The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-12
SIDE sLIP-1Ts CAUSE AND PREVENTION

CEdmund w. Walford in Motor Print)
 About this time of the year roads become very greasy, and a new diff cu1ty presents. itself to the beginner, who may have learned to drive dur ing. the spring, and has hitherto been accustomed to either dry or very wet roads.
 Fortunately, the liability to side-s1ip becomes less each year, chiefly on ac- count of the increasing use of tar Rs a road dressing, though in a few dis tricts where the tarring has been bad ly done it may actually be provocative of side-sIfp.
 Speaking broadly, there are two causes of side-s1ip. The first is due simply and solely to endeayoring to turn round a corner too fast, 4n which case the centrifugal effect tends to slide the car broad dside off the road. The resistance to such sliding is de- ter1nined by the adhesion between the tires and the road, and, as stated, at about this time of the year the road surfaces in many places are extreme ly greasy, particularly under trees, and the adhesion provided is not sufficient to maintain the car on it's proper course at high speed. To drive with out risk of side-slfp one has, therefore to slow down far more at bends and corners just now than is the case when the roads are dry or thoroughly wet. High speed at corners is the simplest cause of side-slip, and trouble of this nature may, of course. occur in dry road, if the corner be taken extremely fast. Next to 8 dry road the best adhesion is provided by a surface which is thoroughly wet, 8 moist or drying surface being generally a grea- Hy one, but in some linn estone districts the surface is always greasy when it is wet, and in consequences great care 44xs4 4edA a The other cause of side-slfp, which is not so generally understood, may pre- sent itself when the car is being drfV- en absolutely straight ahead. As long as all four wheels roll freely over the ground side-slip of this kind will not occur, but if the brake be applied hard, one Cor both) of the rear wheels may be locked and will slip in a l straight line Immediately such straight line slipping takes place, the l wheel in question loses it's lateral grip of the road and can slide sideways. That this is true can be easily demon strated by the following experiment: Place a loaded car on a wet grass slope with the engine stationary and attempt to push the car sideways 1 down the slope. It will be found that l the car is inmovable. Then run the engine and engage the first gear. lock- I ing the front wheels so that the car cannot travel forward, but allowing the rear wheels to spin. It will then be found that the rear of the car can easily be pushed sideways. This ex- pertinent is mentioned in detail to ex- plain how easy it is to move the car 1atera11y or towards the gutter when l the rear wheels spin. It teaches us I that at no time must the wheels be allowed to rotate in relation to the l ground when the surface is slippery
 Such slipping can be stopped by causing this relative movement be- 1 tween the wheels and road to stop | either by slowing down the engine or I taking out the clutch. Similarly ii either wheel be locked by means oi either wheel 1eaizf, rh, the brake the car is liable to. move l 1atera1Iy or skid. Such sidess1ippins can be arrested by reaIeasing the l brake.
 It therefore follows that on greasy surfaces the brakes should be used | gfnger1y, and the brake surfaces must