{UNE 9TH, 1906.

THE AUTOCAR R 3ournal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall~ propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 555. VoL. XVI.]

SATURDAY, JUNE 9TH, 1906.

[PRICE 3D.

TME AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly.)

Registered .i a _a newspaper to1 transm1ss1on 'm the United Kingdom.

Entered as secona-c1ass rna\~er in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.

EDITORIAL :_OFFICE;

COVENTRY.

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l-UNTENTS.

PAGE

NOTES: THE TIMES JN H 1Lt-CLIMBS-THE TOURIST TROPHY RACl!:-

TOURIST TROPHY 80DU!S-TH1l PETROL-ELECTRIC SYSTEM 727-728 USEFUL flINTS AND TIPS: MAKESHIFTS ON TouR (illustrated)... .. . 729 A NEw Low-T1<i,s10N MAGSETO (illustrated) 730-732 Mov1NG UP-TO-DATE (illustrated) ... 732 CONSISTENCY AND RELIABILITY .. . 733-734 SOME SrLLY SuGGESTJONs... ... 734 THE I0-12 H.P. COVENTRY HUMBER CAR (illustrated) 735-737 CARS JK THE LONDON TO EDIWBURGH RUN ... 737 MeTOK CAMPINe (illustrated) 738-739 THE H1tRKOM&R TROPHY COMPETITION: PROCEEDINGS AT FRANKFORT-

ON-MAINI!: .. ,

740-743

SOM& PARTICULARS OF TH& GRAND PRIX CARS TMK G oRDON-BENNETT CuP Fo1a v. Sue-CYLINDER MATCH . ..

... 143 .. . 743

CORRESPONDENCE: EFFECT OF THE TOURIST TROPHY ON DEsIGN­

lNSURANCKS- POLICE AND MANUFACTITRERS- AN Ooo AovttllTISKMENT-TH!t FROME1S HILL-CLIMB-COPPER IN ACETYLENE LAMPS -Ho.-, W& ARK TREATED-PRICES OF MOTORS IN New ZEALANDWOKEN DRIVERS-THE DAIMLER CARS-ON TH& ROAD : THE ROAD CLUB-INCONSIDERATE DRIVING-TH& GRAND PRIXSINGLE GKAR D1t1ve-DE DioN-BouToN v. Cocxs LTo.-SPRAGs V. EFFICIENT BRAKES ... 745-749 MRONAUTICAL NoTas. By E. C resar Hawkins . .. ... 750 NOTIS ON MOTORING IN NEW ZEALAND 751 A 1,000 MILES CONTINUOUS TRIAL 752 A BRITISH-BUILT SIX-CYLINDER AIR-COOLED ENGINE (illustrated) 753 l'LASHIES ... 754-756 THE MOTOR YACHT CLUB: RELIABILITY TRIALS FOR MOTOR BOATS... 757 SCOTTISH RELIABILITY TRIALS, ] UNE 13-16 .. . 757 CLUB DOINGS: CLUB F1xTURES-MOTOR YACHT CLue-Du PRE INTER•

CLUB HILL-CLIMB-YORKSHIRE A.C. SPEED TRIALS

758

THE AUTOMOBILE HANDBOOK

.. . 758

"THE AUTOCAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES : British lbles, 165. Abroad (thin paper euaion), 22s. ~d. per ;rn11u111,

I

J ;Notes. The Times in Hill-climbs. As we pointed out a fortnight since, hill -climbing competitions are robbed of much of their interest by the fact that the times are not published. Indeed, in many cases the competitors themselves never know their own times unless they are carefully timed by a friend who accompanies them in the car. Thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Wilfrid Groom, the honorary secretary of the Herefordshir,e A.C., we were able, in dealing with the Frame's Hill-climb, to publish the names of the competing cars in their order of speed. The times were not given, because the Herefordshire Club loyally observed the desires of the Automobile Club, and kept the times private. and as the event was held upon a public road we think it desirable that the actual speeds should not be disclosed; but in the next two or three weeks we shall have more than one important hill-climb held upon private roads, and, as we have said before, there is no reason whatever why these times should not be published.

However, as the ruling is at present that they should not be disclosed, it seems to us that a very satisfactory compromise would be to give comparative in formation, which, after all , is the main thing required by automobilists who follow these competitions keenly. The idea would b_e worked out practically in the followin g manner: Assume, for the sake of argument, that forty cars are competing in an open hill -climb, and that car Ko. 7 makes the fastest time. It would be therefore stated in the offi cial return that this particul ar car was the fastest. Then would follow the names of the other cars, with the number of seconds they were behind the fastest car. Say, for example, that Nos. 39 and 24 were the second . and third fa~test cars, one fin ishing 2¾s. behind the fastest and the other ros. behind, the names of these two cars would be given with the number of seconds which they occupied over and above the time of the fastest car in the competition. So that, while the actual times made would nerer be disclosed, it would always be seen how much faster than anr other car the fastest car was. In other words, the particulars of the event , ould be interesting, and would afford material for useful comparisons. The comparative speed of the cars would be known, though the actual SP. ed would not be disclosed.

The ourist Trophy Race. A letter is published to-day in our correspondence columns from a writer who brings up a point which is of very great importance. Our correspondent mentions that he knows two instances in which cars which performed prominently in last year's Tourist Trophy Race were built too light! )', and have shown themselves to be scarcely strong enough for continued service. I ow, this is a ,,ery important point indeed, but it is necessary to bear in mind that there are quite a number of Tourist Trophy cars which are not showing signs of premature decay. Undoubtedly some of the cars used in the race last year were built too lightly, but now the weight lim it has been removed, and there is no temptation for the maker to cut the weight UJ11duly except 1so far as he can do it to .save himself the handicap of carrying needless material. Hmvever, with last year's limit it still remains a fact that the majority of the cars run in the race were splendid specimens of the moderately powered touring car, and a.re standing work excellently. On the other hand, there is no doubt that one or two mak~s which had scarcely passed their experimental stage at the time· of l,ast year 's race have hown signs of weakr;i1qss, ·not· because tl:iey were T ourist Trophy cars, bu_t simply _b·ecause · (hey were insufficiently strong.

There is no such thing as a contest with absolutely ideal conditions, and there will always he the risl;