FsaRtU.ltY 27TH, r 909.
THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbe~ in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall~ propelle~ roa~ carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
No. 697. VoL. XXII.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH, 1909.
[PRICE 3D.
The Autocar.
(Published Weekly.)
Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom. Entered as second-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office,
Three Editions every Friday.
The THREEPENNY EDITION, printed on Art paper. The PENNY EDITION, printed upon thinner paper. The FOREIGN EDITION, price 3d., printed on specially light bank paper for transmission abroad.
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CONTENTS. NOTES • • SMALL CAR TALK. • • • GAUZE WIND SCREENS (ILLUSTRATED) THE BBLLE VUE SHOW, MANCHESTER EVENTS OF THE \1/EEK (ILLUSTRATED) ON THR TRACK. BY H. C. LAFONE. P.G.R. MOTOR SPIRIT • . THE NORTHERN GAMES, STOCKHOLM • • A REAL R~LIABILITY TRIAL {ILLUSTRATED)-THE MOTOR UNION
PAGE
277 278 279 280 28r 282 283
GENERAL COMMITTEE • . AERONAUTICS-AEROPLANE JOTTINGS-NEW LOCAL GOVERN-
MltNT BOARD ORDER • • • . • • . • . . . .
AN. ADJUSTABLE LAMP BRACKET (lLLUSTRATED)-NrcE AuTo
MOBIL~ WEEK-THE 14-16 H.P. ADAMS ON THE ROAD-[N THE HOUSE OF COl\D10NS, .
MOTOR UNION NOTES • . FLASHES . , CORRESPONDENCE. . • . USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS (ILLUSTRATED) THE AUTOCARS OF 1909 .. CLUB DOINGS
286 287 . . 288-289
. . 290-294
298 299-3rr
312
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To -~lace (o~~a~t~~l,. The 1iyal Automobile Club announces that, in order that there shall be no possible inducement on the part of manufacturers and dealers in motor cars to seek advertisement from unofficial runs and trials, i .e., those not carried out under the direct supervision of the Royal A.C., the Club is taking steps to make it easy and inexpensive for the trade to have any car or device tested under its official observation. Arrangements are now in hand for the organisation ot "monthly " official trials. The full details of the scheme will shortly be published, and the Club will enforce rigorously the competition rule, reading as follows:
Any owner, manufacturer, dealer, agent, or driver taking part in or directly connected with any trial or competition otherwise than under regulations made by the Club, and obtaining extensive advertisement therefrom, shall be deemed to be guilty of a breach of these rules.
Till the details of the scheme are made public it would be unfair to attempt to criticise the proposition, but, whatever form the new monthly trials may take, we certainly think the regulation quoted above should be made much clearer, as it is worded in such a way that if taken literally it is not practical, and therefore unworkable. When we say this it must not be imagined that we are in favour of unofficial trials if by that is meant the observation and vouching for long non-stop runs and so forth; but if the words " any trial " be taken literally, they mean that the maker is to be debarred from submitting a car to a competent authority for test unless that authority promise that he will keep the matter a profound secret. If he said the car ran well, was well sprung, lively, responsive and quiet, and only consumed, say, one gallon for every twenty miles, his remarks might be quoted widely, so that the maker would be held guilty of the crime of "obtaining extensive advertisement," and render himself liable to all the penalties for so doing. It is therefore obvious that the definition of the words "competition " and "trial " must be settled quite clearly.
A Welcome Revival. As to the idea of periodical trials, we welcome it, for it is a revival of a very old club custom. In the early days of the movement roo mile runs on the London-Oxford Road were a regular quarterly fixture, as reference to our back numbers will show; but they were dropped for the simple reason that supp01t failed, and at last the entries became so few that it was deemed wise to cease holding the quarterly roo miles run. On these runs all happenings were officially recorded-petrol con umption, speed up both out and home ascents of the Chilterns, i.e., Dashwood and Aston Hills, and so forth. All the leading dimensions of the cars were given, weights loaded and unloaded, and the cause of every involuntary stop w_as faithfully recorded. The main reason that the quarterly trials fell from popularity was because it was recognised that roo miles was too easy a test to show the qualities of a car, though it was astonishing how quite good cars failed at times to come through with a clean sheet. Perhaps times have changed, ancl easy tests will again be popular, or maybe the Cluh has evolved some new form of multum in parvo trial, such as a roo miles non-stop on the road at the legal limit, with speed and hill-climbing tests at Brooklands to wind up. There are possibilities in something of this kind, as brake, acceleration, spring, steering, and other tests might be embodied, and some mechanical means devised for recording noise and vibration. In any case there should be a separate class for amateur drivers and owners, as it is quite time the tendency to cater for makers alone should be· checked. We await details of the new series of trials 1rith great interest, and 11·ish them success equal tothat enjoyed by the quarterly trials established in 1905,. by the Auto Cycle Union.
