M AY 18 TH, 1907.
THE AUTOCAR 'El 3ournal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propelleb roab carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
No. 604. Vor.. XVIII. SATURDAY, MAY r8 TH, 1907.
[PRICE 3D.
Tl/E AUTOCAR.
(Published Weekly.)
- Recister ed as a newspaper for transmiufon in the United KlDgdom.
l!ntered ·a s second-class matter in the New York (N. Y.) Post Office .
EDITORIAL OFFICE :
COVENTRY.
PUBLISHING OFFICES :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
NOTES , • . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . 709-710 USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS: PARAFFIN TAPS-TO PROTECT PETROL
FUNNELS FROM DIRT-ADJUSTING INTERNAL EXPANDING URAKES (ILLUSTRATED} . • • • • • • • • • • • 7I I TP.R ASTER HJGH- TENSION MAGNETO (ILLUSTRATED) • • 712-713 AN AMERICAN FRONT WHEEL DRIVE.. • . • • 713 A TEST OF RELIABILITY (ILLUSTRATED) • , 714-715 A PowERPUL TYRE PUMP (ILLUSTRATED) • • • • • • 715 SIX- CYLINDER HOTCHKISS LoNC DISTANCE TRIAL • • 715 THE FuEL LtllltT RACES (ILLUSTRATED) . . . . . . . . 716- 717 THE Bo H.P. EIGHT-CYLINDER GRAND PR1x WEIGEL CAR (ILLusw
TRATED) . . . . . . . .
718- 719
POLICE-TIHED ROADS (ILLUSTRATED) • , • •
720w"72I
CoNTJNENTAL NOTES AND NEWS (ILLUSTRATED) , .
722 w724
THE I0,000 MILES SIDDELEY CAR (ILLUSTRATED)
THE ELECTRJCAL METHOD OF ENGINE TESTING..
AN INGENIOUS MOTOltETER {ILLUSTRATED)
VANDERBILT CUP CoNlEST-TIME SAVING,.
725 ~726
. • 727
• • 728
. . 728
~ORRESPONDENCJ&: • •
I HE PEKJNwPARJS RUN • • • • o •
• •
THE R.A.C. AND M .U. ROAD StGNS (ILLUSTRATED)
729-732
• • 733
. . 734
THE VULCAN CHANGE SPEED LEVER . . . • • . • • • • 734 A SJXwCVLJNDER l.ANCHESTER (ILLUSTRATIONS) . . . • • , • . 735 THE MOTOR UNION MEET (JLLUSTRATED)-THE WHITE TRIALS . . 736 THE 40 H.P. CHAIN-DRIVEN CROSSLEY (ILLUSTRATED) -"':'. • . 737 FLASHES . . . . • • . . . . . . . . . . 738- 740 SPEED TRIALS AT WELBECK (ILLUSTRATED) 741w742 CLUB Domes (ILLUSTRATED) . . . . . . 743- 744 THE STAR TOURIST TROPHY CARS ( ILLUSTRATED) • . 745 THE CARTER'S HILL COMPETITIONS.. • • • • • • 745 !RISH AUTOMOBILE CLUB • • 746
THE O(llll!MITTEE OF THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB. With each copy of this issue Is included a doab:e page supplement reproduction of the photocraph presented to the Hon. A. Stanley as a memento cl his two years' chairmanship of the Club.
"THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION RATES: British Isles, 16s. Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s. 8d. per annum.
J Notes. Pol ice Traps.
Unfortunately the police trap is not yet a thing ot the past. We are glad to know th at, with the assistance of our readers, we have been the means of preventing many motorists from falling into these traps. The map of police traps and the list we propose to publish frequently--each week if necessary-enable one to see before starting on a drive which are the mfected areas. It is impossible upon a map of con venient size to give ·the exact position of the measured stretches. In fact, in some cases this would be useless, because the police shift the area of their operations a mil e or two either wav as tactical considerations may dictate. At the sa.'me tim e, the map enables a broad view of the country to be taken, and anyone can see by reference to it whether he is going into a dangerous zone, and where numbers appear he on ly has to turn to the reference list to ascertain the situation of the traps more nearly.
Fortunately for motorists, Scotland is practically free from traps, and Ireland absolutely so, so that the one map of England < 1.nd Wales is sufficient-in fac t , at the present moment Wales, too, might be omitted, as there the police find something better to do than to set ambushes for motorists upon the open highway. In the compilation of this list of traps we have always had the heartiest co-operation of our readers. We value it very highly both on our own behalf ar}ft that of motorists in general, and we beg them tq continue to help us to protect motorists from unfair prosecution by advising us of any traps which th eyrkay discover, so that we can include them in our{:~ and list to keep them quite up to date.
A Warn ing. Just now when Tourist Trophy and other races are close at hand we would utter a note of warning to the drivers of high speed cars and to their friends. Only recently a very sad fatal accident occurred in Sicily when a motorist, quite unused to high speeds, took the mechanician's seat upon one of the racing cars. When running at high speed the car passed over some in equality in the road and leapt swervingly into the air, as a ll high speed cars must do when forced at full speed over a bad road. The passenger, unaccustomed to the violent motion , was not holding on sufficiently tightly. He was thrown from the car, and although he alighted clear, he fell in such a way as to receive injuries from which he never recovered.
People who have not ri<lden in a high speed car at or near racing sp eeds do not realise the way in which it bounds from inequality to inequality as it is forced over a rough road or when it strikes a depression, such as a cross gutter, or is taken round a corner at the extreme limit of speed possible without upsetting. The driver is all right, because he knows what he is going to do and is a practised hand at the game, and so too is the hardened mechanic, who seems to have the gift of sticking to the car, even though he may be busily engaged in some operation, such as attending to the lubrication or pumping pressure into the tanks. Even he, however, is at times thrown out of the car, but he is generally pretty hard, and has that wonderful knack of falling which has been so interestingly dealt with by the gifted Maeterlinck in the Daily Mail .
On the other hand, the average individual who persuades the driver of a racing car to give him a trial trip is quite unprepared for what he is about to undergo, and unl ess the driver realises that he is carrying a novice, and behaves accordingly, th ere is a very great risk. Those who have not tried can scarcely realise that a Tourist Trophy car in full ca reer is harder to hold on to than a -fu ll -sized racer at a higher speed . Even in the enclosed back seats of a Tourist Trophy car which is being urged at the top of its speed it is
