A 1,000-mile Demonstration Trial for Commercial Motors.
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One may well use the exclamatory words " at last " in regard to the regulations for the Royal Automobile Club's trials. Cajolery, argument, and criticism alike failed to:, bring about their issue last year, whilst the Club's proposals for a series of tests in the year 19os were attended by a distinct failure to secure entries. Let us hope that there will be one beneficial result from the delay—a large and representative number of competitors on this occasion. There is a big responsibility upon the Club in respect of the intended trials, which are to take place in September next, because any faults of organisation cannot fail to have an adverse effect-upon both its prestige and the immediate future of the commercial side of motoring as a whole. The services of men who have carried out the heavy detail work of previous trials are no longer forthcoming, though their practice, so far as its impress can remain, is left for others to copy. After Claude Johnson left the Club, of which he was sole secretary for six years, Basil Joy, E. A. Greathed, and now A. H. Binyon have, in rapid succession, endeavoured to discharge the duties of technical assistant at lig. Piccadilly, and each has found the task an impossible one. Who will be the man to " fill the bill " at this important stage of events?
A Specific Organiser Essential.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders appears to be satisfied that a competent organiser will be available, as it has confirmed its original vote of .400 towards the expenditure, but it must be patent to all that the multifarious duties of the Club Secretary, Mr. J. W. Orde, will, in the :absence of special instructions, prevent his giving the neces sary time to conduct, or even primarily to direct, the course of the competition, although the responsibility is his in name. The repeated changes in the personnel of the technical staff of the R,A.C. cannot but be regarded as a disquieting feature : if any man who is appointed proves tc be incapable of occupying the post efficiently, it reflect: upon those who made the selection, whilst, if a competeni man will not stay, it indicates a lack of appreciation whicI should not be allowed to exist. We can only express tht hope that the Club Committee has a good man ready tc assume early charge of the preparations for the trial undei notice, or that it will arrange to free Mr. Orde sufficient13 for him to undertake this particular work himself. It b obviously rather optimistic to hope to secure the services o a suitable organiser at short notice, and, no matter who i! appointed, the newcomer will be obliged to fall back upor the knowledge, experience, and very material assistance o the Club Secretary himself.
The Demand for Publicity.
It is for the foregoing reasons that we repeat our viev that the trials will not be the success they deserve to bi unless the Club Committee arranges for Mr. Orde to devob a very large share of his time to their advertisement am organisation. A well-considered scheme of publicity in ad vance of the actual contest, and one that will-help other. to awaken interest throughout the civilised world, is as thi breath of life to the British manufacturer who is asked b expend brains, money and energy upon this Internationa Competition, which promises to be the last of its class, b this country, for many years to come, if not for all time.
Under R.A.C. Open Competition Rules. • It will be noted that the regulations which we publisl to-day are qualified as being " Supplemental." They d. not in any way replace the published competition rules* o the R.A.C., but it has been arranged that the entry fee o .4,25 per vehicle shallinclude the prescribed registratioi fees for competitor and driver entrants Will, however, re quire to fill up certain forms apart from the mere forms c entry for their vehicles, in order to comply with these rules Many of the standard rules, as also some of the supple mental ones, savour of racing and of private motorcars, bu .these terms, on consideration, will be found to have thei applications. We quote, at random—meeting, clerks of th course, stewards, clerk of the scales, weighing in.
Classification : Loads and Daily Mileages.
The fixing of definite loads for each of the seven classe will simplify both the management of the trials and subs( quent calculations. There will, in all probability, be corr plaints that there is no class for the tricycle-carrier, or fc any vehicle with a less useful load than iocwt., and w should have welcomed the admission of these lighter type: Tractors (Class H), in hauling a gross weight of six tor (trailer and load combined), will be working a little belo' their normal capacity, whilst an' steam wagons that may I entered in Class G will be slightly above their average lom especially if they are fitted with extra tanks to enable them to travel 30 miles without taking in water between depots.
We have only one serious criticism, and that is upon the apparent relation between the permissible duration of a day's work in the different classes : unless numerous stops and halts are imposed in Classes A to E, in the absence of which an allowance of only about four hours will be necessary in each case, iron-tired vehicles in Classes F to H will cut a poor figure in the public estimation, for, at the full legal speed of five miles an hour throughout, they can in no circumstances complete their allotted 30-mile run in less than six hours. The schedule, on the fare of it, is not an equable one, but we do not doubt that the judges will take all necessary steps to remedy this apparent detect.
Dates and Routes.
Entries may be made " any day after the 25th April," and the vehicles will be started each day in the order of entry. The right is reserved, it is true, to revise this order, but we expect the precedent of other trials, in which the heaviest classes are sent out first, will be followed. In any event, we strongly advise makers or agents to lodge their entries in good time : it is sometimes an advantage to own one of the vehicles to leave a depot early. The conditions were not issued by the Club until the night of the 26th ultimo, and the entry forms were not ready until late on Monday last ! As to the dates that have been selected for the trials, these have been adopted so as to avoid interference with other fixtures or with the summer holidays. They will enable the tests to be finished soon enough to save any dual manufacturer from undesired pre-occupation when the private-car show of November is approaching, and the conclusion of the trials will be sufficiently in advance of the next commercialmotor show to insure the prior issue of the Judges' complete report upon the competition..
We see no reason why the route of the t,000-mile trial of tgoo should not be followed, although this intention has not been announced. The maps and hill profiles are in existence, and such important centres as Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, and Lincoln are included. A variation to visit Glasgow might, perhaps, be introduced.
Judges and Awards.
The names of the judges are not published, but it is safe to conclude that they will include a number of representative engineers and practical users, and we are glad to see that they will be entrusted with a wide discretion throughout. It is eminently desirable that the judges, subject to the general conditions and regulations, should in effect be the Executive Trials Committee, and no more efficient method of intelligent control than this is discoverable. The ultimate appeal in case of any dispute will remain, of course, with the Committee of the k.A.C., but it will only tend to overlapping and lack of grip upon detail if the judges are not appointed at an early date, and if they are not brought together on numerous occasions in consultation over the actual work of organisation. • The awards are to he based upon a variety of considerations and factors, but upon only one of these will we offer any comment now. The " cost of carriage " will not be a useful figure unless it includes depreciation and maintenance charges, and we anticipate that some scale will have to be agreed. If not, any alleged costs cannot be held to cover more than the bare running expenses, which do not necessarily form a criterion of the total working cost of a machine. It is,in our opinion, although either the inclusion or the nmission introduces admitted difficulties, preferable that the judges should assess depreciation and maintenance in respect of particular types, or particular .vehicles, as the necessities of the case appear to them to dictate.
The Broad View.
We are generally satisfied with the regulations as published, subject to the one reservation that we should have Rreferred to have :seen part as a service-condition trial. The great variety of surfaces and gradients in the ',non-mile journey will, none the less, provide sufficiently rigorous =ests to suit most critics, whilst the uniformity of conditions will render strict comparisons possible. We strongly re:tommend every manufacturer in the country to take part .n the competition, and to do his utmost to obtain support or it in every direction. Not only may the actual winners in each class rely upon direct business results, but experience in connection with previous similar competitions proves that every participating vehicle, provided it does not fait altogether, attracts the attention of some members of the buying public, many of whom will act upon their own viewsquite independently of those of the judges or anybody else. There is, without question, some element of risk for the
who already has established a connection with commercial users, for an unforeseen contingency, such as an.
• accidental failure or roadside incident, may put his vehicle or vehicles out of the running for a first prize. That risk,. however, has to be accepted, because the many newcomers who have entered the ranks of the commercial motor industry during the last two or three years rightly demand the opportunity to measure their strength against those who have been more or less in possession of the trade from the start. All can count upon a fair field and no favour, and our wish is that the best may come out top, and that all may derive a due measure of advantage for their labours, We publish, on page 2 18, as being of more than mere historic interest, illustrations from photographs of the four vehicles that competed in the Liverpool Trials of 1898, and which Trials it was the writer's privilege to conduct.
A Request for Co-operation.
We are indebted to those of our readers who have responded to our request for co-operation in respect of the completion of the list of addressees who are to receive our second Great Van Number, An extra to,000 copies of the issue of this journal for the 23rd instant are to be mailed direct to a new and unleavened body of potential users of delivery vans, and the great expense which is inseparable from such an extra missionary circulation renders it highly desirable that there should be no wastage of any kind. A. thorough system of checking and enquiry has been devised. in this office, so that there may be, as far as it is humanly possible, an avoidance of appeal to tradesmen who have neither the necessary means nor work to enable them usefully to turn to account the special qualities of a utility vehicle. A postcard, suitably ruled for the necessary information to be concisely written upon it, accompanies. every copy of this week's issue of "THE COMMERCIAL MoTOR, " and we have good reason to believe, judging from our experience of October last, when a similar plan was adopted, that our existing second list of some S,000 fresh names will be augmented by the net addition of another 2,000 names upon direct and personal recommendations. Every step will, of course, be taken to avoid duplication, and we undertake that no single name received shall be transferred to our office lists without scrutiny both as to its prior entry and the standing of the firm or individual.
Motorbus Direction Boards.
The suggestion made by Mr. J. Brown, F.R.S., that route hoards should be arranged with the names in alphabetical order, and that these should be placed above the driver's hood on every London motorbus, which suggestion was made in the course of the article that we published three weeks ago, has attracted a certain amount of adverse criticism. We hope that the interested companies will, none the less, accept Mr. Brown's view as that of a competent and impartial visitor to London, and one who is likely to represent the feeling and experience of tens of thousands of passengers. It is true that some difficulty might arise over the effective illumination of such large printed areas as those for which the writer of the article in question contends, whilst the regulations of the Metropolitan Police require the names to be put up both at the front and back of the vehicle, and to the latter position Mr. Brown took exception in our last issue, There certainly. are good reasons for requiring direction boards to be placed both at the front and rear ends of a stage carriage, for it is not every intending passenger who is waiting at the roadside for an omnibus to approach : a very large number ad. mittedly pick out their omnibus, from behind, when the vehicle is at rest. The tendency, however, having regard to the greater value of the working hou7 of a self-propelled vehicle, should be to do everything that will help the elimination of unnecessary delays at stopping-places, a phase of the question to which we made allusion recently, and, though ready to concur in certain remarks of those who have pointed out some weaknesses in detail, we feel that the fundamental idea of the alphabetical arrangement of the names upon' motorbus direction boards should not lightly be dismissed.