Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-13

tators will have a fine view of the
racing cars as they approach fully a
mile and half away, and they will be
in plain view to the naked eye until
they go over a bridge and are lost on
their way towards Central park and
Bethpago.
At this latter point the cement park
way joins the country road which con-
tinues for fourteen miles, forming a
circuit and connecting again with the
cement at the western end of the park
way, which is quite near Garden City
A change has been made since the
first announcement of the course. At
the western end the cars will turn off
of Jericho road until the old Westbury
road and travel south toward the ce-
ment until they reach the old country
road. From the old country road the
parkway engineers are building a new
highway of over q mile in length,
which will connect the western end of
the cement with the southern end or
the old Westbury road, thus dong
away with two sharp turns ana elm
mating Whaleneck avenue, when was
to have been used according to the
original plans.
Many tourists on Long Island. have
visited the new parkway and driven
on such portions as are completed, but
the engineers were so. annoyed by the
touring cars Jefferson De Mont Thomp-
son found 1t necessary to issue an
order against visitors until the work
on the highway Is near completion.
Joseph Tracy, who drove a Loco
mobile in the last Vanderbilt race, at
the request of the engineers, made
speed trial over the grand stand sec
ton over the new cement course on
Friday afternoon. He drove the same
car which he piloted through the Van
derbilt race of 1905, and he SAID tnat
il would be possible for the racing
cars this year to travel at the rate or
more than 100 miles an hour over the
entire eleven miles of the cement park
way.
1.-THE cement highway makes an ex-
cellent racing road" said Mr.. Tracy,
after completing his speed tests, be
cause 1t Is absolutely dustless and on
account of the grayinshs color it does
not blind the driver, even at ter
rifle speed. There are new sensations
also In driving over the cement high
way which one does not meet on the
ordinary state or country road. There
is quite as much bouncing and sway
ing of the car as you find on the dirt
road--possibly little more--byt there
is not the slightest tendency ITO skid,
even on the turns, which are only
banked the engineers tell me, Tor a
speed of forty miles an hour chat Is,
Theoretically. L took several of these
turns which have been completed at
the rate of sixty miles an hour and
found the banking ample. over the
straight stretches I think | broke my
best record in the last Vanderbilt race,
that was about 106 miles an hour for
a quarter of q mile stretch, which we
measured off near our racing head
quarters at Lakeville.
81 do not think that the cement
highway is going to bother the racing
drivers at all. because most OF them
have driven in Florida over the hard
sand and the appearance OF the
bridges where the parkway goes under
an intersecting highway is very mucn
the same on approaching them at high
speed as the pile bridges over the sand
course In Florida. AS the car comes
to one of these bridges of course tine
abutments seem to be about two feet
apart, and of course the possibility or
getting through such narrow space
does not appeal to a novice VINO is
travelling at the rate of 80 or 100 miles
an hour. These abutments widen out,
however, as the car nears them, but
the reverbatory shock is very deafen-
ing at the second the car passes under
this solid cement yiaduct.
There is also going to be quite
novel sensation to the racing driver
as he shoots up over the bridges where
the parkway crosses a highway at ele-
walton. The natural inclination is to
shut off at a bridge of the ordinary
type, because there is generally dan
ger of breaking spring on account or
the irregularity of the surface. In the
case of the cement road, however,
there is no chance of breaking spring
upon reaching the top of bridge, and
the drivers would soon find that they
can take them at full speed. thus pro-