MOTORING
The Oldest Problem of All Of all the motoring problems that await solution the most obstinate is probably that of the glaring headlights. It must certainly be the oldest, as the Ministry of Transport offici- ally accepted its existence as early as 1919, and at least ten years before that accessory-makers had been busy. The results of thirty years of research have been disappointing, to put it mildly. The difficulty has been attacked from every con- ceivable angle, but in many cases the inventors have failed to provide the two apparently irreconcilable essentials absence of dazzle and safe driving light.
Palliative Dodges Deflection, dimming, dipping and the rest are merely dodgings of the issue. They work, more or less, but they are not the real solution which lies, I take it, only in the field of optics. What is wanted is a lamp that does not need fiddling with at any time and that will enable the driver to see clearly enough to drive up to say forty miles an hour without, at any distance, making it difficult for oncoming drivers to see beyond his car. One at least I knew which did fulfil these conditions, but for some reason or another it did not satisfy either the Ministry or the manufac- turers of cars—the latter, I suppose, because it cost too much to standardise.
The Trippe " Matched Pair " I have just finished a preliminary test of the Trippe lights, to which I referred in The Spectator of December 3oth, and so far as I have got I am glad to report that they do produce the results claimed. They have " matched " (i.e., different) lenses, which are said to give a driving beam of nearly 1,50o feet and at the same time, without dazzle, an unusually wide arc of light. I have not yet had a chance of trying them for fast long-range work, but I have made some encouraging discoveries about their non-dazzling qualities.
The fan of light is about loo feet wide at a distance of 15o feet from the car, and in that space everything is lit up with photographic sharpness. At no distance within mason did I notice any glare at all from either of them on a level road. At about too paces the near-side light showed a more powerful beam than the other, but at the official level, 42 inches from the ground, the light could not possibly be described as dazzling—and there can be no driver more baffled and harassed by other people's lights than myself. My progress along a busy thoroughfare is a succession of humiliating halts, punctuated by blinded crawls. As they are set now the Trippe lights gave me no trouble at all to meet. In my next report I hope to show that the second essential has been achieved—safe driving light, and that rises and falls in the road do not affect them.
The 14 Hillman I expect to be accused of obsession if not of prejudice when I say that the chief point in the 1939 14 h.p. Hillman that attracted me was the fact that its engine had four cylinders and not six. The car had other features which will probably appeal with greater force to those who care less about mechanics, but it was such a relief to find a maker designing a moderate-priced, well-powered utility car with a type of engine that is nearly always more generally efficient than a Six that I carried out my test and recorded my impressions with my mental eye firmly fixed on that simple unit. The 14 Hill- man is not the biggest Four as yet on the English market, but it is the biggest British example. Its cubic capacity is just under two litres.
Enthusiasm of the Four It sells for 4255 for the de luxe saloon, which is a big five-se it,n- with good luggage accommodation, and they have spew tIlL. mon.!y it most of the right places. It goes fast for its type, nearly 70 miles an hour on top and 47 on third ; it has a sound design of independent front-wheel springing which allowed me to drive it in comfort over my special rough stretch at 4o miles an hour ; it has an excellent gear- box, commendably quiet on second and third, with a very good gear-change, safe steering and admirable brakes. These are the things that matter to everybody. Being a Four it has that extra portmanteau quality that matters to me, eager- ness, liveliness and enthusiasm. At the money it is not to be expected that those three can be had with the smooth- ness of a more expensive Six of the same size nor with the quietness of running. The engine is to be heard and to a slight extent felt at over 4o miles an hour, but neither in an unpleasant degree.
The coachwork is plainly finished in workmanlike style and the driving vision is good. I call it a very practical car for the money, with several good points, chief of which is its size.
Slime Road It is the name of a mile of the Severn estuary on the west bank, where the mouth of the Wye helps to make an island of what is no more than a promontory. In itself it is of little account, an inconspicuous curve in the shore, but for all its hang-dog name it plays its part in tricking you into an absurd belief that you are detached from the main- land of Monmouthshire. You can drive down that pleasant and still mercifully neglected riverside road from Newn- ham, past Lydney and Alvington to Chepstow, and, if the tide is running high, be enchanted again at the generous prospect of water and hills ; on your right the steep and wooded heights by St. Briavels, on your left, across the flood —well over a mile wide here—the Berkeley and Thornbury levels and the last high-standing spurs of the Cotswolds. It is a view you seldom hear discussed, but apart from that and the impression you get of the imminence of blue water and the whole weight of the Atlantic beyond there is nothing special about it.
A Plausible Deception Then you bear to the left at Tidenham and passing Offa's Dyke come down towards the end of the promontory by Beachley. If the tide is right, as it was when I saw it, you are convinced you are on an island. Water surrounds you except to the north, and you have only to move your position a little to put that right. In some odd manner two rivers, with a slight bend in one of them, contrive to produce a very plausible deception. Having been warned of it you will be harder to deceive, but if you come new to it by road the illusion is nearly complete. It is the sweep of the Wye where it is separated from the Severn by no more than a few hundred yards and the bend near Chepstow that persuade you that you are a discoverer. So far as I can trace my yard- by-yard explorings the actual height of illusion occurs at Sedbury—but of course you must pretend a little.
The Spanish Main Whether you are fooled or not there is no better place for getting a first impression of the first English river, though it is a scandal that there is no convenient road on this side from which one can watch the shipping in and out of the Avon, between Bristol and the Spanish Main. All the same, you do see from the false island straight down that great waterway, fifty miles or so of open water to Porlock in Somerset. If it were not for Lavernock Point you could be [Note.—Readers' requests for advice from our Motoring Correspondent on the choice of new cars should be accom- panied by a stamped and addressed envelope. The highest price payable must be given, as well as the type of body required. No advice can be given on the purchase, sale or exchange of used cars.]
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