The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-12-19
MOTORING AND GENERAL SPORTING NEWS i
Motoring Notes.
Good Road News
and Trade Matters

| A lavish use Of mirrors will be en-
ployed in the New York automobile
show. This idea might be adopted
| by the Richmond dealers to advan-
| tage. The only disadvantage is the
proneness Of persons to step or walk
through mirrors. leading not only to
mortif-ation. but In the classic Lam
guage of Sep Tobln "Wussern that"
High Price Of Riding.
| A New York dispatch says that the
gasoline situation as it has come
to be Called, is going to make a great
| deal of difference to the automobile
manufa cturers, according to the view
| Of several engineers. The general idea
appears to be that the curves Of sup
| ply and demand are approaching a
| point of intersection, or In other words
| that the excess of quantity of gaso-
lene over the demand Is getting small
| Ter so rapidly that presently there will
| be more demand for high grade gaso-
| lene than the refiners can meet.
| 1t may be that these conditions
with respect to the supply and de-
nand do actually exist. There are
F, many folk who are inclined to doubt
! ii and to say that the price of gaso-
/ lene-as an index of the shrinking sup
| piy-has advanced solely because 1t
was found 1t could be advanced. and
that there are no good reasons why
gnsolk,ae enough cannot be refined.
There can be no doubt however that
there are more automobiles In use
now than there were "a year ago this
time, and the increase in number of
ears must mean some decided effect
on the supply.
The statistics of automobile use and
indeed OF the number of cars them
selves are vague and unreliable. But
admitting that there are 100000 cars
running in the United States, and that
the general mileage from q gallon OF
gasoiene Is ten, and that cars aver
age 1000 miles a season running, as
one manufacturer figures it out. then
the gasclene consumption on this basis
for the whole country would be- ago.
100000 gallons. IL can be seen that
there Is II good chance of failing sup
ply. inasmuch as automobiles are not
the only sources of demand for the
fuel.
The remedies suggested are two. One
was addressed by Standard Oil
man To some engineers and was the
advice that less cars would have TO be
built. He said that under. the condi-
tions production must be curtailed or
else SO enormous number OF ma
chimes would get on the market that
the price of fuel would achieve prohibit
tive heights.
Otherwise. 1T has been suggested,
the thing to do Is 10 devise engines
ttssst will make effective USE of much
lower grade petroleum products lead
ing, of course, eventually TO the USE
of kerosene generally for motors.
There have been some cars which did
employ this fuel and experiments with
carnuretters that will make a proper
gas out of kerosene have been many
and conducted long time
Kerosene seems open TO the same
objections as gasoiene for that matter.
II automobiles are too many, event
ually the supply OF kerosene will he
cut down too far, as according 10
statements by the sellers gasolene has
Der Of automobiles.
indianapolis Race,
The entry list for. the 5oo-miie race
at fn6ianap POLLS opens on January ISL
next The blanks viii go out on De
cerrtber goth to the various manulac-
turers and other possible entrants.
This year the piston displacement
limit for the race has been made 49e
cubic inches instead OF 600.
FYnlay r. Porter, engineer Of the
"A
by the speedway management in ap-
proval ~ this change. My impress
son Is that will produce real race cars
that are capable of MAINTAINING
speed" Mr.. Porter says Not unnat-
uraliv the Mercer man is In favor OF
smaller piston displacement auahhca-
ton, as the cars successes nave neen
achieved with cars In the neighhor-
hood of 500 cubic inches.
Hiah- Speed Music Masters.
"sHigh-speed music masters In the
title given road-testing department
employees" said an automobile oHciai
in a recent interview on the import
ance Of the tester in the automobile
industry. without these knights OF
the open road whose ears are at
tuned to catch the slightest unneces-
sary noise In their machinery, despite
the r@.r Of exhaust and rushing air.
the finest factory organization In the
world would be greatly handicapped.
when the men in the various me-
chanical and assembling departments
OF the plant have done all in tneir
power to turn out perrect car
The duty of the road tester to ma
the Jaws. II any exist. His word 10
supreme: he is the last court OF APP
neal. On what he hears while dash
Inc, the chassis through good ROADS
ana bad, in sand and mud, uphill ana
down. depends the fate Of motor or
res rset or any other part Of the car
II his report Is o. X the car goes
To tha final assembling room and the
shipping platform: IL the report IL
~ a., and the difficulty cannot be
overcome, the scrapheap is the ulti-
mate destination OF the parts found
wanting"