Evening star., 1925-03-08
; No. 88-Psychology of Hill
Climbing.

When Smith returned from q recent
trip he was greatly. perturbed over
the poor performance which the car
had displayed on hills.
"She didn't climb more than so per
cent of the hills in high" he COM
planned. Il tried to apply some of
those rules of psychology which you
once suggested, but they didn't seem
to work. If / had only been able to
find first class mechanic along the
way I'd have had the engine looked
over You told me that the trouble
with my hill climbing was that l was
afraid of lot of the big hills 1 en-
counntered, and that if ] would SIM
ply have faith in the engines ability
to tackle anything 1 would never
have to resort to Second Well, l
wish you coulo have been along
with me. My faith in the motor
didn't count for much
1t looked as If ! was in for a show
down, SO to prove my theory that Hill
climbing is largely matter of psy-
Understanding that the car is in
reasonably good condition. ! sug-
gested that we take a spin over the
pike. Hoping that the information
gained might save him the expense
and annoyance of repair bill, Smith
readily agreed.
Approaching Real Hill.
Fifteen minutes later we were roll
ing along toward a hilly part OF the
country. Shortly we were approach
ing the first real hill. Nov" said
Smith, there's not the slightest doubt
in my mind but that this engine will
eat up this hill. I'm not going to
choke the engine with gas in my
anxiety to make the top in high nor
starve it through hesitation and
doubt But watch it,
The car went three-Quarters OF the
way up the hill and then sent out an
sos for second" Smith made the
shift to second and smiled ironically,
as much as to say that he had proved
my theory to be hot air. But when
We reached the top and the noise of
grinding gears had ceased he was to
learn the other side of the story.
80 you call that psychology? ]
said. We'll, when / went to school
we'd call it trusting to luck. Without
a doubt this is the most impractical
thing have ever seen you try to do.
If you have been trying to climb hills
the car can do 1T, I don't wonder that
you have been having trouble"
But you said that the mental atti-
tude of the driver often determined
how the car would perform" he
argued. You expounded your theory
about mind over motor, and now that
I have tried it and found it doesn't
work you accuse me OF being imprac-
tical. What's the matter? Does this
car need two minds to make it per-
form we'll? Perhaps you didn't have
faith enough in the motor this time"
Must Drive Intellisently.
"All the confidence in the world
wouldn't send this motor over the hill
in high with you lying down on the
job of driving it intelltgently," I re-
torted- DO you realize that you are
overlooking the fact that hill climb
ing depends upon confidence in your
ability to make the car do as you
please. That's far cry from having
blind faith in the motor and then do
ing nothing to help it along. The
link between mind and motor is your
knowledge of how to operate the car
properly
For instance, this hill kills motor
because it is long and encourages
over heating. A hill of this
type calls for more speed at
the bottom in order to keep
plenty of draft over the cylin-
ders. 1t calls for an advanced spark
until the point where the motor be-
gins to knock. You encouraged over
heating from the very start by ap-
preaching the hill too slowly, by