AN ANSWER BY MR.CLUTTON TO THE LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE FEBRUARY ISSUE,"WHEN TRIALS WERE TRIALS"

AN ANSWER BY MR. CLUTTON TO THE LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE FEBRUARY ISSUE,” WHEN TRIALS WERE TRIALS”

Sir,

I have examined with interest Mr. L. A. Cowcill’s formula for use in reliability trials, but I am afraid it won’t work, since it apparently asks a Ford V8, for example, to climb twice as many hills as a Singer Nine.

It doesn’t really seem reasonable to consider such factors as axle ratio except in conjunction with weight and many other things as well, but I am afraid that reliability trials are in any case quite unsuitable things to try and solve by a formula. Mr. Cowcill’s is only one of the many letters one reads week by week, and month by month, asking for trials suitable for standard cars, i.e.—no knobbly tyres, mudlarking, chassis-twisters and 1 in 3 restarts, calling for 25 :1 bottom gears. Actually, this is exactly the sort of trial which is consistently being run by the Vintage Sports-Car Club, but there

is, of course, the inevitable snag. If it is a really dry day, everyone gets up all the hills, and to avoid that possibility it is essential to have a certain number of special tests. This always produces the small crop of bleats from the habitual bleaters ; but they would find something else to bleat about if it wasn’t that ; so what ? While writing, may I make a plea for more road tests of genuine sports-cars in MOTOR SPORT? These used to be one of the most attractive features of your

very excellent journal, but in recent times there have been very few exhaustive and critical surveys of modern sporting productions. I know that this is also the opinion of a very large number of my motoring friends and acquaintances. I am, Yours etc.,

Cr IL CLUTTON.