Trials in Switzerland.
Page 12
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The trials of motor vehicles which have been organised in connection with the third annual motor show at Zurich came to a conclusion on Tuesday last, after an interesting series of trial runs extending over five days. We gave a list of the competing vehicles in our issue of the 2nd instant, and it is interesting to note that the committee of organisation required the vehicles to start on their daily runs as early as six o'clock in the morning.
The general regulations for the trials were drawn up so as to afford every possible encouragement to Swiss manufacturers, and any foreign maker who entered was required to have a Swiss agent. It was provided that there should be no exclusion from the official classification and report upon the trials if a vehicle succeeded in completing one stage out of the five, but any vehicle which may have failed to have its running time properly recorded at any of the " controls " will not be eligible for an award. The running times were taken at various points, during the five day programme, in order to check the uniformity of speed, and special tests were made on one of the stages to determine the fuel consumption, from which records calculations will be made to give the amount used per ton of useful weight and per ton of total weight.
The right was reserved by the committee of organisation to impose a separate test, for confirmatory pur
poses, upon the vehicle which proved to have the lowest fuel consumption, and petroleum spirit of any specific gravity between o.o68 and 0.720 was allowed.
The hill-climbing tests were made in the ordinary course of the trials, upon selected hills which, in order that gear changing might be a factor in the result, offered both severe gradients and a number of sharp peaks, whilst the formula upon which the order of climbing is to be settled will, it is stated, include time, weight, and horsepower as factors. The regulations pro vide that the last-named of these shall be decided by the committee of organisation in the manner thought best.
The fourth section of the tests dealt with braking efficiency, and provision for the avoidance of side-slip. Each brake was tested separately, and these tests came most particularly under the notice of the military officers who followed the trials throughout. A period of from 3o to 6o minutes was allowed for the fitting of anti-skid devices.
The observers had to be furnished by the competitors, to the extent of one observer per vehicle presented for trial, and the rules provided for a fine of too francs in the event of failure, which is certainly a most reasonable penalty having regard to the expense to which a manufacturer is usually put over the finding of a suitable man, and we fail to see how the Swiss Club was able to produce effective substitutes in exchange for so low a penalty.
It is probable that the official report on the trials and the decisions of the committee of judges will not be issued for some time, but we hope to give the results in due course, both for the goods and public-service vehicles. The accompanying route map has been supplied to us by the Secretary of the Swiss Automobile Club, and it shows the interesting character of the itinerary.