Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-28
JACK PRINCES
WORK is DONE
FAMOUS OLD "BIKE" RACER
SOLVES HIS PROBLEM
HAS COMPLETED FORM OF NOVEL
SAUCER TRACK
Racing in MotorcycIedom viii Swing
Around Los Angeles for Some
Time to Come as Mecca of
Worlds Cracks


Out near the corner of SiXty-third
and Main streets there is rapidly being
pushed to completion what unquestion-
ably is the greatest saucer track in the
world. 1t is so pronounced by Jack
Prince, the famous old English cham
pion of high-wheel bicycle days, who
is in charge of the construction work
and who is considered as an authority
on such subjects, having raced in vari-
Gus capacities as rider, promoter or
manager in the great racing centers of
two continents.
The track is sufficiently completed to
permit of motorcycles speeding its en-
tire course this afternoon, and a score
or more of ambitious local amateur
motOrcyclists and two or three profess
sionals with national regulations, who
are beginning to gather in the city, are
expected to be out with their machines
in trying out what will undoubtedly
prove to be the fastest track ever con-
structed.
All Worlds Records Must Go
It is confidently predicted by the
managers of the great track, which will
hereafter be known both locally and
nationally as the Coliseum, that every
WOIlQ. ) T6COTO III II16 IuOIOTcycl6 racing
field will tumble before the next three
months have elapsed and that hence
forth the world will have to look to
Los Angeles for the premier work in
motorcycledom. At least this will prove
to be the case until a, number of other
similar tracks, which will go to make
up a racing circuit, have been built in
other large cities of the country, which
will not eventuate for some time to
come
From all parts of the United States
the motorcycle racing cracks are begin
ming to turn their faces toward Los
Angeles, and by March IA, when the
track is formally opened to the public
with a three months race meet, it is
expected that the best riders in the
world will be here, riding a half dozen
different makes of machines and strug
Cling for new championships and new
records.
De Rozier Is Coming
De Rozier, present holder of the most
of the worlds records, will be here with
the Indian string, while Arthur Mitchell,
his most formidable rival, is already
here prepared to make the fight of his
life for the scalps which the n. S. U.
manufacturers, for whom he rides, be-
lieve are necessary in establishing that
name plate as the synonym of the
fastest motorcycle in the world.
prepared to do miles in forty seconds
or stand to lose the records which he
and the Indian machines now hold. The
track is built under a contract which
guarantees that it shall be capable of
permitting Of a 40-second clip, which, II
made, will justify all the assertions
made of it as the worlds premier track.
Track Is Novelty
The track will be a novelty, not only
in the eyes of local race fans, but also
in the eyes of the entire United States,
having been constructed only after the
most carefully studied plans had been
worked out.
The track itself is almost a third Of
a mile in length, requiring but three
and one-half circuits Of the track to
complete a mile, which fact in itself
makes it the largest saucertrack in
the world. In the accompanying illus
tration the lowest pitch to the track
is shown at the point where the work.
men are engaged in closing up the last
gap in the flooring. At this point the
''straightaway'' is shown, yet the pitch
will be seen to be almost 45 degrees.
At the far end the pitch rapidly in
creases until it becomes so steep that
one could not begin to ascend the floor
of the track if he took all fours to
~ make the effort, and riders in making
the circuit at this point will look to be
riding on a perpendicular wall, lying
parallel with the ground.
Marathon Course Planned
Inside of the completed portion of the
track, as shown in the picture, a thirty
foot dirt track, packed hard as maca-
dam, will be built, which will serve as
a Marathon track or a speedway for
motorcyclists, while inside of the Mara
thoh track will be an immense arena,
which will serve as a paddock for auto
mobiles and other vehicles. This arena
will be reached by means of a subway
tunnel, which will cut completely
underneath the track and emerge in
side Of the arena.
On the west side of the track, flush
with the highest portion of the
straightaway course, an immense
grandstand, 300 feet long and thirty
feet deep, is being constructed, and
this grandstand will gradually be ex-
tended until it completely envelops the
track, creating an immenes amphithea-
ter capable Of seating perhaps $4,000
people
That these crowds will gather in time
is the confident expectation of the man
ayers, who have already had an ad-
vance taste of the intense enthusiasm
which fast motorcycling will excite,
once the public has been educated to
the thrilling qualities of the sport.
FNpHC G6IndnQS hanger
At Clifton, n. j., where one of the
present largest motorcycle tracks is To-
Gated, the throngs constantly grow
larger as one meet follows another, and
motorcycle enthusiasts say that this
kind of racing is destined to become the
most popular of all the speed contests
new before~the public Where a horse
race over a mile course may be run
around in one minue and forty sec
onds, the motorcycle will go just twice
as far in less time than this, while the
element of danger-so much sought
after by this fast-traveling age-is said
to be doubled and quadrupled. An in
stance of this fact was proved at
recent meet at Clifton, N. J., where.
when the average attendance before
any fatalities occurred was around
10000 a day, but where, once one of
the riders was thrown to his death.
the attendance was double in one dav
and merely increased from that time
on
The riders in these hair-raising races
are heavily helmeted about the head