Track cycling experiences of an old cyclist

By Walter Rutt

Apart from their sometimes varying sizes, to the spectator, one racetrack looks like another. But nothing could be further from the truth than to believe that, for the racer, one track is the same as another. Of the several hundred tracks that I have raced on across three continents during my 25-year racing career, I remember some as downright monstrosities, but others as ideal battlegrounds that met all requirements.

In Holland, for example, I found smaller wooden tracks that were covered with crossbars with considerable gaps between them to keep them dry in the humid climate there. When driving fast, this created a rhythmic rattling sound that had a strong suggestive effect not only on the spectators but also on the drivers, providing a kind of cheering background music to replace the missing engine noise, so to speak.

In southern France, I rode on tracks that are probably unique in the world. In the middle of the small town, on the market square, there were two permanently installed high cement curves facing each other, between which the straights were formed by the ground of the market square. The residents of the surrounding houses not only had a free show, but also made good money renting out window seats.

In the United States, I raced twice on tracks that had been set up on the parquet floor of a hall on the condition that no nails were allowed to damage the parquet. When a large field entered the curve together in a fast race, the entire track was caused to slide by centrifugal force and tilted. The racers and race committee later had to push it back into the correct position in the hall, where it was then secured with ropes.

The Alexander Palace in London once had a track only 88 m long, which allowed for a field of just three men, but they nevertheless fought some very interesting battles that thrilled and enthralled the spectators.

Exciting races are, after all, the purpose and goal of building tracks, and this also requires a capable and competitive young generation: we are once again training such young talent!

Note
The article appeared in 1949 in the magazine “Natur und Technik” (Nature and Technology), issue 22.