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

HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCAR Luckily, it is but rare that serious positions are en- countered owing to mechanical breakdowns. Perhaps the recital of an incident which occurred to the writer in the Isle of Wight may serve to show the absolute necessity of keeping the brakes which operate on the rear wheels in good order. It chanced, then, that in the course of a holiday in that island the excessive amount of hill work encountered had so worn the side brakes that the limit of adjustment had been reached, and in another day or two they were only what one might term “ helpful ” in arresting the speed of the car, but in no way serviceable by themselves. It was found, however, that even on the very worst of hills, as, for instance, about 1 in 5, the engine, if put into the low gear, was ample to brake the progress of the car with but the least assistance from the differential brake. So it was assumed that all was well, and the car was driven with the use of the engine as a brake on all bad hills. On the very last day, however, the car was being driven down to the boat to come back to England, home—and office—when (very luckily) about three- quarters of the way down a fairly steep hill into Ryde, using the differential brake only, the car suddenly darted forward. As the pedal brake was found to be quite useless, the side brake was put on to its maxi- mum, which, however, had practically no effect. Then the engine was raced so as to be able to engage the low gear? and the clutch then let in. To the writer’s horror, even this made no difference, and the only choice left was boldly to charge into one of the shops at the side of the street—obviously a very dangerous proceeding, as there were many people about—or, on the other hand, to take “ pot luck ” (in the vernacular) with what chanced to lay in front at the bottom of the hill, and the corner which was well known to be there. The former was ruled out of the question owing to the number of people about, and consequently the writer shouted at the top of his voice, “ Klaxoned,” and gesticulated violently with the one arm. Almost providentially it chanced that there was a policeman 66