,., ... THE AUTOCAR
a 3ournal publisbe~ in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propelle~ roa~ carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
}: o. 608. V OL XVIII. SATURDAY, JUNE ISTH, 1907.
[PRICE JD.
THE AUTOCAR.
(Published Weekly. )
Registered a s a newspaper fo r tran smission in the United Kingdom.
Entered as second-class m3tter in the New York (N.Y. ) Post Office.
EDITORIAL OFFICE :
COVENTRY.
PUBLISHING OFFICES :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E .C., ENGLAND.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Non:s .. .. .. ..
..
Usb:.FUL Rt:STS AND TIPS (ILLUSTRATED) , ,
.. 875-876
877
THE Ht!NRY EDMUNDS TROPHY AND CARTER'S HILL CUP
(ILLUSTRATED) DETACHABLE AIR TusEs-A PosSIBILIT Y ON THE ROAD. Bv Ow EN JOHN
. . 878-880
880 88 1
POLICE TRAPS AND INDICATING MAP .. FROM SOUTH TO NORTH ON A SMALL CAR. THE HERKOMER TROPHY COMPETITIO!'ii'
. . 882-883
Bv ST!CKIT M1 ,<1sTE R 8~4-885
THE CRAVEN CARBURETTER (ILLUSTRATED) .. OccAsJONAL Goss1r. Bv THE AUTOCRAT . . ROUND THB TAUNUS COURSE , • THE CHENARD-WALCKF.R GEAR (ILLUSTRATED) .. THE PROPOSED DUST TRIALS AT BROOKLANDS THR KAISER CUP CONDITIONS . . ! N THE HOUSE OF COMMONS .. T HE FEATURE OF THE TOUR IST TROPH\T RACE THE SUNRISING HILL ACCIDEN1 T HE ROLLS-ROYCE LONG• D ISTANCE TRIAL . . AN IMPROVED GEAR (ILLUSTRATED) .. CORRESPONDENCE, ,
. . 886-887 · . . 888-889
8S9 . . 890-891
892-893
893 894 895 896 S96 897-898
898
899·903
CONTINEN!'AL NOTES AND N EWS: THE PEKIN TO PARIS RIDE
THE Moscow TO ST. PETERSBURG RACE-ANOTHER FATAL A CCIDENT-NECESSITY FOR PRUDENCE-DANGEROUS STEER-
ING WHEELS..
. . , .
P RESENTATION TO THE TOURIST TROPHY ,V INNER FLASHES ( I LLUSTRATED) .. CLUB DOINGS (ILLUSTRATED) , ,
SOME QUESTIONS AND REPLIES
r101-906
906 907-908
. , c;oo-910
91 I
T HE MOTOR CAR CONS IDERE D AS A CARRIAGE (I LLUSTRATED),. 9I:if. 91 4 R EVIEWS • • 914
" THE AUTOCAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Brit ish Isles, 16s. Abroad (thin paptr edi tion l, 22s. Bd. per annum.
{
Notes. Road Surfaces and Motor Cars. Whenever a road is in bad condition nowadays it is usual for the authorities responsible for it to attribute the roughness of its surface to motor car traffi c . As all motorists know, in nine cases out of ten this is but an excuse for bau road making. and in all case s 1t 1s an exhibition of ignorant prejudice against moto r cars . One of the best oroofs of thi we have come acros of late is in a letter written by the Rector of Stoke Lacy, H erefo rdsh ire, to the H ereford T i mes, dealing with the condition of Frame's H ill after the Herefordsh i re Automobil e C lub hill -climb. In his letter the R ev. H. G . Morgan points out that the contest on Frame's H ill afforded a most va luab le lesson to all
11 ho are interested in the wear and tear and the mainte nance of road s. H e the n goes on to say:
" ;\O less than 1 ro ca rs took p art in this contest, many of th em high powered cars. Most of these a. cended th e hill , and, more than thi , th e majority of th em had a practi ce befo re th e race was run , s~veral tim es over th e course. It would be a moderate est imate to compute that during th e week of the race there we re 500 runs up .Frame's Hill. As I am myself a member of th e Roads Committee responsibl e for th e upkeep of Frome · s Hill I took \·erY ca reful note of th e condition of th e road a t'te r th e race . According to many motorphobes the road should ha1·e been a ruin , for it is certainly not constru cted to bea r th e heaviest traffic, but, on th e contrary , th e surf ace of the road was perfect. Some superfluous mud had been extracted in the form of dust, but not a stone was displaced, and no sign of wea r and tea r was visible . Imagine th at 500 heavy 1raggons had passed over that piece of road in the same time ! And yet we a re often asked to believe that motors are de.straying th e roads and thro,ving . a heavy burden on the ratepayer! I passed this morning a piece of road over which a coupl e of waggons had b ee n hau ling manure for a few hours. The damage done to th e road \ras much greater than \\'aS done to Frame's Hill / by the Frame's Hill meeting-a record in th e numbfj· and size of cars . "
Effect of Horses and Motors Compared. There is no doubt that the R v. Mr. 1Iorgan's estimate of th e number of nms made up Frame's H i ll during th e week of th e hill -climb is a most reasonable one. In fact, we should ha\·e no hesitation in say ing that it was a n under-estimate, beca use th ere was such a la rge number of visiting ca rs in addition to the competing ca rs , many of which we re tri ed up th e hill before and a ft e r the hill -climb by their mrne rs. I t is also worth remembering that in the competition itse lf the cars we re a ll driven in such a way as to put the utmost possibl e wear upon the road, which fo r the greater part of .the week prior to the event was saddened with wet . In th e ordinary way a car is driven with some consideration for its mechanism , and, inci dentally , this means th at it takes far less out of the road.
Consider what happens in a hill-climb. At the sta rt the engine is racerl bruta lly, and th e c lutch put in ju st as fi erce ly as th e d r i1·e r dare , so that the qu ickest possible start shal I be made . The car starts like a shot from a gun, a nd its tyres, in a ll probability studded, slip oo th e road like the wheels of a railway locomotive \1·hen starting on a greasy rail. Having got mray, th e driver is forcing his engine to the very utmost. With th e high powered cars he t akes the bends on the hill at th e utmost possible speed consistent with keeping the ca r from bei ng upset. When he changes gear in nine cases out of ten he does it badly, and without th e least attempt to stop h is engine from racing, and th e whole run from bottom to top is carried out in every way a t th e highest possible pre ssure. It is a race against time.
