Evening star., 1923-04-22
THE OWNER-DRIVER'S
COLUMN.

Scene a busy intersection in a city.
Traffic has been moving feverishly
from block to block. Suddenly it is
halted; one man in car seeing the
rear end of the car ahead coming
rapidly toward him jams on the
brakes without pushing out the clutch
and kills his engine. The officer gives
the "move-on" signal, but he hasn't
got the engine started; he has pulled
the primer too much; has flooded his
engine and he still keeps on pulling
the primer. He now becomes con-
scious of holding up traffic and is
getting nervous.
The officer comes up to him and
tells him to push his car to the curb
Once there the driver gathers his wits
and finally the abused engine starts.
Afraid of stalling it again, the driver
let's it run about 1000 revolutions
per minute while he tries to shift
no "so hsS sS me to The STOP clutch snnnns has
and there is a loud roar from the
gear case Finally he gets away
from the curb and IL the gods are
good to him he'll get home safely and
as likely as not he'll leave the car
man is a new driver.
should Know More.
The only reason for experiences
such as the above, and who does not
go through them when learning to
drive. is because he does not know
his car before he starts. Driving a
car consists of a great deal more than
and feed the gas. The new driver
should have a knowledge Of the power
plant and transmission system Of his
car This is not a big task and can
be gathered from an hours perusaI of
the instruction book that came with
the car. The new driver should know
that the clutch Is supposed to hitch
the pull of the power plant gradually
to the cars rear wheels. and that the
brake should be used to stop the car
after the engine has been discennect-
cd by pushing out the clutch He
should also know the various drive
combinations accomplished through
the gear case and how they are best
put into action. An experienced driver
spending an hour with a new man and
doing nothing but stop start, reverse
in fact. anything but driving miles In
high GEAR. will do the new man much
more good than fifty miles of road
running.
Practice Makes Perfect.
Once new driver has learned what
is necessary about the new cars mech
anism. he should practice Too often
this practice consists of a jerking,
jarrinr, sickly start-off, noisy gear
changing until high gear Is reached
and the family settles back in the
seats TO enjoy ten-mtle spin, at the
end Of which the new driver gets the
car safely into the garage after much
roaring OF the engine, grinding of the
gears and final stalling of the en-
Slne as the end of the garage comes
uncomfortably close. After a great
many such painful experiences for
to drive.
Why not have this practice over
within an hour or two? Why not
take the car out into the country
where traffic is not thick and delib-
erately practice all the gear changes
until they become second nature?
This is the kind of practice which
makes a good driver, gives assurance
TO your passengers. and, above all
adds thousands Of miles to the life
of the car.
Hard Things to Learn.
In low gear the rear wheels turn
slowly while the engine runs fast;
in second the ratio between the rear
wheels speed and the engine speed
becomes smaller: the car moves
faster, and in high the car moves
still <Irther to each revolution of the
when changing gears. 1t explains
very nicely why, when the car has
been started in low gear and the
engine accelerated, 1t Is easy to slide
into second gear provided the foot
WAS lifted off the accelerator the
moment the clutch was pushed out
This action has the effect of bringing
the ratio between the rear wheels
and the engine speed just right for
meshing the second speed gears The
same is true from second to high; the
engine again runs faster than Is
necessary for changing into high.
therefore. the foot should be lifted
eff the accelerator as soon as the
clutch is pushed out. Provided. OF
course that the engine has been suf-
ficiently accelerated in second to give
the car the momentum necessary for
a change to high gear. There is
nothing difficult about this changing
of gears once the above Is understood.
Much more difficult Is the change
from a high to a lower gear. Take
this example as an instance. We are