Motoring The Importance of Being Light Tim success of the
American car in a field we have long con- sidered our own—in whioh, indeed, we have as long pre- dominated—compels one to the conclusion that if we are to retain any hold at all on the £300 to £500 "family" market something has got to be done about it. " It " is the immediate improvement of body-accommodation unaccompanied by a killing off in performance. British and Continental engines are, and have, for the most part, always been a good deal more eillicient than their American rivals ; that is to say, our 2,000 c.c. units could generally go as fast as their average of 3,500 c.c. Theoretically and as engineering jobs they were ranch more satisfactory. Where they failed was in the in- evitable lack of reserve power. You could demand and get out of: a large " soft " engine a great more useful work at low engine-speed than out of the other, and you could go to almost any length in body-size without perceptibly affecting the general performance. To waste no more word, the big engine is much more practical than the little one.
The Americans have always seen that and, I dare say, so have our own manufacturers. We have killed the most useful type of ear, " Everyman's," if you like, by grotesque taxation, and art now paying an additional tax in the resultant loss of trade. 1440 are only now beginning to build the right sort of car and we' are handicapped by at least five years in the race.
The something that must be done is, in existing conditions, either a notable increase in the size of engines, the wid0 adoption of super-chargers or weight-reduction on a largh scale. We are promised another slight increase in power for "next year's" models (presumably those that will be pro- duced next month), and there are rumours of one or two manu- facturers taking up super-charging in the family model, not for higher "Maximum speeds, but for swifter acceleration and hill- climbing. These are, of course, of far greater importance today than anything else, when your so-called fast car is that which gets to 00 miles an hour quicker than its rivals. It may be only capable of 65 all out as against the 85 of a three-year-old, but on our dangerously congested roads it is obviously the " faster" car. It is also the more comfortable and the safer. I have always been a believer in the practical possibilities of the super-charger for moderate-powered cars, and I live in hopes of seeing the design widely adopted. Apart from in- creased power, it has a variety of definite advantages to the . man who does his own' repairs. Among these are a low compression ratio and less need for decarbonization.
Mechanically, of course, weight reduction is the ideal solu- tion. All cars, without exception,, are much too heavy. Of modern car-weights the same may be said as of the ancient gear-box (in the ancient aphorism), that they are horrible but they work—that is, that we are usedlo them. How well light weights " work " was once more proved to me last week when I had out on trial two cars of very 'modern design, one an Italian, one a German, both light. The German was ' the 12-h.p. Frazer-Nash-B.M.W., a light 11-litre Six, priced at from 1208 to 1395, that is at pretent being imported, by Frazer Nash Cars, Ltd., who intend to manufacture it in.this country. Hence the combined name. The Italian was the Lancia £875 " Astura," a 28-h.p. 8-cylinder fast touring car, built on the same lines as the well-known " Dilambda " but with a smaller engine. The Lancia weighs about 28 cwt., the B.M.W. 161 cwt. There was a difference in maximum speed in the' Italian's favour of about 8 miles an hour, but in hill- climbing, over a long, easy gradient, with three hairpin bends, and up a short hill with a maximum gradient of 1 in 51 from a standing start, the performance was about the same. The short hill time was exactly the same.
Obviously useful comparison is impossible, one car having a wheelbase of 8 ft. and the Other .or 10 ft. 2 in., with all ' the coachwork accommodation and comfort that difference implies, yet the fact remains that the light ear's Performance , could only' have been possible at that weight. In a hilly 'country I doubt whether there would be half an hour between them in 200 miles. Under present Methods and with existing materials, would it be impossible to build the bigger car proportionately as light and provide the same body-space, the same rigidity and the same margin of safety ? The real point is that u :slower-running engine 'of. lower com- pression can be used with a lighter chassis, producing mach the same results as a high-efficiency unit of the same Size with high compression would show in a car weighing the usual ton-and-a-quarter. Is there no hope that our proper-sized cars will ever weigh proportionately the same as this B.M.W. and the 12-1i.p. Lancia I reported on in The Spectator some time ago? We should have the Americans in a corner then, at least for a breathing-space.
• Both these cars, in 'their separate spheres, are among the most interesting and satisfactory I have reviewed so far. :Both are exceedingly well-sprung and hold the road outptandingly well. The Lancia has its famous independent front-wheel suspension and controlled shock-absorbers, the B.M.W its own special front-wheel independent system,
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which ;consists of a single transverse half-elliptic spring, with ItYdraOlic shock=absorbers built into the struts that carry ,th bottom halves of the steering heads. The latter has a e ,, . tubular frame—for lightness and strength. Both are lively - 'performers and in neither do you get any sensation of effort. The power developed by the B.M.W. is surprisingly low, not more than 33 B.H.P. being claimed for it, yet it will do nearly 75 .miles an hour on top and well over 50 on third. The engine runs very smoothly and quietly' and there is little suggestion of " sports " about it, save in the results.
It runs at really moderate speeds. The Lancia has a most exhilarating performance and, like the other, does everything easily and effortlessly.-- It has a maximum speed of well ever 80 and a comfortable cruising speed of a mile a minute and more. Steering in both ears is quite extraordinarily good, light, steady and high-geared. The special points I liked in the Lancia were the brakes, the acceleration and the tre- mendous sturdiness of. everything. In the B.M.W. I liked the instant response of the engine to the lightest touch on the accelerator,' the almost shockless riding over broken surface at high speeds,. the feather-light, short-travel .gear- change, and the high ratio. The Lancia has, a small. sister in the 12-h.p. ; I would like to see a 28-h.p. B.M.W.—with
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