Savannah Ready for Road Carnival – Motor Age – 26 November 1908

Savannah Prepares for Meet
   Savannah, Nov. 22-As the day of the great race draws nearer Savannah is giving itself up more wholly than ever to the celebration of this the greatest event in her new ecru history. The business section of the city is hung with Automobile Club of America colors and most of the cars about town bear the club’s bannerettes.
   Savannah’s whole heart is in this race and no one would so abuse hospitality as to intimate that the coming contest is not to be the greatest ever run in this or any other country. Savannahians have above all an ambition that Thursday will see a new world’s record set up. It is hard to convince them that with nineteen right-angle turns on the course, with several stretches of pretty rough going for racing cars, and the stops necessary for tire changes and fuel replenishment in so long a contest as 400 miles it is unreasonable to expect an average rate of 70 miles per hour.

   The Savannahians have spared no expense and left no stone unturned to im- prove on their excellent arrangements and management of last spring. They have built a new and larger press stand and erected west of the old stand a new stand with a seating capacity of 10,000. The capacity of the old stand was also increased to 6,000. Eleven telephone stations have been established connected with the score boards facing the grand stands and parting spaces. Along the front of the old stand, which is really the grand stand, the new stand being in the bleacher class, supply pits have been dug. Chatham county has borne the expense of building the new roads and the city of Savannah has resurfaced the roads within the city limits. The Savannah Automobile Club erected the grand stands and telephone lines and will pay the flagmen. The profits of the race will go to the advertising fund of the city. The Automobile Club of America will not receive any of the race receipts, though at different times it is reported to have received appropriations amounting to $7,000 toward the cash prizes and other purposes. All other expenses attendant on the conduct of the race itself relating to the publicity and the contest committees, and the cost of the $5,000 gold cup are borne by the New York club.

   Two serious accidents have marked the preliminary practice, one fatal and the other also possibly with death as its outcome on Friday as the S. P. O. was speeding up the White Bluff road near the Buick camp. John Juhaaz, as driver, in trying to avoid a dog, swerved to the side of the road, gouged a big piece out of a tree and then dashed into a telegraph pole. The crew was hurled from the car. Marius De Rosa, the mechanic, had a fractured skull and other injuries, and died shortly after reaching the hospital. Juhaaz escaped with bruises. The car was not, however, hopelessly wrecked. It is now at a repair shop with hopes of it still being able to take part in the light car race with either Phil Adams or Connors, who was Stricker’s mechanic in the Vanderbilt race, as its driver.
   The other accident occurred in front of the Buick camp during Wednesday’s practice. Robert Burman was driving a light Buick when its left rear tire blew out. The car skidded into a telegraph pole and was completely wrecked. The mechanic, Joe Grinnan, had his skull, elbow and six ribs broken. One rib punctured his lung and pneumonia has set in. Burman escaped without injury.

Description of Course
   The course is not so much faster than it was last March as many outsiders had imagined and as the public and press had given it out to be. It is true many of the turns have been banked, there being nineteen banked right-angle turns in the 25.13 miles, but several of these are just as they were last March; it also is true that in two places great improvements have been made. One of these is in the Isle of Hope district, where the course swung left at 90 degrees only to again swing right and come back into the course. Here two turns are eliminated by cutting the road through private property. A little further on in this district marked improvement has been made on the two close-together turns on one of which the Apperson upset last March. The banking in both of these has been vastly improved by cutting a new right-of-way at both turns, forming an S curve. Several of the other turns have been banked more than at the first races.

   Apart from the banked turns the course is not so fast as the public has been led to expect it was. On the White Bluff road are two rough stretches, one of 2 mile length and the other on well toward the end of this stretch and not of more than half this distance. To make matters worse on this 3-mile straightaway stretch the road is too heavily crowned or arched, which will reduce speed. Of the new triangle which is made up of Whitefield avenue and the Montgomery road on one side and the much-talked-of Ferguson avenue on the other. The Whittaker and Montgomery stretches are rough, but have not come in for much criticism from the drivers. This stretch is full of curves, has little straightaway and while it can be negotiated at fast speeds it is not going to add to the general speed of the course.
   Too much cannot be said about Ferguson avenue, the other side of this new triangle, and which within the last 10 months has been cut out of the virgin forest and made into one of the finest speedways in America. It is as straight as an arrow for nearly 4 miles; it is broad and level and the pace set is only limited by the capacity of the machines. Owing to the new roadbed it is not expected that this stretch will prove so fast as Dale avenue, comprising the 4-mile straightaway on the home stretch.

   The Isle of Hope is as of yore a tortuous right-and-left curve affair with the road one instant skirting the shore of the river and on the next cutting through the front yard of an enthusiastic motorist. The increase in many of the bankings on these curves will add miles to the average pace. Error in the Banking A slight error was made in forming many of the banks at the start by not continuing the bank round enough to hold the car from a skid on its final straightening up. It was due to a situation of this nature that Burman in his Buick overran one of the turns that from the White Bluff road onto the Montgomery crossroad a week ago. Since then, however, many of the bankings have been lengthened with most beneficial results. The trouble that is going to happen on some of these turns is that many of the cars are going to cut them too close. If they do the wheels will get into soft grass; already one or two have come near trouble because of this. To guard against it N. H. Van Sicklen, Sr., who has the superintendency of the preparation of the course in charge, has placed oblong blue banners carried on a couple of 3-foot stakes marking the inside safety point of these turns, but in spite of these the drivers persist in cutting close and running down the banners. Banners of this nature are placed along the course to indicate danger points such as drops at the end of bridges, narrow places and soft spots that are located along the side of the road.

Comment on Banked Turns
   It is interesting to hear the comment among the drivers on the banked turns. Many of the foreign drivers are averse to them because they are not accustomed to them and having learned the art of taking flat turns at high speeds, feel that these banked turns do not really make their performances as brilliant as if they were not banked. On the other hand, Haupt with his Chadwick and Seymour with his Simplex are experts at the banked turn art, because of experiences on circular tracks, which will count greatly in their favor during the contest. The big car drivers hold to the bottom of these turns but there has been too much taking of them a little wide by many drivers in the light car event.
   When computing on record-making time over the course it must be remembered that there are not a few places on the circuit on which it is impossible for one car to pass another at speed and that the faster will have to do a little trailing before executing the pass which will reduce the average speed not a little. These districts occur in the Isle of Hope and Thunderbolt districts as well as at points on Whitefield road.

   The course is ready for the day of the gladiatorial contests, one of the electric road crossings having already been removed and the work on removal of another nearly completed. The telephone arrangements are practically finished also, N. H. Van Sicklen having selected the places for the eleven stations around the route, had the equipment installed and all wires placed. Closely associated with it is the location of the ambulance headquarters. One hundred and thirty-four flagmen are used in signal work. Using the yellow flag means danger the red flag clear course. Each of these 134 men is on the job each day during practice, so that they will be in perfect control on the race days. Also scattered along the course will be 500 soldiers guarding the course, which lies outside of the city of Savannah limits and within city limits city police will be in control. The instructions to the militia are to be diplomatic and courteous at all times, but to keep the course clear, and it is expected that the big record of clear courses established in March will be again duplicated and perhaps improved upon. Greater precaution will be taken in keeping the crowds away at the turns, where wire fences are being erected and along the Isle of Hope district spectators will not be allowed between the course and the river, where the road winds close to the stream.

What Happens to the Cars
   It invariably happens that after cars reach the course a vast amount of work has to be done upon them, even if they had been previously turned up. This is the main reason for early arrival on the course and it is somewhat regrettable to know that the foreigners were the first to get on the circuit, which, together with the well worked-out condition the cars were in should be a big advantage. Early on the course means getting the car into the best shape and also giving the man a good opportunity. Haupt in his Chadwick has had a lot of work to do. The stock car he will pilot was driven from the factory to New York before shipping to Savannah and when outside of Philadelphia got in a mix-up in which the front axle was bent, a spring broken, a rear wheel broken and the transmission and rear axle damaged. Time has been needed to overcome this disadvantage and by herculean efforts the car has been got ready and has made laps in 22:41 and 22:25. Haupt will, it is expected, put up a wonderfully determined race and the wish of everyone is that after his hard luck in the Vanderbilt he will be privileged to be one of the early finishers. Seymour in his Simplex has had ill luck. This car is the same one with which he won the 24-hour race excepting that larger cylinders are used, having 61-10-inch bore and 54-inch stroke. The sand was not well removed from the cylinder jacket cores and after some time it got into the radiator and gave trouble. The matter has been rectified by getting a new radiator. The National camp was slowed waiting for the Michelin rims and the wheels carrying them and after their arrival brake and carbureter adjustments were imperative. The Chalmers-Detroit cars have been indulging in hard workouts and one, due to breaking of a piston, had to have a new set of cylinders fitted.