTEH: COMPLETION-FANCOOLING AND TYRES-HORNS V. Bt:LLS ... , ... :1-9·52 A SPRING WHEEL FOR MoTOR VEHICLES (illustrated) ... 53 SOME WHEEL TESTS : METAL v. Wooo ... 54 FLASHES ... SOME QUERIES AND REPLIES ...55-57 58 THE NEw DucELLJh.R LAMPS-THi-; AMERICAN MAKE OF DUNLOP
MOTOR TYRE-A N e:w IGNITION De:v1ct:-A CRANK CHAMBh.R DRAINER (illustrated) ... 59 CLUB DOINGS (illustrated): MOTOR TRIALS IN CEYLON-LADIES' A C.
GYMKHANA-CLUB FIXTURES, t:TC....
• .. 60-62
With each copy of this isme of " The A 11/ucar'' is i11c/11ded a
12-page S1<pplement giving the first f11/l and com-plete repo,•f of
The Gordon-Bennett Race.
'' THE AUTOCAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES. British ls\es, 16s. Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s. 8d. per annum.
I Notes. ( The { rench Withdrawal. It will be seen from our Continental ~otes t is week that France has decided to take no part in the ordon Bennett race next year. This decision as it stands is one against which we have nothing to say, but the matter will not end here. France is simply withdrawing from the Gordon-Bennett race because she has not been permitted to run it entirely as she pleased because she was not content to abide by the rule ot three cars for each nation, irrespective of whether that nation manufactures ten thousand or one hundred motor cars per annum. France wanted to be allowed to run a larger number of cars than any other nation simply because she has more motor car manufacturers; then because the nations concerned would not agree to this she has withdrawn from the race in future. I t is generally understood that her withdrawal is only preliminary to the establishment of a new race, the Grand Prix affair, in which France will have four or five cars to every other nation's one. This is all very well; we have nothing to say against the Grand Prix, but we should strongly recommend no other nation to take part in it, nor in any other international race which is run in so one sided a manner.
We should prefer to see the Gordon-Bennett race reduced to one car from each nation, after each nation has conducted its eliminating trial, though the limitation of three is a very good one. The international commission which manages the Gordon-Bennett race should at once get to work and take steps for the holding of next year's race without the assistance of France. The French labour under the delusion that without them the Gordon-Bennett race cannot be successfully held. In this they are entirely mistaken if the other nations will work together. At the moment, and without disparaging other countri es in any way, we think it will be admitted bv all that there is no countn· in which a fair field -and no favour is so uniYersally given as in England. The best thing would be for foreign nations to arrange for the GordonBennett to be held in the Isle of Man next year. They know they will get an absolutely fair and equal chance, and that if one or other of them went on winning the Gordon-Bennett cup for twenty years they would still get that same open fairness, and nothing whatever would be done to favour the English competitors at the expense of the foreigners.
It is a great pity that France should have dealt this blow to international racing, because it is so unnecessary. If her racing cars are the fastest the) will win whether she has three or thirty; if they are not she will not win, and it is extraordinary that this should not be good enough for her. There is no doubt that so far as the French Automobile Club is concerned it takes a sportsmanlike view of the matter, but it has had to give in to the French manufacturers and consent to an act which everyone who understands sport at all knows is not sportsmanlike. The fact of the matter is the French manufacturers have not rea~· sed their own strength; they have more than a sportin chance in any racing evtt, and surely this should e enough for them.
The Daily Press and Motor ccidents. A fortnight since we published a letter from Mr. Arthur Stanley, M.P .. the chairman of the Automobile Club, dealing with certain reports of motor accidents or so-called motor accidents, which have been published. these accidents being found in the majority of instances no,t to have been caused by motor cars at all. As chapter and verse were cited it was only to be expected that reporters and others responsible for
