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

HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCAR in good time, so that the car’s momentum is nearly spent by the time it arrives at the spot upon which it is desired to arrest its progress. Even then it is prefer- able lightly to apply the brake for, say, ten yards than to apply the necessary amount of braking effort in, for example, the last five yards. Use Both Brakes Many motorists contract the habit of never using, or perhaps one might be safer in saying, but very rarely using, the side brake, the more convenient position of the pedal-applied brake being a sufficient temptation to cause an almost entire reliance upon its efficiency and good condition. In most cars the pedal-applied brake is mounted on the gearshaft' at the rear of the gearbox, acting there- fore through the universal joints, the bevel gear, the differential gear, the driving keys or serrations, and so on to the road wheels. This brake drum is revolving at a considerably higher speed than the road wheels, which fact, of course, is one of the chief reasons för its efficiency being greater than the brakes usually operated by the side lever, which are mounted on the rear-wheel drums. Therefore, each time one uses this brake when the other one would serve equally well, extra wear and tear, all entirely unnecessary, are being thrown on the universal joints and the trans- mission gear, and it is these reverse stresses which tend quickly to destroy the pristine quietness of the universal joints and start them squeaking and rattling. Try, then, to acquire the habit of using the side brake as well as the pedal-applied brake. In some few cars the principle of operation is reversed, and the pedal- applied brake acts on the road wheels, and the side lever on the differential brake. Obviously, in these cars the advice wants turning round to suit the circumstances. Even with cars in which both the brakes operate on the rear wheels, so that all braking stresses are re- moved from the universal joints, etc., it is still advis- able to make a habit of using them alternately. Not infrequently the one is of the internal-expanding 62