How To Drive A Motorcar
A Key To The Subtleties Of Motoring

CHAPTER III Starting Up the Engine LUCKILY a serious accident in starting up the engine is a very rare occurrence; but, on the other hand, there are quite a considerable num- , ber of minor accidents which occur from time to time, and even the most experienced motorists occa- sionally get “ bitten ” on a strange car. Cars, of course, vary tremendously in regard to the ease, or lack of ease, with which they can be started up, and it is requisite, therefore, to differentiate somewhat be- tween the two classes. Then, again, there are large engines and small engines, engines of high, medium, or low compression, and likewise motors which, are de- signed with a very high compression. A Universal Error In the first place, it is probably safe to state that the great majority of people do not even begin correctly when starting up the engine. As with everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way, even in so apparently small a matter as the grip of the starting handle itself. Judging by the vast majority of people’s methods, it is accurate to assume that the natural instinctive grip for a starting handle is the one in which the thumb is to the left of the starting handle and the fingers to the right of it, so that the grip is strengthened by the pressure which can be exerted between the thumb and the fingers. From the scientific point of view the grip is certainly the most powerful one which the construc- tion of the hand enables one to exert, but, at the same time, it is quite wrong. So long as it is feasible with just a little practice to obtain an amply good enough grip of the handle in 21