New-York tribune., 1908-04-19
GETTING READY FOR
BIG AUTO RACE
COURSE At BRI4RCLIFF
INSURES GOOD TEST.
Experience of a NoUice an Going
.4r0und the Circuit at
High Speed.

Southern westchester County, what is about
the most hilly and least known part Of IT, is just
now the centre Of gravity of the automobile world
The Pocantico region and the inhabitants thereof
some of whom still drive teams-are being thor
oughly motor broke" For this is where the
Brarclin trophy automobile race of ten laps around
thlr1y-miIe course Of the crookedest roads south
Of the Catskills VIII be run next Friday at day
break.
This contest for stock cars, with its twenty-five
entries. manned by some of the most famous and
daring drivers in the country. will be road race
IN every sense Of the word. II chosen by the
Automobile Manufacturers Committee for the very
reason that the members thought its difficulties
and dangers would eliminate the features of a
speed contest and bring out the endurance and
reliability features at which they aimed. But the
men behind The steering wheel have ideas of their
own as 10 lie way N which double s. curves and
'Iairpn turns and dips of death" and similar
cheerful obstacles may be cirCumvented. This
has been shown in the practice that have been
going on during tile first TWO hours after sunrise
every day for the last two weeks. There have been
timcd laps of IS minutes while there has been
even better speed made in runs that were not
cockeo. according 10 the reports about the course
no conception of what this time few min
utes better means over the Briarclif course be
formed untI ono has seen il. And probably the
best way 10 see i is 10 go around" in of
the entered cars with its driver. BY the way, the
term going around means only thing in
TTestchester County just at present and a Tribune
he went around" one Of the three Stearns en-
tries with Frank Leland on the quarter deck.
But before visitor gets 10 the course he passes
through various outer circles Of automobsm so
to speak There several ways TO reach the
g2solene ZOne. and several ways not TO reach il,
unless the pilgrim studies carefully the time tables
Of the New York Central, which has issued a
pamphlet special trains for the racing day. But
the start Of the race is 70 be made from Briarcf
MAJOR which Is a village the Putnam Division
South OF OsSining. So il is at Brarcliff, Haw-
thorne Nallala, Pleasantville and other nearby
hamle-s that the fourteen firms and individuals
entering machines have their camps, and the COM
mittee Of which Robert Lee Morren is chairman
and II. T. Moore secretary, has headquarters at
the Briarcliff Lodge, q big summer hotel in Briar-
cliff Manor
Since Walter ". Law donated the 81 500 trophy
for winch the win be run, and since the com
mit1ee selected the course, change has come
upon the countryside, which is mainly divided
between great private estates and sleepy little
VI lages. From the time the course was thrown
t2en for practice the lean, long cars. stripped
ike battleships for action, have been barking
along their speedway in increasing numbers The
normal travel Of the cars belonging TO local
magnates has been multiplied beyond all finding
ont, and all sorts Of machines have appeared in
the district. They come from New York or Bos-
Ton Philadelphia, and they bear automobiIIsts
who want TO go around" before the race The
big garage connected with the Briarclif Lodge
has taken the aspect Of an automobile show
and likewise additional force Of repairers The
racing chaufeurs and their mechanicians seem
10 be everywhere. but in reality they are either
going around" feat that seems their eternal
task, speeding between their camps and the
lodge
THE CAMPS ON THE COURSE
And these camps breathe the very spirit Of
the race. Most Of them are barns or stables
from which the cattle and horses have been re-