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bird's eye view by the Hawk IIISir Harry the Prophet

31st August 1973, Page 28
31st August 1973
Page 28
Page 28, 31st August 1973 — bird's eye view by the Hawk IIISir Harry the Prophet
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

To say of Sir Harry Ricardo that he is the most famous research engineer of all time would be disputed by few technicians in the world today and by no one a few years ago in Sir Harry's heyday. Members of CM technical staff are among the many engineers who consult The High Speed Internal Combustion Engine by Ricardo and Glyde when seeking information on basic theory and practice, and a recent reference to the 1941 edition (it was first published in 1923) under the title The Internal Combustion Engine) revealed that Ricardo was fully aware at that time that hydrocarbon fuels were a wasting asset.

In his introduction Sir Harry wrote: "The production of alcohol from vegetable sources would involve no drain on the world's storage and could, in tropical countries at all events, ultimately produce fuel in sufficient quantity for the world's needs.

"By the use of a fuel derived from vegetation mankind is adapting the sun's heat to the development of motive power, as it becomes available from day to day; by using mineral fuels he is consuming a legacy — and a limited legacy at that — of heat stored away many thousands of years ago. In the one case he is, as it were, living within his income, in the other he is squandering his capital."

A prophet has no honour in his own country — or anywhere else it seems.

• By the right?

In England — tourists apart — apparently twice the number of pedestrians keep right to those who keep left. This I learn from one of those fascinating series of letters which crop up in the correspondence columns of The Times. One writer urged government action to induce pedestrians to keep left, but Dr C. R. Cavonius, of the Psychological Laboratory, Cambridge, replied that Institute of Pedestrian Behaviour observations in Cambridge and Haverrill showed that at both sites the number of pedestrians who kept right when meeting another pedestrian was more than twice the number who kept left. "This suggests that in situations other than jousts (which are rare now in . Oxford Street) the tendency to keep right is powerful, since generations of driving on the left have not reversed it," he added.

Haverrill was chosen for the survey, by the way, so as to avoid contamination of data by tourists. A previous correspondent had written of the tendency of Australians and New Zealanders to keep left -"probably irrelevant here," comments Dr Cavonius, "since it may well apply only in the southern hemisphere, where the individual is subject to reversed Coriolis forces and to the unsettling effects on an inverted environment"

II Right ready

No unsettling effects of an inverted environment seem to be affecting drivers, however. The Institute of Advanced Motorists tells me that the pass rate for their advanced test has risen from the 58 per cent average recorded during most of the Institute's 17-year existence to 74 per cent this summer. The rise began to show in the spring, when the pass rate rose to around 66 per cent.

The IAM reckons drivers come for the test better prepared than they used to be, and that this is the main reason for the better driving standards — the test has not changed since 1956.

Interestingly, the reasons for failure remain the same. The main ones are late braking, incorrect use of gears, lane straddling, excessive speed in dangerous situations, moving in too soon after overtaking, cutting right-hand corners, and failing to plan ahead.

All of which can be witnessed every day from the cab of any truck on the main roads.

• Good tae If this colum,1 develops a slightly blurred and cheery tone in October, put it down to CM being on the spot (as always) for an event that is slightly out of the normal run the first International Festival of Wine ever to be held in Britain. This is taking place within a cork's pop of CM's offices —on the Riverside Walk between County Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, on London's South Bank. Very mouthwatering: "Hundreds of wines to choose from at colourful stands... in a series of spectacular pavilions."

Wine tasting will be the largest section, occupying the two major pavilions "in a series of six geodetic structures". Since the tickets include five generous free-tasting vouchers there probably won't be many able to say "six geodetic structures" by the time they leave.

I know there are some very keen and knowledgeable wine drinkers in the road transport world, so I'll do the noble thing and pass on the fact that the Thameside weinfest is from October 1 to 6.

• Bottles and sockets

Ever since being frightened as a child by a saggermaker's bottomknocker, I have been fascinated by other peoples' jobs. Now I have discovered how I can have my fill of the subject — by hiring from the Central Film Library a range of tworeelers on Time Study Rating Exercises.

They are silent, which is a pity, as you will realize in a moment, but they include such evocative activities as: Bagging garments; Ironing a jumper; Priming a signboard; Setting out deckchairs; Tightening wheel nuts; Making up a vest; Sewing pieces of a man's trunks; Weighing and boxing screws; and Hand tapping hank brushes.

Me, I'm for the quiet life, so for my first night's flickers I'm choosing: Laying a table; Pushing a wheelbarrow; Planting out pot-plants and (what else?) counting tablets into bottles. Isn't life hell?


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