A Worthwhile Experiment

From time to time various saleable objects arrive at the MOTOR SPORT office, sent in by manufacturers or agents in the hope that they will get a write-up in the Editorial columns, thus getting many pounds-worth of free advertising for the cost of one article. Much of this stuff is rubbish and goes into the waste bin, but occasionally something worthwhile arrives and justifies a write-up. Some years ago there was a craze for flyscreens or bug-deflectors and the ” backyard ” plastic factories produced some awful junk that the gullible public bought and stuck on their radiators. I always felt that Russell Brockbank summed up this little spiv-trade admirably in his cartoon of the unfortunate lady-driver whose windscreen was some inches thick with flies and her garage-man was telling her she had put her bug-deflector on the wrong way round! Recently we received a bug-deflector from the Terrier Car and Engineering Co., High Road, Thornwood, Essex, and what caugin my eye was the fact that they recommended placing it approximately 20 in. in front of the screen, and the Terrier people being well known in 1,172-c.c. racing as knowledgeable types, I read on. This device consisted of a strip of 3/16, clear Perspex 30 in. long by 3 1/2 in. deep fitted with four chromium brackets, and was intended to reach the full width of a VW bonnet. The descriptive matter accompanying this deflector explained why they estimated 20 in. in front of the screen to be the right place for the Air-le-Vator, as it is called, and apart from spelling Alfa Romeo wrongly the hand-out blurb sounded good common sense.

With the aid of an aerodynamic friend, a pitot head, and a pressure gauge. I plotted the air flow at 70 m.p.h. over the Porsche screen and discovered that the Terrier Air-le-Vator placed 29 ins. in front of the screen should have the desired effect at 70 m.p.h. or over. They had done their work for the VW at 60 m.p.h. In order to convince myself I cut the Air-le-Vator down to half its width so that I could see on the vee screen the effect on the driver’s side with the deflector compared with the passengers without a deflector. After 1,500 miles of fast motoring I am convinced that Terrier know what they are talking about and are very genuine. I found I could do a 400-mile trip without any need to clean my side of the screen, whereas the passenger’s side was a horrible mess of flies and dirt. The Air-le-Vator will certainly stay on the Porsehe and the only disadvantage is that you get some wind-huffetting over 70 m.p.h. and at 90-95 m.p.h. the vortex caused by the Air-le-Vator makes a sharp tap on the roof every now and then. At 52s. 6d. it is going to make long journeys, especially those into the sun, much more pleasant, and the full-width Mk. I is suitable for VW, A35, A40, 100E, Fords, Vauxhall, Sunbeam, etc., while a Mk. II for Jaguars, Humbers, etc., costs £3 15s., and a special Mk. II for really fast G.T. Cars will cost £4 4s.—D. S. J.

BORN HILL-CLIMB—LUXEMBOURG (April 3rd)

Wet weather prevented any records being broken on the 1,885-kilometre hill that runs from Born to Givenich, held for the fourth time and having 61 entries. Last year the Swiss Zweifel set up the existing record of 1 min. 24.4 sec. with his Monza Ferrari-engined F.2 Cooper.

Results :

1st : H. Zweifel (Cooper-Ferrari)  . .    . .     1 min. 27.2 sec.

2nd : F. Linenweber (Porsche-Carrera)  . .    . .     1 min. 30.2 sec.

3rd : K. Federhofer (Porsche-Carrera)  . .    . .    1 min. 30.4 sec.

4th : H. Zweifel (Cooper-Monaco)  . .    . .    1 min. 31.1 sec.

5th : T. Spychiger (Ferrari 250 GT)  . .    . .    1 min. 31.3 sec.

6th : S. Gunther (Porsche-Carrera)  . .    . .    1 min. 32.1 sec.

: N. Koob (Cooper-Monaco)