A NEW ROAD MAr.
The Royal Automobile Club is issuing to all purchasers of new cars and motor-cycles a map showing the main roads in England and Wales and Southern Scotland marked with the Ministry of Transport Road Numbers. The scale is sixteen miles to one inch. The map has been specially prepared by Bartholomews, it is bound in a stiff cardboard cover, and it should prove very useful to motorists and motor-cyclists desiring to work out routes for themselves.
800,000 A.A. MEMBERS.
The membership of the Automobile Association has now passed the three hundred thousand mark. Twelve months ago the membership reached 250,000. The A.A. is the youngest organization of private users of motor cars and motor -cycles in this country ; it is also the largest in the world. The Association was started twenty-one years ago, in 1905, by the provision of eight cyclist patrols on the London-Brighton road. To-day the road patrols are serving members on over 20,000 miles of roads, and their cycles, motor-cycles, and day and night road-service outfits are covering over eighteen million miles annually.
Two THOUSAND MILES FOR FIVE POUNDS.
The remarkable achievement of a 9/20 h.p. Rover car covering over two thousand miles for the sum of £5 should convince the most sceptical that motoring is not an expensive hobby. Certificates of performance have now been issued by the R.A.C. in respect of the car, and also in respect of the A.C. sparking plugs, the Smith carburetter, the Lucas magneto, and the B.P. spirit, which contributed to the performance of the car in covering a distance of 2,007+ miles. The car was found to be in first-class condition at the end of its journey, while the fuel consumption worked out to 40.9 miles per gallon. The car was not prepared in any way for the trial, an R.A.C. official merely selecting one from stock. A weight equivalent to four passengers was carried throughout the trial, and it is interesting to note that the third-class railway fares for the distance covered by the Rover car for £5 would have amounted to 250.
FOUR-WHEEL BRAKES.
An instructive trial was recently carried out by an A.C. car equipped with four-wheel brakes to show the distance in which the car could be pulled up. The road was dry Tarmac. There was no appreciable wind, and tests were made in both directions. The car weighed twenty cwt. and a passenger was carried.
Speed. Stopping Distance.
10 miles an hour • 3 ft. 20 miles an hour 16 ft. 6 in.
80 miles an hour 38 ft.
40 miles an hour 56 ft.
50 miles an hour • • • . 180 ft.
E. T. BRowN.
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