THE FRENCH SUBVENTION TRIALS.
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The Last Days, Fuels Employed Weather Conditions. and Brake Tests.
irligk trials were broughi.,t(fans end on Saturday last, having covered a period of 14 days' actual running testsi the first two days having been occupied by preliminary, and the last two days by final examination, by the Military Commission.
It will obvionsly be necessary, seeing that the trials have been conducted ex clusively by and for the French Govern ment broadly .(so far as concerns any solicitude for the pockets of the agricul turists), and by and for the French. Artillery Service in particular, to await the publication of reports which will enable a really fair and critical verdict to be presented.
Of all the vehicles entered it will be remarked that two makes have not answered to the roll call at the end; in fact, one of them newt put-in an appearance at the start. This refers to the Ara, and it appears that these machines were destined for an urgent order for which the purchasers insisted on delivery before the trials. As the Ara is quite unique in regard to the extremely narrow track, about. 2 ft., and has an engine developing 30 b.h.p., it would have been interesting to be able to see what it could do as regards stability, and also to compare the action of its patent articulated creeper-bogies. The other make, which has not had a happy career in this contest, is the Ber net. They were early in trouble; on the
thirdday's running one of them broke down during itinerary D (77 kiknnetres),
and the following day they started out late, having stayed behind for repairs. They continued on, how.ever, to about December 8th, but from thee onwards the class in which they were entered —Lorries, loads of 7iton—was only represented by Renaults and Dewalds. Although, as indicated. in last week's report, the break-up of the weather has been a benefit in the way of making things much stiffer for the competitors and has caused quite a lot of minor accidents, it is indeed unfortunate in ' another aspect. There have been two change-overs of fuel since the commencement on petrol, and, had the same weather prevailed throughout, it would have undoubtedly led to more exact comparisons. As it is, the machines were faced With increasingly heavier routes and certainly very different atmospheric conditions, whilst, in order to institute a rigid comparison between such slightly differing carburants as were provided by petrol, benzola, and benzoie with an addition of 10 per cent. alcohol (this latter being styled the National Carburant), it would be necessary to ensure equal running conditions. This, of course, could have been done by making each pair take turn and turn about on different fuels.
As it is, the general results show very little difference with regard to the carburants, the average consumption, however, being slightly in favour of benzole. From December 5th to December 10th no change was made in the daily routine of the route tests over the large itineraries, except that on December 9th the loads of pig-iron on the lorries were replaced by small Renault tanks.
Brake tests were oarried out on the stiff gradient of Occur Volant, and in spite of the difficulties they may be re garded as fairly satisfactory. These tests, as a matter of fact, had to be abandoned on the day originally proposed on account of the excessively greasy state of the hill, and the same condition of the round, so far as the heavy tractors were concerned, caused quite a let of slithering on the part of the vehicle hauled.
The hardest tasks of all have undoubtedly been the work allotted on the small itineraries near-the camp to the tractors entered as agricultural, as, of course, such work as the hauling of cannon over fields of themature of these is harder than ploughing. The heavy road tractors have had, in comparison, an .easier time, one of their most interesting days was on Tuesday, December 13th, when the efficiency of their brakes was tried out on the itinerary F, a circuit of 76 kilometres. Laden with their tanks they were cheicked by signal in descending the hill at Rocquoncourt, causing much interestt to the villagers, who were not quite sure whether it was "Ia proehaine guerre." But, as already mentioned, the most difficult hill throughout appears to have been Neauphlele-Chateau, with its bad, pave surface,. rendered worse since the first journeys by its greasy state, which made it far from safe.
The total distance travelled. over the long itineraries is in the vicinity of 750 miles of fairly sive arid take roads; With rather more in the way of hills than perhaps justifies this expression. Still,as a test it has been thorough, and the same may be said for the work done or. the grounds near the camp. It now remains to await the collection, classification, and publication of all the official observations and figures.
The examination of the dismantled parts is one of the final reports which will be awaited with the greatest interest, for although the distance run is et mere nothing to account for normal wear and tear, It is already evident that some of the machines have shown signs of stress that clearly indicate where the designer must turn his attention in order to strengthen the " weakest link in the chain."