LONG TRACKS BETTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 905, 24 February 1930, Page 14

LONG TRACKS BETTER

MISS TAYLOUR REVIEWS SPEEDWAY DESIGN EXPERIENCE IN ENGLAND “New Zealand has begun well in deciding that all cinder tracks must be at least a quarter of a mile in length,” said Miss Fay Taylour, the famous woman rider, this morning. “I am glad to see that the mistakes made in England when the sport was first introduced there will not be repeated here.” When broadsiding first captured the public fancy at Home, there was a rush of promoters to build tracks and many were constructed inside buildings or were altered from greyhound racing stadiums, leaving the track for the dogs on the outside. This meant that most cinder tracks were considerably less than 440 yards. Riders were brought in from Australia, the real home of broadsiding, but they could give only indifferent exhibitions as there was not room enough to achieve high speeds and the corners were too sharp to allow the long, spectacular slide. During the past year, however, many had been reconstructed and the larger tracks were proving by far the most popular. “When all circuits were small the promoters used to say ‘Just think how exciting it would be on a long track ’ ” said Miss Taylour. “The English audiences are now beginning to realise what_ they have been missing and are flocking to the quarter-mile speedways. There certainly were many small tracks at Home when I first took an interest in broadsiding, but they •were r.ot a success and many have closed down.” In Australia tracks are often even bigger than here in New Zealand, being at least 440 yards long and frequently up to a third of a mile. Perth has a half-mile circuit and here speeds are very high. _ Miss Taylour praised the Auto Cycle Union for its decision to licence only tracks of at least 440 yards circuit, as this enabled riders to give of their best and assures safe yet spectacular riding. She spoke highly of the surface of the track at "Western Springs Stadium, where she rode with success on Saturday night.