Evening star., 1924-06-03
SUMMING UP RESULTS
OF SPEEDWAY RACING
.Automotive Engineers Down to
T., Real Business in Planning
-, for Improvements.
CARS CLOSELY INSPECTED
Tests at indianapolis May Develop
: New Designs. "
BY j. G. ROYLE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. June 3.-Now that the
tumult and the shouting over the In
dianapolis speedway auto race has
died away, automotive engineers have
gotten down to real business OF ana
lying the results which may appear
in 1926 designs Each car is being
ripped apart and studied to deter
mine what effect the 500-mile grind
has had on engine and chassis. The
designs Of the cars in this years
classic race make it apparent that
the trend OF design is toward light
cars OF small piston displacement and
high pressure cylinders.
Experiments already have pro-
gressed far toward development Of
pleasure cars of that type. 1t is
known that tests are being made at
the laboratories of the General Motors
Corporation at Dayton. under direc-
tion Of c. +. Kettering. dealing with
production of q new high speed COM
preston light car designed to run on
Il minimum amount OF fuel.
Ethyl Gas . Factor.
There Is little doubt that expert
ments along this line have been slim
ulated, so far as General Motors is
concerned. by the fact that the cor
poration owns the patent rights on
Ethyl gas, which. added to gasoline.
is said to be especially adapted for
use in a motor Of the type indicated,
since it is claimed it eliminates the
knock" caused by premature expio-
sion of the fuel charge in the cyl
inder under high heat or compression.
Motors of the type indicated have
at comparatively low cost for fuel.
but the difficulty in some cases has
been to secure the proper fuel and to
assure such distribution of this fuel
as would enable a motor owner to
buy it as readily as he can now buy
ordinary low-test gasoline.
The trend seemingly is toward
lighter type of car. according to auto
mobile engineers. 1t is estimated
that it costs somewhere in the neigh
borhood of 81 a pound to build and
sell an automobile, and that reduc-
tion in cost of production and sales
price to considerable extent Is
matter of weight
study Of Tra@c Congestion.
Trafic congestion also is giving
impetus to the development OF light,
flexible machines readily responsive
to traffic conditions. In the neigh
borhood Of New York City the travel
on the main highways frequently
reaches a volume of l.500 vehicles an
hour. 1t is estimated that zzS,4oo
vehicles come into lower New YORK
every ordinary business day. The
congestion costs the city somewhere
in the neighborhood of s50o,0oo a DAY
Conditions in other large centers are
only slightly less acute.
1t is noteworthy fact. in view
of the present reduction IN autofno-
bile production, that companies repre-
senting fully 90 per cent of the IN
dustry are strong in cash and owe
very little money to the banks Few
realize how we'll fortified they are
to stand a protracted slowing down
should htat be necessary. An eXamind-
ton of the liabilities of the ten fore
most producers shows that only three
have outstanding note issues or ponds.
Liabilities ConsidereA Small.
The total OF these liabilities is only
IL per cent of the invested capital
of the ten producers, which aggre-
gates S121e.427.000. Even after put
ting aside the s431 5000 of invested
capital shown by the Ford Company,
the total bonded debts of the others
is but a little over = per cent of the
Iiaui dassets of the nine producers
following next to Ford are sufficient
to withstand a protracted depression
in the industry. The total OF these
items is over s150.000.0o as against
current liabilities of not quite $780,
000. 900.
Thus. there is a cash cushion of
largest producers except Ford have TO
fall back on. The cash sums which
the Ford Company has on deposit in
various banks which totaled $2ll,
600. 900 on March l now are hugging
the $500. .000, 600 mark.