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THEAUTOCAR :a Journal publisheb in the interests of the mechanicall\2 propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 6ro VoL. XVIII. SATURDAY, JUNE 29TH, 1907.

[PRICE 3D.

THE AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly.)

Reg istered a:s a newspaper for transmission in the United Kin~dom .

En te re i as second-cla .:.s matter in the New York {N.Y . ) Post Office.

EDITORIAL OFFICE:

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHIN G OFFICES :

20. TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E .C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

PACE

NOTES . . . . . . ·, . .

THE T EN :\l11.E LUIIT l 'i THE PARKS

. • . .

957-958

. • 958

USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS: TH E REPAIR OF HORN BULBS-THE

DESCENT OF STEb.P HlLLS-~01S Y CLUTCH FORKS . . . . . . 959 THE JUNIOR 18-'.:q H.P . AND 28 - 40 H.P. CHASSIS (ILLUSTRATED) 96o- 961 THE YORKSHIRE A .(. RACES ON SALTBUR:-1 SANDS ( ILLUSTRATED) ~62 -964 THE RI GHT H o:-1. SJR J. H. A. l\TACDONALD . . 965 THE TWENT Y-FOUR Hom~s· DRI\'E . . . . 965 THE DAIMLER CONTROL . . 966 TH E \1/AY TO W E YBRIDGE . • . . . . 967 THE SCOTTISH R ELIABILIT\' T RIALS .. . . . . 968-969 A SHORT BODY ON A L o::-w C HASSIS (ILLUSTRATED) • . . . 970-971 THE SOUTHERK M OTOR C Lua·s OP£~ HILL- CLl:\IB ( ILLUSTRATED) 972-974 ON THE RoAo . Bv OWEN J OHN . . . . 975 LATEST POLICE TRAPS < 1LI.USTRATED) 976- 978 GHAPHJTE AS A MOTOR LUBRI CANT . . . • 978 ARMY MOTOR RF.S ERVE . . . . . • 978 TWENTY-FOUR H OURS A GA I NST TIM E . . , • 979 A NOVEL FORM OF TRIAL (lLLUSl RATED). . . . 980 (ORRESPONDF.NCE . . • . 98r -984 I N THE Hou sF. OF COM MONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 SO)IE OF THE ENTRIES AT THE FIRST 8ROOKLANDS )IEETING . . . . 985 A TRIANCULAR TALK • • 986-989 FLASHES.. . . • . . . 990- 99 1 CLUB DOINGS (ILLUSTRATED).. . • 992-99 4 A USEFUL OIL GAUGE (ILLUSTRATED) • • • • . , . • 995 To THE 8ROOKLANDS TRACK ON THE T.T. ROLLS- ROYCE . . 995 CONTI~ENTAL NOTES AND NEWS . . 996

With ea.cl, copy of '' Tlte A utoca,, '' this wccil is presented a. porfrait in colo urs, by Mr . S eymour Lucas, H. A ., of t !,c Ri1tl,t H on. S ir jol,n H. A. Macdonald, Lord j us t ice Clerk of S cotland. S!,ou/d //,is supplemmt be 111issi 11~ from a11y copies, subscribers are requested to co 11w11Micate with th e publisl,ers, llless1's. lli (fc a11d So11s Ltd . , 20 , Tudor Street, E.G.

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'' THE AUTOCAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES :

Fatal Hill Accidents. So far ::is we reco ll ect, one of th e first fatal moto r car accidents on a hill 1ras at H a rro11· in 1899 . Thi s 11·:1s brought about uy th e dri, ·er going clo,rn th e hill to·) fast. a nd th e n applying his brake 11·ith such ,·iol e nce th::it he tore tlw spokes ou t of his 11·heels, so th.lt they collapsed . The car 1ras , of course, on'r tunwd, and he ancl :1 passenger 11·ere kill ed. .From that tim e to thi s th e re ha,·e, unhappilr, l:een Se\·eral fatal hill acc iuents, and in many cases th e sequence o f e \·ents has bee n exac th- the same. As ::in occasional rnriati on. the ca r has · clashed in to a 1r ::1 ll at a be nd or has fallen 01·er a prec ipice . hut more ofte n ·han n o t il bas lwe n allmrerl t o attain t o high a ,·elocity , and tl lL'n th e bra kes h,m: been appliPd 1rith such suuden ,·iolence that some ,·ital part of th e H:h icl e , such as the wheels, the axle, or the brake itse lf , has failed. ]t is all , ·ery well to urge that 11·hee ls and brakes should be made so strong that they coulc.l not possibly fail under a ny cond itions 11"11 a te\·er. It i not generally understood that such a thing 1rnulu be practically impossible, because the 1reight of a ca r built in this manner would be so enormous that its increase of st rength would be discounted by th e a ddition::i l 11·eight, and the strains of checking such a huge mass at high speed would be· al most inca lculabl e . H cars 1rere so strong that the 1rheeis could be praggecl at thirty miles an hour without anything breaking th ere would be no gain in safety. because .such a sudden stop would upset th e car. Yet this is prac tic::illy what happens 11·he n a ca r is let loose do1rn a hill, and then after it has attained a high speed th e 11·heels a re locked by th e urakes .

\\" e do not say that a ca r ne\·er fails, but we un hes it ::i tingly say that almost e1·ery hill accident is due to gross ca relessness on th e part of th e dri ,·er. Eithe r both his brakes are out of orde r and he does not tak e th e trouble to adjust th em, or if his p edal brake is in order the side brakes are more or less out of ·ommiss ion , or else (and this is the most common cause of cl isaster) he takes th e fir st pa rt of the descent too fast. The re are Ye ry fe 1r hit ls in this country for 11·hi ch there is any excuse for this. Practically e \·ery dangerous hill on th e main roads and th e great majority on the side roaus ha , ·e some sort of danger board. From a motoring point of \·iew many of these danger boards ::ire quite unnecessary . At the same tim e . it is on ly commonsense whe11 dri ,·ing on a road that one does not kno11· to regard these ,rarnings, and to c reep ove r the bro11· of an unknm,·n danger boarded hil l so slo1yh· tlwt if it looks at all bad one can ea ily stop dead, put in one of th e lower gea rs, and come do1rn on the engi ne eithe r with the throttl e closed or th e ignition rnitcherl off, scarcely using the brakes a t all. \\' e ha 1·e descended some of the worst hills in the country in this way, and ha,·e on ly had to use the brakes at the ve ry steepest pitches just to slow round the bends.

If one comes to think of it, e\·e1-y 1Yhee led vehicl e is more or less uncontrollable downhill. A !1orse carriage descending a hill is always a ludicrous sight, and it is distressing to see th e poor animal being pushed cl01rn the hill by the carriage behind it while it makc"s p ::i inful and not ahrnys success ful efforts to keep its footing. The horseless carriage bas a n immense adrnntage 01·er the horse vehicle in this res pect, but prudence should be used , because twenty mil es an hour down a hill i. vastly different from twenty mil es an hour on th e le, ·el. It is not only momentum, but momentum plus graYity. On th e le,·e l one can stop almost instantly, but down a hill it is clifli cult, and in some cases impossible, to pre1·ent the speed getting higher, and if it once does this a corner, a µ :itch of g rease, or ::inothe r \·ehicle in th e