New-York tribune., 1911-02-19
SAYS RACING TESTS CAR
W. G. Wall Explains Terrific
Strain of a Long Contest.
WORSE THAN ROAD BUMPS
How Heat Treatment of Mate
rials and Careful Inspection
Guard Safety Of Driver.

ut is not the big iolts that break the
car 70 pieces" says w. O. Wall, OF the
National Motor Vehicle Company. "of
course that does not mean that II you fail
over a cliff you will not injure your ma =
chine It means that the bumps on the
roads which toss the occupants almost out
Of the car are not half as injurious TO the
mechanism as the owner frequently thinks,
Most breakage is the result of vibration,
which crystallizes the metal and makes II
brittle.
Excessive speed produces more vibra-
tior than anything else, and unless car
is designed with view 10 speeding II is
rapidly torn to pieces in the hands Of the
owner II is estimated that there are many
times, possibly one hundred times, the
amount Of vibration at ninety miles an
hour that there is at a speed Of forty miles
an hour. One hundred miles OF racing at
terrific speed proba bly, equals hundreds OF
miles of ordinary travel in a motor car
"The results Of vibration are analogous
/ 10 those Of heat improperly applied. Nibra-
! ton increases out of all proportion 10 the
! increase in speed of the car. From the first
| shock when the gears are neshed at the
crack of the pistol in race the heat waves
| begin to rise through the metals in the car.
| As the vibration increases crystallzation
occurs.
Disqualification Is the Transformation nj
molecules in the substance, 50 that its form,
which IS 10 all appearance hbrous. becomes
coarse or crystalline structure. This
means of course that the material is brit
tie and much more liable TO break.
| Touring for months at the good svera &c
speed of eighteen miles an hour would have
| no effect upon car built TO endure through
one long race after another at high piston
speeds The occasional shock would be
nothing compared with the incessant strain
OF seventy or eighty miles an hour speed
for 100 900 or 500 miles.
Steering knuckles, axles frames, springs,
every part OF the car is put through an
ordeal in the bigger racing events which
may almost literally be called a 1re test.
In addition to this creation OF heat OF viora-
tion there ~ . terrific strain IN taking the
turns al high sreed. When the racing car
sveeps into a curve, every part OF the ma
| chine is yiciously wrenched and twisted
The wear increases out OF all proportion
| 10 the speed, and perfect fabrication Is an
! bearing swiftly and without talterlng OF
| that bearing will burn or stick. In ordinary
usage a defective oil system would result
in wear but It may develop slowly, while
| in racing lack OF oil would mean disas-
| ter in short order.
( every car should be able 20 withstand
| the test of racing. Although the owner
NAV never care 20 use the excessive speeo
the power TO endure IL means that there Is
wide margin of safety, longer automobile
| life. less expense and greater satisfaction
tor the owner and operator. The most con-
seryatiye and fearful driver is liable at any
{ time 70 call upon his car for burst o'
speed or power in time Of unusual need
/ "rhey say the way 70 night fire Is WITH
FIRE. Perhaps that is the theory the men
worked on who found the way 70 prepare
steel 10 stand vibration was 10 give u
certain heat treatment before used. This
treatment toughens the metal and ellmi'
mates the possibility of erystallization to
great degree"