The Last Up Alms Hill.
The Last Up Alms Hill.
Alms Hill, that well known motor-car and motor-cycle competition hill, which rises 1,000 feet from foot to crest and has a gradient of one in three—was formally closed to motor-car traffic on January 3rd by order of the Oxfordshire County Council, owing to the noise which is alleged to have been created by motor-cyclists using it for competition work during week-ends, to the annoyance of local residents.
Before the notice of the closing of the gradient became effective, a number of reliability motor-car trial drivers decided to take advantage of the time limit and make a final ascent.
Just before dusk a Singer Nine sports tourer gave an excellent account of itself, and was probably the last motor-car the wheels of which will ever again use that road.
The hill has a surface on which many cars have come to grief, the middle section consisting of exposed chalk which in wet weather becomes a treacherous bed of slime that offers no sort of wheel-grip to the tyres of a car.
Sub-Zero Weather Test of Oil.
A party of technical experts have travelled via U.S.A. to Regina, Canada, to conduct a series of tests with a number of motor cars in Sub-Zero weather. It is necessary nowadays for car engines to function equally well in all tem
peratures, Tropical and Arctic. Usually the lubrication has failed in cold climates as oil is apt to lose its fluidity. In the Scott Expedition to the Antarctic “
Filtrate” oils were used successfully to lubricate the engines of the motor sledges, etc., as even in those far off days they were distinguished for retaining their fluidity at low temperatures.
The motor testing will be made on the famous Regina-Moose Jaw road where the temperature is usually about “forty below.” Here the experts are erecting their laboratory with special apparatus, in order to determine the essentials for easy car operation in the middle of winter, however low the thermometer may be.
“The Welding Test”
A new edition for the vest pocket of that useful book “The Welding Test,” issued by Barimar, the well known experts in this essential branch of the trade, has just been published, and by reason of its handy size, is certain to be popular. Many illustrations and descriptions of the examples of Barimar Welding are given, from which it will be seen that there are few repair jobs beyond the scope of the process, which not only ensures a satisfactory repair but shows a very distintct saving in cost over new parts. A free copy will be forwarded to any reader by Barimar, Ltd., 18, Lamb’s Conduit Street, London, W.C.1.
“Money for Speed.”
American car-dirt-track films are popular, but so far no attempt has been made to turn our own motor-cycle dirt-tracks to this use. A new British film company, Hall-Mark Films, Ltd., has broken this spell of inactivity, however, with a production called “Money for Speed,” in which many well known dirt-track riders take part, among them being Ginger Lees, Frank Arthur, jack Ormston, Lionel Van Praag, Con Cantwell and Harry Bray. An additional thrill is provided by Cyclone Danny, the “Wail of Death” rider. ,
The film, which has just been completed at the Wembly Studios, was expensive to make, for no fewer than 28 motor-cycles were wrecked in its production. In the ” Wall of Death” sequence Cyclone Danny had to ride his machine over the top into a net—a particularly hazardous operation.
The leading players are Cyril McLaglen, John Loder, Ida Lupin°, Marie Ault and Moore Marriott.
An Australian Relay Race.
A race) similar to the L.C.C.’s Relay Grand Pfix was held recently at the Maroubra Speedway, Australia, and resulted in a repetition of the Wolseley Hornet Special’s win at Brooklands, a_ team of three carrying off the honours.