A NEW THREE-WHEELED SPORTS CAR.
The D’Yrsan Cyclecar from France, already Victorious in some Important Continental Events, coming to Brooklands.
The D’Vrsan three-wheeled cyclecar which will be at the Motor Cycle Show next month, cannot fail to interest all readers of this magazine. It is pre-eminently a sporting car, and has already, in the hands of Rene Krebs, won the Paris-Les Pyrenees-Paris Trial, being awarded a gold medal. It is quite aptly described by its makers as a car on three wheels, for, in all but that particular feature, it resembles a car, rather than a cyclecar. It has a four-cylinder engine, water cooled, of bore and stroke 57 mm. and 95 mm., giving a cubic capacity of 750 C.c., so that it competes with the same capacity class as the Austin Seven, and will no doubt also come up against the Morgan. Its total weight, as a two-seater, is only 7 cwt., notwithstanding the fact that its specification covers three-speed and reverse gear box with central control ; drive by enclosed propeller shaft to bevel reduction gear, and thence to the rear wheel by Renolds roller chain.
The engine, clutch, and gear box together form a neat unit. The four cylinders of the power unit are cast en bloc. The valves in the sporting model are overhead, operated by push rods. The clutch is of the single-disc type, running in oil.
The suspension and the arrangement of the brakes are the outstanding features of this chassis. There is no front axle, as the term is ordinarily understood, its place being taken by two transverse inverted semielliptic springs which support the steering pivots between their ends. The springs are supplemented by Houdaille shock absorbers. At the rear, quarterelliptic springs are disposed, one on each side of the rear wheel, the spindle of which is coupled to the chassis, bicycle fashion, by a pair of fork-ended radius rods to which the outer ends of the springs are attached by shackles.
The brakes take effect, one on the front wheels, the other on a drum on the cross shaft of the bevel reduction gear. There is no brake gear directly connected
to or mounted on the rear wheel, so that it is accessible merely by freeing the driving chain, when it can be withdrawn from the forked ends of the radius rod.
The frame is another interesting feature of the construction of this car, being tubular and neatly designed so as to afford strength where strength is required, and at the same time to avoid unnecessary weight.
The complete car, equipped with sports body, has, as one of our illustrations shows, a pleasing appearance, and we have no doubt that, at some early date, it will give a good account of itself both at Brooklands and at various trials up and down the country.
The standard equipment includes a Saga magneto, acetylene lighting, wire wheels with Dunlop cord tyres. The price of the ordinary model is 150 and of the sports model f,r6o. The sole concessionnaires are Trailers, Ltd., 73-74, Windsor House, Victoria Street, London, S.W. 1.