A Critique upon the Recent French Trials.
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By the Editor.
This rear's commercial motor trials in France are over, and they have _afforded some opportunities for comparisons. Considerations of space and
sense of proportion alike require that we condense any notice of the cornpetition into one article, for there is lithe
of value to record. The trials have failed to appeal to business men, and the great Paris newspapers have prac ,tically ignored them. That widelyread sporting journal, " L'Auto," has naturally been to the fore with its daily .account from the facile pen of M. Pierre Souvestre, whose observations at some of the earlier Liverpool trials gave birth to his present interests in the heavy side of motoring, chief of which is his -directorship of our monthly contemporary " Le Poids Lourds." The writer's .own visit to this year's tests, at the Lille exhibition and at certain points on the respective routes, makes the eighth of a series which dates back to August of the year 1897, and it therefore is upon an 1-year store that the 'critical portion of our report is based.
Essentially Military.
We are well justified in writing that these French trials would have ceased but for the lively interest of the War Office authorities. Each of the competing vehicles carried a military officer as observer, and the contest was followed throughout by a committee of highly-placed officials as the direct representatives of the Minister of War. The trials were designated " Concours rnilitaire de vehicuies industriels," though a cab section was added, and the competitors seldom had occasion to give attention elsewhere than in the neighbourhood of French and Russian uniforms, for we are afraid that the local exhibitions were more noteworthy for the excellence of the music, and the precision of the salutes, than for the attendance of commercial buyers. The Marquis de Dion, in course of a conversation with the writer, none the less expressed his satisfaction with the programme, and advanced the view that such trials might advantageously be repeated for the next two years. If considerable orders from two Governments result, we are inclined to agree that a return for the large outlay may be experienced, but we should think that both a choice and contracts might be made equally well on existing data. The perseverance of the manufacturers certainly deserves its reward in the shape of orders in other quarters, too.
Classification and Competitors.
A total of 47 machines started in io categories : (I) load of 50-200 kilos., two Contal tricycle-carriers; (2) load of 201-900 kilos., two vehicles (Panhard and Peugeot); (3) load of 901-1,50o kilos., four vehicles (De Dietrich, De Dion, Panhard, and Brouhot); (4) load of 1,501-2,000 kilos., four vehicles (two Peugeots and two Berliets); (5) load of 2,001-3,000 kilos., six vehicles (De Dion, Panhard, Vinot, Saurer, and two Berliets); (6) load of more than 3,000
kilos., nine vehicles (De Dietrich, two Latils, De Dion, two Cohendets, Saurer, and two Berliets); (7) road trains, De Dion lorry and one trailer; (8) public-service conveyances for 6-10 passengers, six vehicles (De Dietrich, De Dion, two Peugeots, and two Berliets); and (9) public-service conveyances for more than to passengers, two vehicles (De Dietrich and Saurer). The weight per passenger, in classes 8 and 9, was reckoned at 70 kilogrammes. The entry fee, for classes/. to 9 respectively, were 250, 400, boo, Soo, 1200, 1200, 1500, Sao, and 1200 francs, with a fine of in per cent, per five days if late. The Minister of War required : so per cent, of useful load, with a minimum Of 2,000 kilos. (40 per cent. and 6,000 kilos. for tractors); a maximum dead weight of 3,000 kilos. for 2-axle vehicles, and of 4,000 kilos. fcpr 3-axle vehicles; steel tires to back wheels; ability to use earburated alcohol; a winding drum and cable; in the public-service section, at least /6 inside seats, and a maximum tare of 2,500 kilos. for the chassis; and, in the goods section, a platform of 5 feet 7 inches minimum width and it feet 6 inches minimum length. In the cab section, where the fuel used had to contain at least so per cent. of alcohol, there were II. starters-Vinot, Bayard-Clement, three Brouhots, Doriot-Flandrin, Gladiator, two Brasiers, Prodhornme, and Lethimonnier. Interesting points in the cab specification were : engines to have
total piston areas between 12.2 and 31 square inches; bodies to be..two-seated coupes or landaulets; unladen weight to be at least ',am kilos. for the minimum piston-area, with an addition of 4.3 kilos. per square centimetre, or a weight of at least 1,527 kilos. for a cab with maximum piston-area ; pneumatic tires, if used, to be not more than 105mm. section no removable antiskids allowed ; and tanks to be sufficient for a zoo-kilometre run. The normal entry fee was only so francs, with a fine of io per cent, per five days if late.
Distance and Speeds.
The approximate total distances were : for classes i to 7, 1,900 miles (as nearly 150 kilometres a day as .possue); for classes 8 and 9 and the cabs, 2,450 miles (as nearly 200 kilometres a day as possible). Only 112 kilometres were covered, as the penultimate stage, when the consumption trial was made, and that in all classes, and the last stage was also shortened. There were 23 stages, and seven local exhibidons. The maximum speed for ah classes except the cabs was 25 kilometres
(15.535 miles) per hour, and lhe minimum 0,peedS to enable any vehicle to. maintain its jaSsification were (in kilometres per hour) : classes 1, 2, 3, 8 and
2 ; classes 4, 5 and 6—so; class 7— 8 ; and for cabs, 15. The maximum speed for the cabs was 30 k.p.h.
Organisation.
We can heartily congratulate the Automobile Club of France upon the improvement in the organisation of the tests, as compared with some earlier ones. The supervision and the observing of the vehicles were clearly more efficient, and, most wonderful of all for a French competition, a real advance was made in the direction of curtailed speed. This was especially noticeable where the military sections travelled in convoy, as they did on numerous occasions, with spared intervals between the vehicles, the only latitude being on the occasion of hill climbing, when any of the more powerful machines were allowed to forge ahead, and thereafter to slacken until the line of the convoy was re-established. Notwithstanding the practical elimination of reckless overdriving, it will be realised, when we point out that the iron-tired vehicles made a daily average of nearly 83 miles, and touched as much as 95 miles on some days, that more than com
mercial speeds were maintained. Opportunities for road-side adjustments and repairs were rigorously excluded— in itself a departure for a competition of this class. It was a rule of the trials that no tires or wheels might be changed, and the permissible replacements were specified in three classes : sparking plugs, ignition springs, nuts and clips, joints on pipes, and tire fixings might be adjusted or changed without restriction ; one ignition unit, one front spring, one back spring, one brake, one chain or one cardan, and one float vessel, all sealed, were allowed for necessary replacement under inspection ; any other part of a vehicle or its mechanism was not allowed to be replaced under any pretext.
For the consumption tests, cost, and not volume, was the fundamental basis, and a sufficient period was set aside on the day preceding the observed run, which amounted to 112 kilometres for each class, in order that every tank, pipe, and connection about the fuel system of a vehicle might be verified by the Club officials. 'This plan of testing the consumption on a single day only, and that towards the end of the trials, which has been the practice of the French Club for some time, is admirable. In comparing the best consumptions with those obtained in the earlier French trials, we may remark that an improvement of more than 45 per cent, has been effected since the original competition of 1897. The tests were on the formula T C divided by l' D, where T is the duration in hours, C the value of the fuel consumed in francs, P the useful load (inclusive of the body) in kilogrammes, and D the distance covered in kilometres. During the consumption tests, vehicles in classes t, 2, 3, 8 and 9, and the cabs, were not allowed to exceed 20 kilometres an hour, whilst the vehicles in classes 4, 5, 6 and 7 were not allowed to exceed is kilometres an hour, whereby the relative value of the records are obviously much enhanced. We have made accurate conversions into English equivalents, and these are included in our table on the preceding page.
Tires.
We were much struck with the excel. lent condition of the Bergougnan (Gaulois) tires, and the fact that 6o per cent. of the rubber-shod wheels were fitted with this make. Another interesting tire, the Ducasble elastic pattern, as illustrated herewith, and also on page 362, made its debut. It was to be found, amongst others, on the front wheels of vehicles Nos. 1, 3 and 4, on both the Contal tricycles, and on the back wheels of cab No. 70. In conver
sation with representatives of the French makers, we gathered that they had formed a high opinion of this tire, which the manufacturers term the " automatic." We should point out that the delay of nine minutes which was experienced by the Prodhomme cab was not due to the tires, but to the magneto. In consequence of the specification of the War Office, an unusually large number of vehices had steel-shod back wheels.
Wheels.
The popularity of the Soulas spoke appears to be maintained, and we observed a welcome tendency to increase the number of spokes in the ordinary artillery-type wheel. -Wheel trouble was experienced by some of the machines, particularly by the Latil Company; which had two cases of seizing on the axle, in respect of its back wheels, which accounted for the declassment of Nos. 7 and 8. No fault attached to the well-known front-driving system of this maker. Incidentally, we give, in the left-hand column, a sketch of the Latil method of keeping axle caps in position, though we regard it as being inferior, in point of neatness, to the .fitting of a spring finger that engages in notches which are cut in an enlarged flange on a cap. It has the merit, however, of being applicable to any existing cap and wheel, and for that reason is of practical interest.
Springs and Final Transmission.
It was interesting to note that, of 36 vehicles, other than the cabs, only the De Dion vehicles did not have their back springs shackled at the front ends. The Cohendet lorries alone had their back springs free to slide at both ends. No less than zo of these vehicles were sprung outside the frame at the back, and the whole of the cabs were so sprung, whilst all had the usual front spring arrangement, i.e., shackled at the back end and fixed at the forward end, except one of the De Dions (No. 9), the attachment of whose forward springs to the front ends of the frame is illustrated herewith by a sketch. All the other vehicles had their back springs shackled at both ends.
Rubber-buffer suspension has increased in favour, since 1905, De Dietrich giving particular favour to this extra " dampener " for shocks, one of the leading English examples of which may be seen upon the WolseleySiddeley motorbuses. Chain drive was employed in 23 of the 36 vehicles other than cabs, and 18 of these vehicles had their steering rods behind the axle, and therefore in compression. Vehicles Nos. 36 and 37 had full elliptic springs at the hack. Only eight vehicles had transverse springs at the back.
Turning to the cabs, not a single one was chain driven, and none had a transverse spring at the back ; only five had the steering rod behind the axle; eight had three-quarter elliptic suspension at the back ; one had the usual semi-elliptic spring ; and two of the Brouhot vehicles had quarter-elliptic, inverted, plate springs with their forward ends carried in box-brackets from the side-members of the main frame, much on the lines of the early Oldsmobile model.
Breakdowns.
Fourteen of the vehicles were declassed through road-side mishaps. Peugeot was the most unfortunate, his vehicles Nos. 15, 17, 18 and 38 breaking their back axles, notwithstanding the fact that these are of the fixed type; the De Dion vehicles NOS. IO, 12 and 41 suffered from breakdowns, to and 41 of gears or shafts, the first-named being attributable to an unusually sudden stop which the driver had to perform in order to avoid killing a man, whilst No. 12, though forced into a ditch, was not very much damaged ; the Latil vehicles Nos. 7 and 8 had trouble with their back wheels, as noted already ; one of the Con tal motor tricycles had its steering gear deranged through collision with a dog, and the other one had the back wheel damaged after a sudden tire-burst ; the only one of the eight Berliets to suffer any trouble was No. 34, a back wheel failing--a pity it had not been of cast steel.
In the cab section, the Vinot fell out at an early stage, and the Prodhomme suffered a .temporary delay. Exact causes have not been disclosed.
The majority of the foregoing machines were quickly repaired, and took up the running again, but without official observation.
The Winners.
The winners in the respective classes were announced to be : Class 2, Panhard (No. is); Class 3, De Dion (No. 9); Class 4, Peugeot (No. 16); Class 5, Saurer (No. 25); Class 6, Saurer (No. 26); Class 8, Berliet (No. 36); Class 9, Saurer (No. 27). Cab section, Doriot-Flandrin (No. 70) first, Berliet (No. 65) second, and Bayard-Clement (No. 64) third. The final order of merit, independently of class, was as follows : first, Saurer (No. 26); second, De Dion (No. 9); third, Saurer (No. 27); fourth, Panhard (No. 20); and fifth, Saurer (No. 25). It will thus be observed that the honours of the trials went to the Saurer make, which is represented in England by the " Hallford," and more recently by the Safir.
The prizes of the Minister of War have been awarded thus : object of art and bonus of ,6320, De Dion-Bouton, Limited (vehicle No. 1); gold medal and bonus of ,4"16o, Panhard, Levassor and Company (vehicle No. 21); silver-gilt medal and bonus of -1,120, Mathian Freres (Cohendet vehicle No. 14); silver medal and bonus of Mathian Freres (Cohendet vehicle No.
13); bonus of .4o, Vinot-Deg-uingand and Company (vehicle No. 22); and
special prize of .4:40, for the maker who presented the most suitable wheel and axle for military purposes, De DionBottton, Limited. A large number of smaller awards were made.