It's posts like these that make diehards like myself delve a little further into the history of racing events. I couldn't help myself so i did a search and came away with alot more knowledge on the Mt. Washington event. Believe it or noy the Stanley Steamer was the favorite to win the first race until Harry Harkness showed up with his Mercedes. And look, even our old friend Smiley was there and a winner too. Thanks for the input Cris.
Strange that nobody mentioned these so far... PS: Cris, thanks for uploading the off-topic Arnolt TD racer; never knew there were Arnolt TD's in the Carrera Panamericana.
You beat us to it, SirPercy. I think i added a pic of the Hotchkiss in the Vanderbuilt Cup photos i posted. Maybe i should of added a small story to go with them. Ah well. That car is famous for all the wrong reasons unfortunately. Also Earl Kiser lost his legs after crashing the #3 Bullet.
The photo Kurtis posted is of OGM in its second (but not final) iteration. With this version Reuter (at the wheel in the photo) would set the Mt. Washington record in 1935. After Ladd took over ownership of the car he would evolve it further still into the car that would set the record that would stand for decades. The cognoscenti among you will notice the tail on the car's resemblance to a certain French make, and with good reason... The person in the photo I posted with the champagne is Ralpha De Palma.
Probably because it is a real one... Can't believe I didn't notice that it was Ralph Depalma. My grandfather got the body off the '02 Mercedes racer (the Paris Vienna car that is now in the factory), the car resided a few miles up from my grand parents house in Point Loma. My grandfather came around the corner one day to find the body sittting on top of a pile of trash, so he took it home. Somewhere out there, there is a '12 Cadillac speedster with the original '02 Mercedes body on it. Here is the car as it sits today...
While we are on the subject of hill climbs check out the drivers attire back in the day. This is a pic of William K. Vanderbuilt in a Mors 60HP at the 1903 Eagle Rock Hillclimb.
Kurtis do you think this is the same car? I've had the photo for years never had a positive ID on it.
Hmm. Certainly looks like it. Only saying that cause the fellow standing has a striking resemblance to Willie and he was the only man in America at the time with a 1901-02 Mors 60HP. Great photo nonetheless.
1906 Vanderbuilt Cup. Hubert Le Blon driving a Thomas 115Hp. Look to the right next to the speaker. Looks like Willie really liked his 'driving suit' or whatever it was.
A few Peugot pictures. (sorry for any repeats) and a random FIAT. crap. David Bruce-Brown in the '12 GP.
so who wants to make one of these...any good aluminium pattern makers here in the bay that are really bored?
one of my favorite pictures. The 13/14 Peugots just look so smooth in comparision. Something raw about the '12 cars.
@ The37Kid: Some more photos of Mors racing cars. A side view of Charles Rolls in his 60 hp racer and a frontal view of Maurice Fournier's 1902 Paris-Vienna car. Especially the Rolls car looks identical to the one on your photo ! Apparently if you were a young millionaire in those days; you had to be seen driving your Mors As for Vanderbilt, he had driven his Mors to a third place on the "Circuit des Ardennes" race in August 1902, after Gabriel on another Mors and winner Charles Jarrot on a Panhard.
Sir Percy, Thank you for posting the photos and history on Mors. I've seen the Rolls photo before and always liked the look of the car, wonder if anyone is alive today that ever rode in one at full speed? Racing has never been cheap, but it would be interesting to know what these cars cost in 2009 dollars only to be outdated the following year. Thank you for all your posts and Welcome to the HAMB!
One of the greatest photos in motorsports. George Robertson in his 1908 Vanderbuilt Cup winning Locomobile.
Ed Tillrock put up an excellent drawing of a Miller in a previous post i thought i'd post some of my favorites just to add some colour to this thread. Hopefully it might inspire Ed to do a closeup of the George Robertson Locomobile i added yesterday. It seems to be the most popular photo so far.
The Santa Monica Road Races were run between 1909-1919. The crash scenes are at the corner of Ocean Ave. & Wilshire Blvd. then known as "death curve". The last photo in the set is Lewis Jackson in a Marmon, unfortuanately the same car is wrapped around a tree in the other pic. Four people died there which was further proof that road racing was becoming too dangerous. Slowly the farmers and the rural folks were being vindicated for their earlier protests, not just about the races but also ordinary people with their newly bought automobiles. In parts of America these drivers were called 'speeding tourists' by furios farmers.
I've always wondered and been amused by how so many early racing photographers managed to get that 'forward lean' distortion into their photographs which seems to give the illusion of speed. Anybody know how they did it, or what photographic effect causes it?
The slide on the camera moves from linearly, so as the slide closes on a moving image, the effect is that a portion of the image (the slide first covers) appears to be static and the last portion of the image appears to moving.
Neat! Thanks for the explanation! Yes, I have seen old cameras with a slide-type aperature. It makes perfect sense. I even remember old cartoons, etc. where racing cars were drawn with the 'forward lean' to make them look fast. JG
Since we are on a Mors kick..'03 Paris Madrid. One of my all time favorites (but I like it with the bucket seats on the back): good link to the cars that ran in the '03 Paris-Madrid (it is in french) http://images.google.com/imgres?img...-SearchBox&rlz=1I7WZPA_en&sa=N&start=220&um=1
Thanks for the link Fur biscuit. The Paris to Madrid race is/was one of those events where either it was going to be a success or a complete failure. Unfortunately the latter won out on the day. A record 216 cars and 59 motorcycles entered and half of them crashed out before they even made it to Bordeaux. It's reported that 8 poeple lost their lives but many estimate a higher figure. What's also amazing but in an eery kind of way is the high number of reporters from so many nations. And why did Bugatti miss this race?
The Jalopy Journal
