From the archive
Board track racing – now there’s how to separate the men from the boys
Nowadays beach races are extremely popular in the USA and Europe, but board track racing is also increasingly popular in Europe. Unfortunately, there are few real board track courses left, in Germany there is still a real wooden track in Bielefeld, near Hannover. On the Montlhery circuit, just below Paris and of course at Brooklands in England, historical races are more often organised.
There are also tracks where cycling laps are normally held, which are suitable as a board track circuit. It was therefore the European cycling tracks that modelled the board tracks in America, early last century. Unfortunately, you rarely see beautiful wooden oval tracks anymore, most of them are asphalt or concrete. However, the atmosphere is no less and the enthusiasm among the riders and the public is enormous.
Authenticity is paramount, they ride motorcycles that are old, but the clothing and protection is also in style, for example, with only an old leather helmet and old-fashioned motorcycle clothing.
The speeds were not childish at the time, often exceeding 105mph ... Now, on short cycling tracks, it is often more than 80mph and that on a track of only 333 metres with curves that have banks that typically rise upwards, which run under an angle of sometimes up to 48° ... ‘banked' as they call it there and what is called a curved track.
Riding was done without protection and without brakes – just a ‘kill switch' on the handlebars caused some delay when needed, which resulted in many injuries and deaths in the past, often due to the huge splinters of the wooden planks from which the tracks were made, but also because riders flew off the track and ended up in the audience, usually killing several spectators.
For example, the Motordrome board tracks were soon nicknamed Murderdrome, where tens of thousands of people often came to watch. It was immensely popular, from 1908 to 1915 riding on tracks of about an eighth and a quarter of a mile (200 and
400 metres). After that came even longer, one and two mile long tracks, with the speeds increasing even more.
The many deaths and injuries unfortunately led to a ban on board tracks in 1916, after which the motorcycles were often adapted for other motor sports such as beach races and speedway.