How many of the driver's ran the race with the Claudel carb is still a mystery to me. Pete de Paolo, in his report of the race mentions that he and de Palma did make a pit stop to clean a dirty throttle but there is no mention of what brand the carb was. Being French, i'd take a guess and say the Ballot team most probably did run with a French carb. The Claudel Hobson aero carb info i provided is top notch but it doesn't state whether the same model was used in autoracing. I have seen a vintage French motorcycle with a Claudel that looks very similar to the drawings but what looks to be the same on the outside isn't always the same as the inside.
Duesenberg four cylinder 8 and 16 valve walking beam racing and aircraft engines. The first two photos are of an eight valve racing engine with one camshaft. The third photo is the exhaust side of the sixteen valve engine which has two cams and eight exhaust valves on one side of the engine and eight intakes on the other. Both sides are under covers, the intake side which also serves as an intake manifold. Two of these engines survive one in a Duesenberg racing car and the other in the Kline Car which was a special. The last two photos show illustrations of the 16 valve aircraft engine they were developing.
Yes the axle is quite different, there's so many cars of the period had such similar radiators, it does look to be cross flow but they may be stiffeners. I thought they looked like 'the sons of millionaires' who might go stropping down braodway. It's a pretty big expensive looking car for those young fellas. They appear to be outside a dealership or garage. Pimlico maybe, a Thomas set a 50 mile record there in 1906. There doesn't seem to be much info on the racing there on the web. Cedrino was killed in the Briarcliff road race in front of the Pimlico hotel which seems to have been widely misinterpreted as the track.
There's a story on the pictures below here... http://thegarageblog.com/garage/the-baby-vanderbilt-racers-in-my-own-back-yard/ Unfortunately their pictures seem to be lost, did anyone happen to bag them?
As an aside, the car on the pole position is driven by one certain Harry Hartz, then all of 18 years old!
Harry Hartz I believe is also in this lineup I submitted before, for a cycle car race from Tacoma. Look at the #4 which appears like third sized Mercer.
Here's something for the lads in the southern hemisphere: Selwyn Craig is behind the wheel of his 3rd series twin six Packard which he named the Mountain Road Special after the road he lived on, and which he raced on Muriwai Beach on the west coast of Auckland, NZ. Craig won the first beach race for the NZ Cup in 1922 with the car. Onlooker with suspenders is Wizard Smith, Australian world speed record driver.
I wonder if any of these Cycle car racers in the photos have survived to the present day? I`d love to see that "Baby Mercer".
I believe Don Edmunds has one. There was a photo of him sitting in one, possibly in Jack Fox's Mighty Midgets book.
Twin Six glad to see you posted that. I was going to scan it and throw it out there myself for any comments. Thanks-Jim
Re: post 2075 and the Waterman Benz. Here is a photo of the same car, date and location not known, but probably taken in the 1950's. Compare the engine with the photo T-Head posted.
I can`t imagine the thrill of running that piece of racing history at the Speedway,esp at racing speed. You are a lucky man. Here is one car that survived those racing days,as so many of the others didn`t.
this was recently auctioned "1908 Isotta Fraschini Tipo FENC Semi Racer – Sold for $166,500. " anyone know the history behind this car? It didn't happen to come through Dragone?
I think this is what they meant in racing when they mention putting your **** on the line. This is quite the bob job. Most of them were made from Model T's although the only thing I can positively ID here is the T rear axle center section and tubes. The backing plates and brakes are not Ford. It looks to have a conventional gear shift so it is either an add on to a T or a some other make of car or a total special. The gas tank appears to be in the cowl. I wonder if they changed the wheels and plowed with this thing during the week and went racing on the weekends?
That one even has a p***enger seat in it. I am fascinated by the old Bob-tailed racers. Minn 1922 plates on it.
that rear axle is not even T(the center section is not riveted) probably Chevy, and are those blocks of wood?
This is simply phantastic information, thank you! I was obviously wrong with my guess, but it's interesting that I have Hoyt in the ex-Benedict #39 in my data base, I just didn't know it was the d'Alene car. I may be able to add a few ***bits about the racing career (did you know the car was blue for many years?) when I find the time. Interestingly, this very picture once prompted an exchange with Gary Doyle, who thought it showed perhaps the old "Meteor Special". I pointed out to him that the Meteor had a straight frame, while this here was obviously a drop-frame. Little did I know that BOTH cars went through Jim Benedict's hands at the time!
This is a photo of Jimmy Benedict at Readville in the Duesenberg Meteor in 1924, captioned Readville.
I hope this will not cause my departure from this thread but this is a photo of Fred Duesenberg's motorcycle. He built it and if not the whole thing at least the engine in 1902. It had a rotary valve system which was kind of novel at the time.
I wonder if this is the Ray Gilhoolie car that he ran in the 1914 INDY 500? If so it is in that 1923 Pottstown photo I have. the tail section is different now than in 1914, but how many of these cars were here. Wish George still had it too.
The Jalopy Journal
