Great Motor Track.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13367, 17 August 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

Great Motor Track.

COST £150,000. The 13roo.kIa.nds Motor course at Wcybiidge is the most marvellous racing track in Hie world. It is the most prodigious engineering work which has been undertaken in the interests of sport, and it is avowedly : intended to provide " a. safety valve for the -speed'-feviT of the times." The concrete track is nearly two and three quarter miles round ■ on the inner edge, but-with the "finishing straight," which will provide much of .the excitement hereafter, the total length of a circuit is three and a quarter miles. The level course on each side is a mile long and 100 feet wide, but at the curves -the track is banked, so that at the extreme height it becomes almost precipitous. The banks curve outwards from tho inner edge, and at one point attain a height of nearly 29 feet, for the last few feet being almost vertical! Tho prodigious work ha.s been carried out tin » very short space of time, in spite of many natural difficulties; the River Wey lias been bridged ; the concrete of which the track has been made is laid ; shelter has been provided for .seventy-five cars,- and many garages are. touring cars,; ih;. hill b?hind which the course, runs has been converted into a splendid natural grandstand, with accommodation, for 30,000- people : space luo been provided for half a. million of tho general public; and th-2 whole work ha.". been virtually completed at a.cost of about £150,0-90.. Nothing seems, to have, been forgotten. \i intervals round the coins? are • sentrybixes, in which watchers will be stationed to.observe the racing, and a comprehensive -system of electrical communication has been established. If an accident should occur, the .'-sentry will-hoist a. yellow flag, ring an alarm bell communicating with the boxes on each.?ide of him,-and will telephono at once to headquarters. Then .-the ambulance car, with its, attendants, will instantly --pet .forth, followed by a- breakdown gang and the:'special .staff. Rather gruesome precautions these, but it must, b? remembered that tho competitors will endeavour to attain a speed of 120 miles an hour, and L.W. in such brcathl<s«p liable. t.h.3 risk of dieastcr.' must be anticipated. , Rut i f - is held that, the blinking-has been designed on scientific principles, which 'na.ko it quite safe to take tho curves at high speed, and the great width of the track "will enable several cars to sive'p along abreast: Moreover, no dogs will be allowed on the course. The spectators mrpt crc-i-5 the track by tunnels or by bridge, the whole of the circuit is enclosed in unclimbable fencing, and 1 a double row of fencing has been erected in front of the public spaces, so as to insure, ample protection. The track, too, is under '■omethimr liko military dkcip'ine. Never before, it is said, has (ho attainment of " high speed" been really consistent with •safety.. .''..:. . " ■.....'. The enmmitte" of the Rrooklands Automobile R-icincr Club, of which Lord Lonsdale is president and Lord Montagu of Reaulieu vice-president, dfeclare that they do not wish slavishly to follow the example of the turf, though "an endeavour wi'l be made to adapt the races generally to that precedent, as the chief object is to provide spectators with-excitement and amusement. For this reason vehicle; will in all case's be started simultaneously, and tile only criterion of success will be priority in passing the winning-post. All spectators will sec and understand the. race from beginning to end as, irrespective of time, formula.?, or handicaps, the race will belong to the first car ' past the post.' " A very ingenious arrangement for automatically recording the results is introduced iii the shape of a pneumatic tube laid across the track at the. winning post. The cars passing over n» compress the tube, and instantaneously the time is renntf.-ed. The trials on June 17th were very interesting. The glare of the Sun on the track was rather trying to the eyes, but the round house on the summit of the official buildings the spectacle was both novel and thrilling. In the space below cars of all sorts and sizes were moving about, heavv'touring care and light shaky racers. Some of them.. indulging in a prelude of back-firing, made the noi.se> of a. dozen maxim batteries, and others clacked and pounded like the looms in a. weaving shed. The stench of burnt petrol was offensive to the. unaccustomed senses ; but even the most reluctant observer had to admit that he was impressed by the extraordinary sense of power conveyed by the cars, and by the astonishing ease with which they were controlled. First of all_, there- was a procession of cars at a pace far beyond the legal highway limit, and most of the guests had the opportunity of saying that they had ridd.en at more than sixty miles an hour. But. it was an easy, gliding motion, and one adventurer, on returning, avowed that the sedation was so luxurious that he could have gone most pleasantly to sleep. Then there were some "high sjv : ed " trials, and car after car went round at- its pace. One rakish thing, all wheels and machinery, went wlflizzing along by flie railway-line as a, train emerged from the cutting. Like a flash it passed the express, and one realised ihen what " high .speed " really was. The engine-driver must have fJt "when he looked down from the footplate .-is the. old coachman did in the day«

of Stephenson. Tho ear approached tils far-distant curve, ami w<; could see it running up tlio isitle of lln> bank like- a, flyon tli;' *idi! of a. house; and a moment or two later it was pounding down tlui .straight, throbbing and thudding, till the mark was readied. Then the power wax cut oil', it ran up the gradient, and stopped within 200 yards. Mr Kuroki. a- .Japanese gentleman, drove a, faist car round twice, and tho most sensational, event of the day was the display of a, Darracq of 100 horsepower, with all the .engines bare, which went twi'ee round the circuit at an average speed of ninety-four miles an hour, sometimes attaining •on tho level to a pace of 110 miles. It was all very frantic, very strenuous, very significant of the age wo live in. Tho new motor course will certainly make* a ser,r-alion, and the sensation is everything nowadays. The racing will be terriblo when it comes, and, apart from tho sport, the course itself is one of the wondeVs of the time. On tho 28th dune, Mr S. F; Kdge was to ilia ugjrate . the track, by endeavouring on a. six-cylinder Napier to ride for twentyfour hours at an average speed of sixty miles an hour. .