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

HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCAR so positioned. iNo! There is the ubiquitous small boy to contend with, and there is the man of more mature age but with equal curiosity, either of whom may elect to move the change-speed lever. At night, of course, the equivalent to this is moving the lever sideways so as to make sure that it is in the centre of the gate. This principle, if studiously prac- tised, is a pretty safe guard against the possibility of damage through starting up the car with a gear in mesh. “Feeling” the Handle Another method, however, resorted to by the writer is that of “ feeling ” the starting handle. To those mechanically-minded this expression may be obvious, but for the sake of others it is as well to elucidate it. Instead, then, of grasping the starting handle and so soon as it is in mesh swinging the engine, “ feel ” the rotary progress of the starting handle for an inch or two, so as to see if the engine is quite free from engagement with the gearbox. An inch of movement made quite slowly is sufficient to assure one that every- thing is well for starting up, and then the cranking motion can be completed quickly as usual. It is very rare that an engine stops just in front of dead centre, and, as most motorists are aware, the firing point is usually some few degrees before the dead centre. If the engine stops near dead centre at all it is far more usual for it finally to remain stationary just after the firing point than in any other position. It would serve no useful purpose for the moment to go into theoretical reasons for this, but observant motorists will probably have noticed the fact for them- selves, though perhaps not bringing it down to so many words ; in other words, it is usually found that there is an appreciable amount of movement before the firing stroke. Probably the pistons have stopped in mid- position, or else the engine is about on dead centre, and in the latter case the last piston, which would have fired had the switch been on, has just passed the point at which the spark would have occurred. Con- 28