NEWS FROM THE U.S.A. HARRY HARTZ DOES 152 M.P.H. AT MUROC.

NEWS FROM THE U.S.A. HARRY HARTZ DOES 152 M.P.H. AT MUROC.

AT the wheel of a 4-cylinder, 225-cubic inch displacement Miller Special, Harry Hartz smashed the world’s one-mile Class ” C ” record, and other records up to 50-kilos in a brilliant run on the sands of Dry Lake Muroc, California, on March 23, subject, of course, to official confirmation.

Hartz covered the mile at 152.01 m.p.h. to shatter Hartwell Stubblefield’s record of last year by almost four miles per hour. He covered the 10-miles at 146.70 m.p.h. to break the mark held by Kay Don, of England, and was clocked at 147.44 for the five mile stretch. Hartz is also claiming the standing kilo and mile, and all other records up to fifty kilos.

The car was designed on plans of Professor Elliott Reid, of the Engineering Department of Stanford University, and was stream-lined similarly to the car in which Stubblefield made his 147-mark last year at the same location. Dry Lake Muroc is a smooth, desert-like, dry lake bed near Lancaster, California, and is ideal for speed trials up to 180 to 200 m.p.h.

This was Harry Hartz’s first appearance in an official auto racing test in five years, the veteran American champion of 1926 having confined his activities to building and backing cars since his disastrous accident at Salem, N.H., in 1927. This car is a 200-b.h.p. unblown job, and will compete in the Indianopolis race with Babe Stapp at the wheel.

The Season Opens.

Though several rather important racing events have already been held in the United States, the Championship season will not be underway until April 23, when the cream of America’s speedway drivers will gather at Oakland, California, for a 150-mile race.

Contrary to Continental and English custom, American racing drivers are not informed of coming events until just a few weeks before they take place. Therefore, it is impossible to release a complete summary of America’s 1933 racing classics thus early in the year. The only two races definitely scheduled and dated are the Indianapolis 500-Mile Classic on May 30, and the Oakland event mentioned above. Automobile racing is being conducted throughout the United States by various racing groups, but the American Automobile Association, as in the past 20 years, sanctions the events that are considered By our American Correspondent

T. MERIWETHER-SMITH.

of paramount importance. Inclement weather conditions will prevent racing in the Eastern portion of the United States during the months of winter and early spring, but the rest of the year finds this section the centre of activity. At the present time, racing is being conducted on a large scale in Califorina, where mild weather permits sporting contests at all times. In these California races, single-seat cars are used, as the events are not championship races, and are held on tracks of either 5/8’s of a mile or half a mile in length, with the exception of the Oakland Speedway. Ascot Speedway, in Los Angeles, is a 5/8’s track, of hard-packed clay surface, and one of the most thrilling courses in the nation. . This track stages race meets approximately every two weeks, with the remaining dates being filled by tracks at San Jose, El Centro,

and Oakland, during these winter months. Large crowds attend each race, and the field is composed of the finest speedway and dirt track drivers in the nation.

The Championship season, starting with the Oakland race of April 23, will find the drivers shifting from their ” monoposto ” Miller 4-cylinder cars to various types of two-seater machines. Some of the drivers use 8-cylinder Miller cars, some 4-cylinder machines of this make, and still others prefer the 16cylinder Miller. One or two drivers employ Duesenberg 8-cylinder mounts for these races, while a large number of star pilots will drive this type in the Indianapolis event.

After the Oakland race has been won, or lost, as the case may be, the drivers will trek Eastward for the greatest of all American races, the Indianapolis 500Mile Classic, the Grand Prix of the United States. Following the great Indianapolis grind, the drivers will race at Detroit in a 100-mile dirt track race. This will be followed by similar races over the tracks at Roby, Indiana ; Syracuse, N.Y.; Rockingham, N.H. ; Langhorne, Penn. ; and possibly a few others, before swinging back to the west, and the final 150-mile test at Oakland. Detriot will probably hold two 100-mile Championship races, and there are rumours of two concrete speedways being erected in time to feature Championship races before the end of the year. Art Means, an A.A.A. official for years, has been working on plans for a super speedway in the Metropolitan area of New York, while Harlam Fengler, a famed driver of the old days, is drawing up plans for a similar type track in California.

The annual Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, a race against time up the winding, danger. ous 12 miles of mountain road in Colorado, will again be held on the first Monday in September. This remains as the only race in America that resembles in any degree the old road races of two decades ago.

Hundreds of smaller, less important events will be held throughout the nation during the year, and many of them will be sponsored by the American Automobile Association. In many of the races, held on finely conditioned speedways, the Championship drivers will be entered.

American Siang.

Racing car:” Jaolpey,” ” Iron,”” Alligator,” ” Crate.”