Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-20
DRIVERS WILL
TEST PIE PAN
MOTORDR0ME TRACK TO BE
READY WEDNESDAY
Contest Between De Palma and Old
field is Fitting Event for OPEN
ing for Playa del Rey
Auto Course

The motordrome track will be for
mally thrown open to automobile driv-
ers Wednesday, when the pilots who
have been anxiously waiting for the
opportunity to make bursts of speed
will find the gap in the "pie pan"
closed. They will be invited to test
the track Wednesday afternoon, and
Harroun, Hanshue, Nikrent and other
drivers will try out the board course.
Nikrent and Harroun, who have gone
over the track without waiting for its
completion, are enthusiastic about the
possibilities and believe that more
than 100 miles an hour is easily
feasible.
Great interest in the east is center
ing in the motordrome match between
Barney Oldfeld and Ralph De Palma,
which now seems a certainty in spite
of the bad accident to De Palmas
"Mephstopheles." f. f. Moskovics
yesterday received a wire from the
New York representative of the mo-
tordrome stating that the Fiat re-
pairs had been rushed through from
Italy and that the car ought to be
expressed to Los Angeles in ample
time.
This match, which will decide the
respective merits of the two fastest
cars in the world, is stirring up tre-
said Manager Muskovics yesterday.
"The papers were full of the Daytona
match between the Fiat and Benz, and
when that was called off through the
disabling of the former, all interest
naturally turned to Los Angeles. So
much discussion has been engendered
as to which car can show the best
1I,a 20 ff1l,
field and De Palma was quickly taken
up by the motordrome management.
"The two cars are capable of faster
speed than any man-carrying device
has heretofore produced, and on the
motordrome, where the spectators may
see every moment of the race, the
contest will be the most remarkable
exhibit of speed ever witnessed. 1t is
in reality an international affair, for
the rivalry between the German and
Italian factories is intense. Our New
York representative wires me that
even the emperor of Germany Is
watching the achievements of the Ger
man Benz under Barney Oldfied's S
guidance.
Big Racers Powerful
"Barney's racer was built at the
Benz factory in Mannheim, Germany,
and was used by Hemery to break all
short distance records at Brooklands,
England. In this country Oldfeld has
been tearing off new speed marks and
demonstrating that the car can go a
mile in less than half a second. The
car De Palma will drive Is owned by
Mr.. e. w. Q. Arnold, who has been in
fluential in advancing the best inter
ests of automobile racing. and is a pro-
duct of the Fiat factory at Turin, italy.
While it is estimated at 10-hore power
less than Oldfield's 2O0-horse power
Benz, it is capable of terrific speed, and
the merits are so close that only COM
petition together can decide which is
the better.
"As a matter of fact, one of the
most important innovations in the mo-
tordrome is the opportunity it presents
to drive the big cars to their limits.
Neither the Fiat nor the Benz. or De
Palma's famous Cyclone or the big
Christie which George Robertson will
have at the motordrome has ever been
driven up to power capacity. That
was one factor in getting the big men
here, and enabling Los Angeles to see
at the outset racing that has never
been equaled anywhere.
Undoubtedly the Benz and Fiat are
the two fastest cars ever built, and
the match at the motordrome will put