The San Francisco call., 1909-06-27
New Auto Hill Climbing Course in
Lake County Best in World
The I errific Witter Grade
The Two Mile Speedway Which Rises 800
Feet Doubling Its Length in Twists and
Turns; Has Been Mounted in 5:58 Min
By WILLIAM NJ. KLINGER

DV WILLIAM
The automobilists of California. es-
peeially OF San Francisco. who have
not witnessed the hill climbing con-
tests. or who have not been over the
Witter grade, can not realize the fact
in this state is one Of the greatest hill
climbing courses in the known world
The Mount Washington climb. and the
Wilkesbarre hill, and other noted
courses of the east. are easy as com
pared to this new course in the Lake
county hills
The total length is but two miles by
the road, but as the crow flies il is one
mile and four feet. Starting at zero. IL
is steady rise of 500 feet to the fn-
ishing line This. under ordinary cir
cumstances, would not be considered
much of grade. as IT is only 1898
feet TO the 10, but taking into consid-
GRAFTON the winding course, with its
many sharp bends and turns. il is i'm
possible to get up such headway that
on a straightaway course means easy
running.
EXPERIENCE UNEQUALED
Those who have witnessed the con-
tests at this place. and have gone over
the ground, state that for a thrilling
experience of the hill climbing ability
OF the car il is unequaled. and when
taken into consideration that il has
been negotiated in minutes and SIS
seconds it proves conclusively that the
modern vehicle has greatly advanced
in the last few years. To appreciate
what this means. one only has 10 con-
slider the time taken by the railway
train up Mount Tamalpais, which is
on a less grade than this
Those who have taken the Witter
grade al high rate of speed will
M t.
of the most exciting sensations OF au-
tomobiling. and il Will stand foremost
in that line, until some more hair rails
ing course can be found
Looking down from the finishing
line. one appreciates what a car has TO
negotiate. but from the starting point
it is different. In the last contest an
owner of big car who was inveigled
into making the ride gives a very
vivid description of the course:
CARS START on FLAG
The car was brought to the line.
engines going. the 1agman on one side
and the starter on the other. The
flagman dropped the flag, and this was
a signal to a waiting official. with an
other flag. to hoist IL to notify the
judges at the finishing line that an
other ear was on the grade The timer
read off every five seconds of the min
ute before the start This was not
exactly conducive 10 quiet nerves. as
the time became shorter and one want
ed TO break away
AT the word Go the car shot ahead
on the intermediate. and the next sec
ond the speed was turned into the high.
We were on
1T was an easy bit of road. allow
Ing US 10 get a good headway. Just
after the start we could see the finish
ing line way up in the air. The road
at this point has the canyon on one
side and the hillside on the other. and
the car, as we flew around the curves.
looked as though il was going 10 butt
into the mountain side.
we ran this way for almost 2.400
feet-climbing. climbing. climbing
Then we came to the Big Finger turn.
sharp and curving. so that we could
look down and see the cars at the
starting line that had grown consid-
erab1y smaller since we left them.
The sharp turn brought us around
TO another. some 400 feet farther, to
the Double Point. which is in the na-
ture OF a wave. Then came run over
the long slide and sharp start on the
rest of the climb from Record Point.
(The unofficial timing. by those at
the starting line. to Record Point IS
easy. and one can tell how fast the car
is travelling, it being very easy to hold
the watch on this part Of the course)
FULL. VIEW OF COURSE
Turning Record Point. II is a climb
around what is known as Flat Bend.
from which one can obtain full view
of the course having been hidden from
Record Point to Flat Bend behind the
mountain. From Flat Bend to what is
known at Skid Point is a good bit OF
road and easily negotiated People not
familiar with the course go on 10 the
poiut with throttles wide open 1t is
one of the sharpest turns and hair rats-
ing. for the fact that most OF the ma
chimes have skidded around on the
high speed. and what accentuates the
sensation is that If an accident should
happen here it would throw the car
down several hundred feet TO the bot
tom of the canyon.
Even under an easy gait this is a
hard bend TO negotiate and one which
Is relief to get around. From skid
Point 1t is a run into the mountain