bird's eye
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view by the Hawk • Hilton at home
It was a disappointed Ralph Hilton who stood on the Albert Embankment last Saturday and watched Princess Marzaret flag away the power boats on the London-toMonte Carlo race. Ralph was not at his accustomed place, driving his boat — the favourite — HTS. The man at the wheel on this occasion was his co-driver Mike Bellamy.
Ralph decided that his 1500-vehicle company needed his driving skill more than his 33ft cabin racer. "Transport companies are going through stormy times," he said "and frankly I just couldn't consider being away from business for three weeks at this time."
The transport tycoon is entered in another eight races between now and September 30 so he should have ample opportunity of adding to his already considerable silverware.
• Fuming "What noise annoys . . ." says the heading to the press release with which Perkins Engines recently introduced a booklet called Pollution. It's not the noise that has annoyed, apparently, but the section of the booklet devoted to diesel exhaust fumes; the Labour MP for Romford, Dick Leonard, is asking the Minister for Transport Industries to consider whether the booklet's references to diesel fumes constitute a misrepresentation under the Trades Description Act.
Mr Leonard's question arises from a letter sent to the Minister by the Essex branch of the Conservation Society, claiming that the heading "The diesel engine's contribution to a healthier environment," was misleading.
I'm told the letter claims that, while the brochure quotes a junior Minister as saying that Medical Research Council findings showed no effects on health from diesel fumes, the Society's local chairman had been told by the Government Researth Laboratory that diesel fumes contain polynuclear hydrocarbons, complex aromatic compounds which were cancer causing, and could also cause weeping and bad breathing.
He has urged Mr Peyton to press for withdrawal of the booklet, which Perkins has been issuing free from its PR department in Peterborough.
• Futures
I've just been along to the Royal College of Art in Kensington Gore, London, taking a look at some of the work of the final year post-graduates. Among the projects are two interesting commercial vehicle designs, pictured on this page. A vehicle proposed by David Arbuckle, who is sponsored by Ford Motor Company, is based on a standardized chassis-cab unit but accepts a wide variety of different demountable body modules. Hydraulic power from a Wankel engine-driven pump would provide a means of raising and lowering the vehicle suspension to mount and demount the body. Hydrostatic hub motors would provide traction in each wheel.
Geoffrey Matthews, sponsored by Chrysler (UK) Ltd, has designed a tractive unit which uses a torque tube as a chassis, the top of which supports the fifth-wheel coupling. The tube divides into two fabricated structures whim support and enclose thi suspended cab, protecting it from side am end impacts.
Behind the cab, and slung from the torqui tube, is the engine, transmission and compleu running gear which can be all removed as single unit for maintenance or replacement A driver's movable console provides for left or right-hand drive.
The exhibition remains open until nex Wednesday.
• Upstanding job Mention that Colin Thickbroom paints fo a living and there is a flood of puns to th head. In fact, this "jovial West Riding man to quote from The Birmingham Post, has nice line in humour himself. His onl complaint about using a brush, a maul stic and a can of paint to turn a double-deckt into a mobile advertisement is that it woul be easier to do the 30ft side panels if the bust could be laid on their sides.
It seems he's riding on the crest of a war of enthusiasm for turning buses into advertis ments; the West Midland PTE has three an plans to have 12 Fleetlines done all over i publicity. By a generous brush, if not all b a Thickbroom?