FAMOUS SPEEDWAYS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 August 1926, Page 16

FAMOUS SPEEDWAYS.

SYDNEY TRACK SOLD BY AUCTION

After a few months ’ use the Maroubra speedway, Sydney, was sold by auction recently for £10,850 (says an Australian exchange). The purchaser, Mr ,T. S. Taylor, of Junee, is going to make an effort to stage attractive racing. The Maroubra track cost in the vicinity of £BO,OIIO to build, and 11,000 tons of cement. were used. It is live-sixths of a mile in circumference and 43ft wide. The steepest banking is 48deg. The track opened to a record crowd of 75,000 at Christmas, but interest seemed to wane after a few meetings. For a while motor-cycle events renewed public interest, but it soon failed again. The shareholders came to a prompt decision to sell, and investors certainly did not reap handsome profits. Critics of Maroubra track say that the circuit is too small for safety at speeds in excess of eighty miles an hour. It is also stated that it is not situated to best advantage, and that the races could be • seen very well from outside the enclosure, thus detracting from the gate receipts. Sydney Speedway, Ltd., is a new project to construct a racing track in the suburb of Blacktown. The capital is £IOO,OOO. It is proposed, to acquire 300 acres, and to build a track two miles long* and 100 ft wide. An optimistic prospectus has 1)0011 issued, in which an annual revenue of £126,200 is forecasted and a nett profit of £71,400. The Melbourne Motordrome is about one-third of a mile long, and the Melbourne Olympia is 14 miles. Broolclands track, England, is the world’s most famous speedway. It was opened in 1007. The cost was £150,000. The track is 2$ miles long and 100 ft wide. The banking varies from lin 25. to 1 in 30.

The Mon till cry track, Paris, has been the scene of many world’s records. It is 1 i miles round, and from a spectacular point, of.' view it is probably the finest in tho world. It. was opened in 1924, and already over £2,000,000 had been involved in its development. The Miramns track, near Marseilles, was also opened in 1924. It is three and one-tenth miles circuit, but owing to the slight banking is not conspicuously fast. The Monza track, Italy, is six and one-fifth miles long. It was opened in 1922. American tracks arc generally built for spectacular rather than scientific racing, and driving is more dependent on nc-rve than skill. The Indianapolis track is 1J miles, and is surfaced with boards. The Culver track is of board, and has a circumference of 1-J miles. It has held speeds of over 138 miles an hour. The Laurel track has held equally high speeds. The banking at Culver City is 45deg., and tho Laurel track of lj miles has a bank of 48deg. The Culver City and Laurel tracks arc the fastest in the world. Montlhery is the fastest in Europe, with Brooklands a close second. Monza is slower, and is comparable with Indianapolis. It is considered by experts that Miramas could bo faster than either Brooklands or Montlhery if it was resurfaced. GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE. THRILLING EVENT IN THE PYRENEES. Goux, driving a Bugatti machine, won the Grand Prix of Europe, for 1500 c.c. cars, of 50,000 pesetas and the King’s Cup (says The Referee, Sydney). The distance was 779 kilometres 175 metres. His time was (i hours 51 minutes. Heat-stricken drivers and women weeping in compassion, were features of tho motor-car race across tho Pyrenees. The King and Queen of Spain were spectators. The dangers of the course, with its thousand precipitous corners, were increased! by the fact that the thermometer was 100 deg. in the shade. Four French drivers collapsed, because they were not protected from the heat of their engines. They were conveyed to hospital. Benoist', who was hysterical and in pain, fought to be allowed to continue. He was finally poison ded to stop by a weeping woman, who, kneeling, implored him to rest.

Morel, another driver, had blisters on his chest and back as large as saucers.

When the whole of the French team broke down at Scneclial, a French spectator volunteered to drive through the mountains at 115 miles an hour after the Italian team, which furnished the winner.