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CYCLECAR AND MOTOR CYCLEI…

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CYCLECAR AND MOTOR CYCLE I NOTES. [BY CELERITER. J I LIGHT CARS ON TRIAL: SOME I USEFUL COMPARISONS. I| The recent Light Car trial held by the Midland Light Car Club allows one to draw some useful comparisons between the various machines entered. The trial was conducted over a 92 mile course through ordinary give and take country with one or two bad hills such as Ankerdine and the Lickey, and had to be covered at a schedule speed y of 20 miles an hour. The trial was practically a test of the general efficiency and all round capabilities of the cars entered, all of which bad to come inside the A.C.U. 1,100 c.c. engine capacity limit. The tests included a stopping and restarting test on a gradient of 1 in 6 which not only tested the clutch, gears and transmission, but also the brakes. An engine test was also included in which the engines had to be started and the car moved away under its own power in less than 31 seconds. A flexibility hill climb was also included, but most important of all was the petrol consumption test. Unless each machine completed the course with a petrol consumption not exceeding one gallon for every 35 miles, 10 marks were deducted. The actual petrol consumption figures afford some useful data, the petrol was very care- fully measured under my own supervision, so I know that the figures obtained are reliable. Before starting in the trial each competitor's tank was filled to the brim, the filler cap attached and sealed. Then at the conclusion of the trial the tanks were again filled and the amount required to fill each tank was carefully measured even to the last fluid ounce. Many leading makes of machines were entered in the trial, including the follow- ing:-Caltborpe, Crescent, Enfield, Alldays, Standard G. W.K., A.C. Morgan, Humberette, Morris-Oxford, Swift, Warne, Horstman, and Melen. The highest number of marks went to an air cooled Humberette, which also bad the lowest petrol consumption of any machine in the trial, including the several Morgans entered. The actual petrol consumption works out at the very reasonable figure of 67 miles to the gallon. The weight of this Humberette with its complement of driver and passenger came out at 1218lbs, so that expressed in ton-miles the petrol consumption come out at 26 t-m to the gallon. Another Humberette entered in the trial but with a water cooled engine and driven by a lady, only did 40.9 miles to the gallon, weighing 13541bs. The ton-miles per gallon work out at 24.5. A Standard car weighing 17901bs with passenger and driver had a petrol consumption of 38 8 miles to the gallon or 31 ton-miles, which is quite a good figure. Another Standard, a new machine out on the road for the first time, did 40.9 miles to 4he gallon or—as it weighed less than the other Standard-30.6 ton-miles, showing the difference in efficiency between an old car with the engine well run in comparison to a new one with a comparatively stiff engine. A two cylinder G.Wruncing on Benzole put uo tlgùOd performance with a consumption of 49,5 miles to the gallon with a weight of 14001 bs, ton-miles 31, though with a two- engine one would have expected a lather higher efficiency than this as compared to the four cylinder engined cars. As show- ing the difference between two and four cylinder cars of the same makes, a two- cylinder Enfield Autolette driven by a lady and weighing 14551ba all told did 47.8 miles to the gallon which is equal to 31.2 n-miles to the gallon, whilst a four cylinder icar of the same make and weighing 1600lbs averaged 33.5 miles to the gallon, which is only equal to 24 ton-miles to the gallon. The best consumption by the Morgan, and there were five entered in the trial, was equal to 52.6 miles to the gallon. The car complete weighed 10571bs, so that the ton-miles come out at 24 5 to the gallon, a figure that does not compare very well with some of the figures for the four cylinder cars, and seeing that the Morpan has a two-cylinder engine it would be interesting to know where the loss 8f efficiency comes in, whether it is in the V engine or in the transmission—possibly it in in both. The next best Morgan did 42.5 miles to the gallon, or with the weight of 909 lbs. 20 ton-miles. Another Morgan with an air cooled M.A.G. engine—a now departure for the Morcnn-onlv did 34.8 miles to the gallon. This ie my second experience of the M.A.G. engine lately and each seem to point to the fact that the M.A.G. is an un- economical engine. The ton-miles per gallon of this machine comes out at only 13-a very poor figure. One would expect better results than this from an air-cooled engine, for providing that the engine was not over- loaded and consequently overheated, not underloaded and consequently too cool, it should give a higher thermal efficiency than a water-cooled engine, and should therefore have a lower petrol consumption. This par- ticular engine was driven by an expert trade driver, so that one can assume that it would be handled in as skilful a manner as possible, yet the results were not nearly equal to those obtained from a water-cooled engine in a similar car driven by a lady. There are many conditions affecting the results obtained all through, but in such a trial as this one can assume that as a whole the con- ditions are pretty eqiial-all had to cover the same course, all were trying to economise petrol so as to come within the limits allowed, and all had to run at the same schedule speed of 20 miles per hour or lose marks on the time checks; in fact none of the competitors whose machines are under consideration lost marks from any cause. The petrol consumption of other machines, which like those previously mentioned qualified for gold medals, came out as follows :—Calthorpe, weighing 1,386 lbs. (weight includes passenger and driver in all Bases), 36.8 miles to the gallon, 22.5 ton- miles; Crescent, weighing 1,155 lbs., 38.8 miles per gallon, 19.8 ton-miles. This machine had a two-cylinder V" engine and friction drive. Four-cylinder A-C, weighing 1,483 lbs, 38.8 miles per gallon, 26 ton-miles. Two Morris Oxford machines were entered, but neither gained gold medals, for one lost 10 marks in the engine-starting test, and the other only did 27.4 miles to the gallon, so lost in the petrol consumption test. One machine weighed 1,840 lbs. and averaged 38.8 miles to the gallon or 32 ton-miles, the beat figure obtained with the exception of that achieved by the Humberette. The other Morris Oxford only did 27.4 miles to the gallon, equal to 21.5 ton-miles. A Swift which lost marks through losing the course and not going through the stopping and re- starting test inconsequence, did 43.3 miles to the gallon, and weighing 1,360 lbs the ton-miles came out at 26.6. This was a new car with a new driver. A Melan light car, weighing 1,516 lbs, did 33.5 miles to the gallon and 23 ton-miles. A Warne did 30.6 miles to the gallon, weight 1,307 lbs., ton- miles 18. These figures are interesting inasmuch as they show whether a car is efficient as regards fuel economy or merely a heavy conglomeration of parts with an engine thrown in to drag them along at any price- in terms of petrol consumption. If the engine is efficient it is safe to say that the rest of the car will, as a whole, be equally efficient as regards wearing qualities, and the above figures seem to amply bear out this deduction. In order co make these notes a more complete record of the petrol consumption of the various well-known light cars on the market I am giving below the petrol consumption figures obtained in the Cyclecar Club's general efficiency trial held last March by cars which were not entered or represented in the Midland Club's trial. Unfortunately the exact weights of the cars are not available, so the ton-miles figures, which afford such an excellent method of making a comparison, will have to be omitted. The general efficiency trial was held on a fine day over dry roads, over an 80-mile course very similar to that used in the Midland trial. There was, however, a speed test on Brooklands, which would account for the slightly higher petrol con- sumption. Eleven h.p. Lagonda 40 miles per gallon, 8 h. p. Perry 43.5 miles to the gallon, Singer (average of three cars) 36 m.p.g., 10 h.p. G.N. 39 m.p.g., 6 h.p. Baby Peugeot 30.3 m.p.g., 4-1 h.p. Carden Monocar 52.3 miles to the gallon. Petrol consumption is usually an im- portant consideration to the light car owner, and any owner who drives a car similar to any of the above which has a petrol con- sumption more than say 10 per cent. below the figures given above for that particular car, may take it that there is either some- thing wrong with his engine, carburetter or transmission, or else be himself is a very bad driver and steps should be taken to increase mileage obtained per gallon of spirit.

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