Motordome: a track made entirely of wood

Have you seen the demountable wooden tracks used for bicycle racing? Now imagine a similar track, 1.6 kilometres long, built for motorcycle racing. These tracks were common at the beginning of the 20th century, and the USA had the most of this type. One of them was the well-known Motordome, located in Playa del Rey, California.

When it was built, the Motordome was not going to be an ordinary track; the track was made of small wooden sections measuring 5.1 x 10 centimetres, joined with 30 tonnes of nails, forming a perfect circle with a banking of about 45 degrees on the bends. The stands were also made of wood and had enough capacity to hold 12,000 spectators.

The Motordome began operating in 1910, with car and motorcycle races, as well as events in which several speed records were attempted, among them the world record for two miles (3.2 kilometres): two laps of the track completed in 39 seconds at an average speed of 160 km/h.

The speeds on the track began to become very high, and accidents occurred constantly. The wooden sections of the track began to lift over time, and at least one forgotten rider (a certain Robert Lawson) escaped by a miracle after being literally impaled by a piece of wood from the surface.

Finally, one night in 1913, the inevitable happened: a fire broke out beneath one of the stands and left the track almost completely destroyed. Paradoxically, the next day the Los Angeles press unanimously announced that “Playa del Rey burned last night, saving many lives”.

Source | Examiner