Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-13
GARBUTT HEADS
MOTORDROMECO.
PROMINENT LOCAL CAPITALIST
ELECTED PRESIDENT
SPECIAL MEETING, is HELD IN
FLYING TROLLEY CAR
torate In Control of Motor
Speedway at Playa
del Rey

dent of the Los Angeles Motordrome
company at a special meeting held in
a private car on the Los Angeles Pa
cific railroad Friday afternoon.
Manager Moskovics called the newly
chosen directors together and while
the car was speeding from Los An
geles to the motordrome site at Playa
del Rey the directors organized with
Garbutt as president, F. e. Moskovics,
vice president and treasurer; II. G.
Feraud, secretary; directors, including
the officers, r. A. Rowan, Fred Flint,
Harry Lombard and Henry Keller.
All these men are well known cit
izens of Los Angeles and have been
identified with works of progress for
years.
The trip to the motordrome was the
first visit to the place by members OF
the board since active building oper-
ations have been in progress, and
even they were surprised at the
amount of work already done.
BY taking the directors to the site
and incidentally holding a directors
meeting aboard the car Moskovics
killed two birds with one stone" The
of the whole undertaking and are
ready to act. understandingly in all
matters that come before them.
Mr.. Garbutt expects to give much OF
his personal attention to the business
of the motordrome and this with his
share of the building of the Los An
geles Athletic club home at Olive and
Seventh streets, will keep him pretty
busy in the next few months.
Mr.. Moskovics is to remain as active
manager until after this first big meet
at least, and if the Los Angeles track
proves a success he may engineer the
construction of similar tracks in other
parts of the country. He is New
Yorker who has large interests there
which require part of his attention and
he came to Los Angeles because Jack
Prince, and his own observations later,
convinced him that this was the great
est place on earth to inaugurate such
a proposition and bring 1t to a sue
cessful, termination.
Success Seems Assured
The construction of the motordrome,
while an experiment in that 1t has
never been attempted before, appears
to be based on reasonable assurances
of success. The saucer tracks for
motorcycles have proven highly sue
cessful, but there are features con-
cerning them which appear to be un-
applicable to the motordrome.
Because automobiles have four
wheels and are able to stand erect it
was believed that the elongated track,
such as used for motorcycles, could
not be used with autos to advantage
because of the high turns and short
stretches An automobile with the ter
rife momentum attained because OF
its weight and great speed could not
be steered in absolute safety on such
a course. The circular track with its
enormous radius requires very little
steering, once a machine gets started,
and all a driver has to do is set his
wheel at the proper place and open
the throttle. If he desires to pass an
opponent it requires but a slight
change of course to turn the trick, and
ell the time the machine Is riding on
a surface which will permit either
high or low speed with equal 5afety.
Spectators who have visited the
track in the last day or two have been
struck with the feasibility of the
whole thing and have wondered why
the idea was not worked out before.
THE first idea that strikes them in
studying the safeguards of the track
is that there is very little chance for
the machines to fly off at tangent
and dash into the crowd. Manager
Muskovics says this feature has been
carefully studied out and that the
plans show that there will be very
little danger from that source.
Heavy 4X0 lllIlD6IS IlSO lIolil SAO
ground four feet above the highest
point of the track and along these will
be constructed a strong wall with a
smooth surface. If an auto becomes
unmanageable and dashes against this
wall it will be shunted off onto the
track. As the wall is along the high
est point of the track. there Is little
or no danger that an auto, no matter
how fast it is going, will be able OF
Ahctr
strongest impact at almost right
angles, which could rarely be accom-
plished. would scarcely break down
the barrier.
The whole track is being put up in
a. substantial manner and to stay. one
Of the first things noticed at motor
cycle race on a saucer track 1s the
tremendous pressure brought to bear
on the track by the speeding machines.
This pressure will be many times
greater on an automobile track be-
cause of the much greater weight or
the machines and the greater speed.
Track Built to Stay
To build a structure that will with
stand all this strain and allow long
wear, Manager Moskovics and De-
signer and Builder Jack Prince have
put in all the strength possible with
out making the track unwieldy In
erection The track is being laid with
2x4 timbers set on edge. This gives
a four-inch planking over the track
surface, and it is believed a dozen
autos made in one could not break
in such a track when properly and
closely timbered underneath as this
one is.
The directors looked into these fea-
lures closely on their visit, and ap-
proved of the plans as arranged by
Prince and Moskovics. They are go
ing over the details of the work to see
that no point for improvement has
been missed.
For instance, the original plans called
for the grandstand to face toward
Venice, thus providing for the hand
ling of the crowds at the point of track
nearest Los Angeles. 1t was found
that the sun, setting in the summer,
would shine in the faces OF those oc-
cupying a part of. the stands. By
Moscovics' orders the stands were
shifted so they will face toward Holly
wood, and thus the grandstand spec
tators will be able to observe all parts
of the races more comfortably. An ad-
ditional railroad spur will be put in
to accommodate the section of the
stands farthest from the main line,
with only a few hundred feet extra
hauling.
Timbers for one-half of the circum-
ference have been erected and the
framework and part of the track have
been put in for about one-thlrd or the
distance around.
The immense amount of lumber re-
..,ired has delayed somewhat the work
"a the last week. 1t was almost i'm
,,oseible to secure shipment fast enough
from the long wharf, as the lumber has