Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-26
LESSONS LEARNED
THROUGH SPEED
S. r. EDGE WRITES INTEREST
ING PAPER
EXPLAINS WHAT WIND DOES TO
CARS
Hrooklands Shows Experts Many
Things in Regard to Effect
of Fast Time on
Automobiles

Among the principal lessons which
Brooklands has taught us may be
mentioned those which come under the
following headings, said S. F. Edge in
a paper read at Birmingham, England,
recently:
ID Tires; (2) how to keep car cool
and prevent pre-ignition; (9) how to
mount long hills without distress; (4)
how to keep on running like train at
greater speed; (5) what the wind does
to our cars how the shape affects the
result; (6) what weight does to our
cars; % what speed does to our
springs; (S) how to build wheels; (9)
how to change tires; (10) what BROOK
lands has done for the foreign car;
1D what it has done for the British
car.
With hard pumped tires as recon-
mended by the tire makers the wheels
at high speeds continually LETT the
ground. At 100 miles an hour or l4o 20
feet per second, If the wheel was OH
the ground for one-tenth of SECOND,
the effect on the tire was practlcally
the same as if the car leaped 1412 1eel
and then alighted. At lower speeds the
same thing happened in less degree.
This violent treatment resulted III
bursting, not by wear, as If the pank-
ing was taken properly there was very
little surface wear on the covers at
all, nor was 1t by overheating. bursts
were simply due to the terrific strains
TO which the canvas was put. EXperl"
nents had shown that practically the
same speeds could be attained with the
tires pumped to forty-five pounds as
when pumped to 100 pounds. Inc Dun
lop company had made some tires Oh
comparatively speaking, small sectloh'
but with a very wide base at the rim,
so that there would be no ilaplllty Ioi
fhe tires to come off even at low pres
sllres. and the lecturer anticlpateh
great success from them In the
Palmer tire the trouble was largely
overcome by using very large tires, SO
that the wear was carried over d pls
area. He thought that both companies
tires would show remarkable results
throughout the year, ana tney mus :1S
realize that if the life of tires be IN
creased on Brooklands it meant an
enormous advantage to the user OF tne
road as for every extra mile WhlCh
could be got out of a cover on brooho JOE
lands it meant something ike 4ooo
miles on the road. .,,o
Many people had had much trouple
with overheating on Brooklands, ana
the cars which had given trouble had
not proper cooling around their waive
seating, and the waterways were SO
arranged that pockets of stagnatlon
were formed. The Jackets must De
Thoroughly swept by a constant rusn oI
water otherwise there was dlsloI tioll
through uneven heating, pre-lgnltloll
from plugs and valve heads so Hot dc
TO he almost incandescent. One OF the
reasons for the Napier success on
Rroolxlands had been that their pre-
vious experience of long continuous
running of motor boat engines ana on
Ormond Beach had prepared them 10
meet the difficulty. On the whole, tney
found that smaller radiators could pe
used than on the road, on account OF
the tremendous rush OF air eduseu NY
the greater speeds.
what was learned on Brooklands IN
keeping the engine cool applied equally
well to the mounting of very long mis-
on the first or second speeds. Inc ohly
difference was that more radiator area
was required than on the track pc
cause of the comparatively low SPEEDS
otherwise the two problems were ldeh-
tical and the solutions the same.
on Brooklands it was found that IN
+he larger and faster cars the comfort
of the driver was the criterion of speed.
If was not so much a question OF now
fast cars couli go, but rather What was
the maximum speed at which driver
could sit in them The best results mao
been obtained from a practically fiat
spring fairly flexible in relation to
weight and speed. The spring was con-
trolled by an equalizer or spring check
of the simple form designed by Mr..
Napier Approximately the d1f1erence
of speed possible was that between
seventy and eightv-five miles an hour
That is to say, without the spring
checks the maximum was not much
over seventy; with them the same car
could be run up to eighty-fve miles
an hour. The application of this lesson
TO road work was obvious.