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18 JAIiIUARY 1968 vor 128 No. 3753
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Sportr Editot
A'rlrt nt Tcchnical Edhor
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Mldt.nd Edltot
Aa Edlto?
Assistsnt
Mrnchdts OlnE
MAURICE A. 8MITH.
PETEN GABl{IER LEOT{A8O AYTOII 8TUART BI3OO]{ IiIT{E8 IRELAND GEOFTNEY HOWANO,
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JOHN DAVEY GRAHAM BOBSON, MAlOxon) MARTIN LEWIS MICHAEL SCARLETT WARREN ALLPORT
EOWARD EVES
HOWARD VYSE JOHN HAWKINS
HAROLO HOLT, AMIMI, AMAE|
Spccial ContrlbutoB
RONALD BARKER ROGER HUNTINGTON, ASAE I Detro it) EOIN YOUNG (Sporrl
Managlng Dl..stor H. N. PBIAUU(, /yAf,
MAITU FEATURES FORD ESCORT DESCRIPTION GUIDE TO THE MONTE TRAVEL TALK TEST: FORD ESCOBT WAYS TO THE SUN IN PRACTICAL TERMS IF BORGWARDS REAPPEAR NEW ALFA ROMEOS WERE THOSE THE DAYS? TEST: SINGER VOGUE
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2 13 t6 19 31 37 38 48 71 76
REGUIAR ITEMS DISCONNECTED JOTTINGS THE SPORT PICWEEK NEWS AND VIEWS TRADE AND INDUSTRY STRAIGHT FROM THE GRID NEW PRODUCTS CORRESPONDENCE NEW CAR PBICES Last pageo before back cover
2A 53 60 61 63 65 68 78
NEXT WEEK'S ISSUE FEATUBES-P. 80
COVER : Ford's new Escort.
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SEE AND BE SEEN
EARLIER this month, as recorded in Aurocnn on 1 1 January, the Minister of Transport laid before Parliament the Road Vehicles (Headlamps) Regulations 1967 by which, from 1 April this year, it becomes compulsory for all four-wheeled vehicles (with very few exceptions) to carry at least two headlamps.
This regulation, we are told, is ". a necessary preliminary to the framing of any further regulations that may be proposed about the circumstances in which head- lamps should be used during the hours of darkness". Among these one must assume the compulsory use of headlamps-main beam or dipped--at all times at night, following the carefully recorded findings of the five-year Birmingham experiment as the result of which the night accident rate per lOO,OOO registered vehicles during the winter of 1966/67 stood at only 472, compared with: Nottingham, 491; Bradford, 496; Leicester, 510; Leeds, 520; Liverpool,721; Glasgow, 834; Manchester, 849.
We feel that this regulation could have a very important overall effect in reducing accidents at night, but we have one grave worry---dazzle. Dipped beams, properly adjusted, need not cause any nuisance, and the extra illumination in heavy traffic helps greatly in picking out hazards-indeed, they would to a great extent offset the night-time invisibility of dark-coloured cars, mud-coloured commercials, and grey-coloured people, in city streets. Even on motorways, where main beams are seldom used, one regularly relies on the string of dipped beams ahead to indicate the road direction; and the light from the opposing stream often helps with the general illumination of unlit roads. But we are seriously concerned with the manner in which lights are set on the majority of cars, and the way the angle of beam changes with the load in the rear of the car.
Last year, of the many cars passing through our hands, only a dozen of the 1OO that were formally tested had their headlamp settings absolutely spot-on. And a recent survey by the AA showed that fewer than 20 per cent of cars tested had their lights even working properly, let alone correctly adjusted. Resetting beams is a trial-and-error job for the private owner without special equipment, and almost without exception it involves fiddling with springy rims, stiff screws and rubber sealing-rings. On a brand new car recently tested it was necessary to remove the whole radiator grille to adjust the headlamps.
ln the USA there is a regulation that all headlamps must be designed so that they can be reset without removing any of their component parts. On certain Cibie installations fitted to French cars there is a simple handoperated lever poking through the rim which, by means of a cam, resets the beam.
Now that the use of headlamps is likely to become obligatory, owners must assume responsibility to see that the lamps on existing cars are set properly; and. in the meantime manufacturers will have to devise ways of making lamp adjustment guick and foolproof-pending the arrival of self-levelling suspension for all classes of cars, which will go a long way towards solving the dazzle problem on new cars, though there will still be a need for easy adjustment.
