Motor Cycling — Page 2

night, and the excessively rich mixture resulted in a delayed start. The lesson had been learnt, however, and the trouble did not occur again.
The first out-of-town trip taken on the Matchless was for the purpose of surveying the course of the proposed Brighton Road Racing Circuit on the Sussex Downs, and it was there that the handling of the machine over extremely rough country was put to the test. The track up to the site of the course is nothing but a rugged, be-bouldered cattle-path, set at a steep gradient on the very side of the Downs. Recent rains had made the chalk surface very treacherous, and although the Matchless was equipped only with standard tyres the tester never once had to resort to footing. The rear wheel slid and swung from rut to rut. but the machine maintained a straight, true path even over the worst of the going.

Rough Going

Crossing the virgin hummocks through which the Brighton circuit will be cut was an easy matter. The front fork shock absorber was tightened up, but the steering damper was left severely alone and even when both wheels were bumped clear of the ground there was no trace of a wobble. The whole five and a half miles of the circuit were covered during the survey and every yard of them was a gruelling test of the Matchless. It was a scramble, pure and simple, and left the tester with the impression that the D/8O was a true rough-rider's mount. Despite the buffeting which the machine received not a single nut had worked loose.
With no further attention other than the adjustment of the rear chain, the Matchless was taken over a fast stretch of highway and there it disclosed the other, and equally fascinating, side of its character. The Smith speedometer is fitted in a most sensible position in front of the steering damper knob. Over the flat road the maximum speeds registered were SO m.p.h. in one direction and 82 m.p.h. in the other. The top gear ratio is 4.S to 1, and thus the highest engine speed attained was 4.912 r.p.m., at which the motor was putting forth some 22 b.h.p. It seemed practically impossible to over-rev. the engine, and on the third gear ratio of 6.2 to 1 the speedometer needle quivered round about the 70 mark (5,656 r.p.m.) before the rider's anti-cruelty-to-motors instinct asserted itself.
At these gaits, which were reached on a road not totally devoid of ripples, the superb steering of the model was pleasantly reassuring. The very slightest suggestion of tail-lightness was noticeable, but, by sitting well back in the saddle (there was no wing-pad fitted), this could be counteracted to a large extent.
Changing up from 65 m.p.h. in third gear needed just a flick of the toe and did not necessitate the removal of the right foot from the rest. This accessibility of the gear control is one of the nicest features of the machine, and much the same can be said of the lengthy rear brake pedal, situated on the opposite side. Using this brake in conjunction with the long lever which controls the front " stopper," the Matchless can be brought to a standstill in (60 ft. from 40 m.p.h. on dry tarmac. These facts will be best appreciated when it is remembered that a stop in 30 ft. at 30 m.p.h. is considered to be an