"Up Above the World So High"
Page 34
Page 35
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Staff Man on Our Associated journal "The Motor Tells What it Feels Like to Drive a Bus Chassis
By D. B. Tubbs
pROGRESS is on the march and mechanization holds ' "sway, for whereas once it took a simper of grandmothers x hours to suck a dozen eggs, a vacuum cleaner can suck a whole tin in half as many minutes. And talking of egg sucking, your correspondent drove a Dennis Lance bus chassis the other day, and proposes to say what it w.as like_ People who already know will have to forbear, but new readers can begin here, -Since earliest childhood, the writer has•had a yen for husmanship; at first, of course, on the conducting side, with a nice ticket-clipping thing, but of later years extending to the driving seat. Until very recently, however, this desire -went unfulfilled, despite fairly wide acquaintance with ordinary tour'big cars, and the ownership of what rude persons called a light sports lorry. By the year 1945, therefore, the time seemed ripe to make tracks for a truck, and the Jubilee of Dennis Brothers, of Guildford, provided the excuse.
Ott to the Works
Mr. A, Pepys Squire, of the Dennis company, kindly laid an a Lance chassis which would take us on one of its journeyings, and we set off for Surrey in a 590 c.c. Fiat " Mouse," privately hoping that our efforts would not turn the Dennis celebration into what is called " a proper birfday." Looking bleakly upwards at a Dennis met. an the road, eyes on .a line with its tyres, we thought of the Indian. rajah who gave a tigress to a guest, with the-remark, " Oh, just be nice to
her. You know. treat, her like . a kitten.'! .• • Pondering thue,.vie. arrived at the 13 acres of Dennis works, and, after chatting about trials to Mr. Squire, who used to run the.Nornad Motorists' Club and drove' an M.G. in trials, we waited for Mr. Plant to bring the "Lance
round to the door. It looked rather large beside the " -Mouse ." with its workmanlike truck body, but it -was heartening to think of it as a standard
double-decker chassis, and remember how precisely buses can be cornered and parked.
We climbed in, and got the gen on the Lance from Mr. Plant, who has known this particular vehicle sinee it was a baby, some 121,000 miles ago. After its size, and the view forwards, zo which we shall return, later, this longevity was the most striking thing about the vehicle at first. Despite the vast mileage, as it is in constant use as a works hack, the Lance shows no signs of wear at all. It has never had a rebore, and even retains its original rings. In fact, the only'attention to the engine in five years has been a decoke every 10,000 miles or so. Bearings are perfect, despite a vast com pression ratio. For it must be said that. this machine is not a standard " Lance," as it has the engine of a " Max," and the " Max " is a C.I. unit. Yet, despite this reversal of initials, the big motor has many features the sports-car addict likes: four o.h.v. per cylinder, push-rod operated, five-bearing crank, light-alloy pistons, wet liners, and an external oil filter and cooler. Oh! and 61 litres of engine, and 82 b.h.p.
A Revealing Angle To the normal, unfortunate, tinenshrouded motorist, who takes months to learn the width of his car, and follows a bus when it comes over foggy, whose* vision, in short, is that of a . sardine, the outlook from a forwardcontrol Lance is a revelation. Literally a revelation, for the road and the creatures which infest it are at last seen from the proper angle. One sits high ' —very, high—and one can look over the • front and see one's own starting handle! _We . oonimented,• on this to Mr. Plant, and he agreed._ "But," he _said, " don't forget you've got a lot behind
you! This particular job has the longest fiat body in the country: 21 ft. 6 ins., and we measure 27 ft. 6 ins, over all." We decided not to forget. Lampposts are so brittle.
Perched on' the engine, with the radiatOr cap and header tank within reach of the hand (Diesels run so cool one hardly felt any warmth at all), we took stock of the controls, as Mr. Plant swung the lorry out of the gates and down on to the Guildford By-pass.
Most conspicuous was a vast Ashby spring-spoked steering wheel (nonstandard), mounted horizontally, like a
soupplate: To the driver's left was the gear lever, and there were the usual three pedals—the sort you stand on, rather than the kind you kick out at.
Seen from the Driving Seat In the front, grouped below, the screen, were an oil-pressure dial, a speedometer, and a vacuum gauge for the brakes. All switches were grouped in a box on the right. Reading from back to front, they were: Starter. side lights, head lights, separate tail lamp, and master switch. We learnt more about them in a mile or two, when we changed places with Mr. Plant and drove off " under our own oil."
A first surprise was the extreme lightness of the steering, obtained, of course, by low gearing. It was, in fact, lighter than that of most cars, was very accurate, and had plenty of selfcentring action.The Lance also seemed inclined to understeer—run wide on corners—but this was due to our inexperience; your correspondent was brought up to think crossing the hands ,rather inferior driving. But Mi the .heavies you have to. Sharp corners have to be taken very wide, on account of the length of one's " past," and we soon fdund, amid laughter from the experts, that you have to slow right down. Otherwise you're as busy as a mouse on a treadmill, and scrape someone's wall off his house.
• Having -last encountered a Maybach automatic overdrive on a 540K Mercedes-Benz, we were rather surprised to find it on the D,ennis; yet there it is, queening it over the five-speed and reverse gearbox, andmore than earning its keep.
The first three changes are straightforward, with a longish pause, whilst for " going down " one double-declutches, of course, keeping the throttle open all the time. The two-plate clutch, although moving a long way, is .quite light to work (no servo). .
The brakes deserve some eulogy. They are hydraulic, but applied by vacuum servo. AS a certain racing driver once said, they are " fantastic, my dear Man! ". Just a touch, and you've stopped.. In fact, before we changed seats, Mr. Plant actually used his hand to put the foot brake on; and all 10 tons of us stopped like a post-war sports car. Prodigious!
On a slight doWn grade, we 'found.(by 'accident, a 'cushion having fouled the lever) that the Lance could be started in top (6.25 to 1). Normally one takes off in second, which is bottom right in the gate. Then through into third, and back into' top.' Thanks to the astonishing torque of these big fourcylindered oil engines, top gear will take one almost anywhere. It will propel, a bus up main-road hills that bring petrol vehicles down a ratio. In fact, th-ere were grins when we changed' down (just swank), and Mr, Plant said: "There's a petrol driver for you! Always going down when he doesn't have to! "
Tar cruising on the level, overdrive is used. There is no need for the, Hutch. The lever is just pressed side ways against a spring, and then pushed forward. When ready to change, you lift your foot from the throttle, and, as soon as the revs, die away, there is an almost inaudible click, and you moteloff in " high," pressing the accelerator right down.
Two things strike the car driver when he sits behind a C.I. engine for the first time: the low speed at which it unison this " Max " an 1,800 r.p.m. limit at 41 m.p.h.--and the extraordinary slogging power at low speeds. ek Dennis torque curve shows over 250 ft./lb. all the way from 700 to 1,700 ep.m., and the bottom-end performance reminded us of a two-stroke car we had owned, but with one obvious difference. With a two-stroke you get maximum pull by slightly lifting your foot from the fioor, whilst for hest results from an oiler you keep it flat down.
An M.P.G. Eye-opener A third point about " oilers " is their incredible economy. An oil-engined bus goes jifst about twice ae far on a gallon as a petrol one; and people who are content with 24 m.p.g. from a 12 h.p. four-seater should bear in mind the steady 14 to 15 m.p.g. average the litre 10-ton Dennis gives, without any tinkering or tuning. Even better, for by cutting the injector pumps down to the minimum, and with light-oil additives in fuel, sump, and axles, Mr. Plant has actually averaged 22 m.p.g. with the vehicle we drove! And that was no stunt performance, but maintained over a period of weeks. Feu the sake at the saaiisticians, we may just add some figures, for comparison with motorcar practice. Here are the gear ratios, for example. The box provides reductions of 5.19, 2.94, 1.55 (third), 1 to 1 (normal top),`and an overdrive of 0.69 to I. Final drive in the underslung-worm-drive back axle is 6.25. Direct is really and truly a "traffic top," We brought the monster through the narrow end winding High Street of Godalming on the direct ratio.
The sense of control given by sitting right forward is something the passenger-tar people must tackle. The idea that having a good view of the road " tires the eyes " is sheerest nonsense, and should, like the streamlininguseless-under-sixty heresy, die the death. The sole possible argument against it, incidentally, was advanced , by Mr. Squire as we bowled down the by-pass at over the 20 m.p.h. (heavy goods) speed limit. The only people who won't have forward Control, he said, are operators in South America. A customer once returned an order of 40 F.C, Lance chassis because drivers complained of being too close to the accident. But if you motor like that you've practically " had it " before you go out!
To our undying chagrin we pulled the stock "boner " i handing the lorry. back. Chatting to Messrs. Plant and Squire, we parked, got out of gear, and pulled on the hand brake. Then, still chatting gaily, we groped for an ignition switch. . . Like trying to crank a canoe.