not having a 'pop' just some fun I googled Dorothy Levitt - incredible woman (even more so in her time) she also took part in the 1903 'sun rising Hill' climb which was a fore runner of Shelsley Walsh (MAC was moved from Sun Rising Hill in 1904) (You can drive up sun rising hill today as part of the main A422 road near Stratford on Avon) Miss Levitt certainly got around and lead a more than interesting life. also an acomplished Pilot in her day as well Keith
I am searching for any info on race cars that were built by the Staver Carriage Co. in Chicago froabout 1909 to 1914...I have a special racer that was built for the son of the president of the company....Any help ?? wigles
The 35hp Daimler that Ernest Instone drove to the First Shelsley Walsh Hill Record 12th Aug 1905 The car still climbs the hill but coming back down is another story ! Keith
No offense taken. Just some good old fashioned Aussie/English banter. I really like the Daimler you posted. It still amazes me how these cars survived after all these years and most are still in original condition. England has a wonderful history of hillclimb sprints. I found an excellent site with lots of info and pictures. Association of Classic Trials Clubs. www.actc.org.uk/History/MAChistory.htm Checkout the Clee Hills Trial. That's got to be one of the best i've seen.
Clee Hills - January (in England) is not a place to be without some WARM clothing, it's a good days motorsport, with some interesting sections. I've marshalled it a few times. few more here, based on the pop (Anglia) chassis and running gear http://www.dellowregister.co.uk/dellow_history.htm
To get us back on topic Napier Railton <SCRIPT type=text/javascript> function disp_confirm() { var r=confirm("This is an exclusive feature for our premium subscribers. To learn more about our premium subscriptions click 'OK', to return to the article click 'Cancel'"); if (r==true) { document.location.href='http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/subscriptions/'; } } </SCRIPT>Born into a rich family of fur brokers, John Rhodes Cobb had a keen interest in motor racing. In the 1920s he raced a wide variety of machines on the Brooklands track, usually with absolutely massive engines. Among them was a 10 litre Fiat, a 10.5 litre Delage V12 and Parry Thomas' infamous 'Babs' Special, which used a 27 litre airplane engine. The Brooklands circuit consisted of two sections of which the 2 3/4 mile Outer Circuit with its banked turns was the most interesting. Cobb broke the record on the very bumpy track in 1930 with the Delage and averaged close to 130 mph. By the early 1930s, the Delage, originally constructed in 1923, was showing its age and was frequently beaten by Tim Birkin's supercharged Bentley single seater special. Cobb commissioned local preparation experts Thomson & Taylor to purpose build him a racing car. The company's chief engineer was Reid A. Railton, who had previously assisted Parry Thomas and also helped design the chassis of a variety of other machines including the ground-breaing Low Chassis Invicta with its underslung suspension. He was assigned with developing the new racing car around a defunct aircraft engine from the Great War. There is no replacement for displacement was a well known principle even back then, so a 24 litre Napier engine was sourced for Cobb's new racer. Despite its massive displacement, the Napier Lion was relatively compact thanks to its three banks of four cylinders, W12 construction. The factory quoted 502 bhp at around 2200 rpm for the engine, but Cobb had his W12 modified to produce somewhere in the vicinity of 600 bhp. One can only imagine the amount of torque available. All this power was fed to the rear wheels through a purpose build three-speed Moss gearbox. Having to cope with the masssive and powerful engine, as well as with the bumpy Brooklands circuit, Railton drew up an incredibly sturdy ladder frame. Suspension was by underslung live axles on both ends and the rear suspension featured twin semi-elliptic leaf springs. The front suspension had single semi-elliptics, but did use twin friction dampers. The 'Napier-Railton' was clothed in a bare aluminium single seater body, built by Gurney Nutting. The completed machine was huge and weighed in at nearly two tons; fortunately size and weight did not really matter on a track like Brooklands. At the first tests, the tires proved to be absolutely inadequate, but Dunlop sorted the situation out in time for Cobb to debute the machine at Brooklands in August of 1933. He started off the Napier-Railton's racing career in great form by taking a win abd breaking a record first time out. It was a sign of things to come in the following years, which not only saw Cobb win numerous races at Brooklands, but also break several dozen (world-)records at Brooklands, Montlhery and on the Bonneville Sand Flats. With the Napier-Railton Cobb set the ultimate Brooklands lap-record of 143.44 mph, which stands to this day. After racing the Napier-Railton for several years, Cobb turned his attention to the Land Speed Record. Not surprisingly he had Reid Railton build him a new machine, this time featuring two engines. With it he broke the 350 mph barrier in 1938 and later raised the bar to 394 mph. Like Malcolm Campbell, he then went on a chase for the World Water Speed Record, sadly with tragic consequences; he fatally crashed on Loch Ness in 1952. He will be best remembered for his years behind the wheel of the Napier-Railton, with which he won many races and broke 47 world records. After Cobb's death, the car was bought by Sir Geoffrey Quilter, who adopted it to test parachutes. He fitted the car with disc <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_6_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: #2b65b0">brakes</NOBR> and a huge rig on the tail for the parachute mechanism. In the early 1960s the car was sold to a prominent historic racer. In 1963 he finished second in a contemporary Formula Libre race around Silverstone. In the 1970s, the car was fully restored, although the rear disc brakes were retained. After being in private ownership until the late 1990s, the Brooklands society managed to buy the Napier-Railton and it is now proudly displayed in the Brooklands museum. Quite possibly the most important surviving British pre-War racing car, the Napier-Railton Special took centre again in 2007 when the 100th anniversary of Brooklands was celebrated. It was featured in a variety of magazines and shown at several events. Among them was the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it was driven up the hill on Sunday by actor/comedian Rowan Atkinson.
Thanks guys for reviving this thread of a very interesting period of racing history. Maybe we need a Ken Burns PBS documentary on early racing history?!
Wigles, Welcome to the HAMB. When i was researching the Elgin Road Races {see post #114} i remember seeing a pic of a Staver but i don't recall any mention of the particular car or those who drove it. I checked out www.coachbuilt.com but the company in question is not listed. There was a company by the name of Staver-Chicago that made tourers and runabouts but these were quite expensive.As i recall they later merged or were bought out by another auto manufacturer. Is this the same company? Hopefully JimDillon or The37Kid might be of some assistance. I found these guys to be very knowledgeable on prewar American race cars. I'll keep my eyes out. Good luck. Please post some photos of your racer.
Great story Keith. Was the parachute testing for military purposes? I didn't know this part of it's history. Thanks. Having the chance to see Mr. Bean driving the car at Goodwood, now that's worth the admission price.
Oh man, do they ever. Years ago i didn't understand or, for the better word, comprehend why some guys would go all nuts for a rusty Model A or 32 Ford. After seeing cars like this i certainly understand how they feel. Thanks Slim. What's the story. Any info? Cheers.
Kurtis, This Boattail Model T I photographed is at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, in York Springs, PA. http://emmr.org/ Sorry I cant add more info on it. I am sure there are experts on that matter here on the HAMB and at the museum. They have a research library which I plan on returning to to learn more. I started another thread about my visit. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405731 Thanks, Slim
Kurtis ' Sir Geoffrey Quilter put it to good use in testing his companys Aircraft-Braking Parachutes.' stiill looking for which company Rowan Atkinson runs quite a few cars I belive he is a a member of AMOC as well was supposed to run his Aston at Shelsley a few years back but then pulled out for 'work' reasons, quite an accomplised driver by all accounts. Keith
@Kurtis, Well, A), Look for the first part of two on Staver in your January issue of Hemmings Classic Car, and B), The company in question was Staver Carriage Company, Chicago, which from 1905-1914 made ever larger and more expensive automobiles. They were generally known as Staver, sometimes as Staver-Chicago. They were never involved with another company (aside from some possible work with Stoddard-Dayton); however, there were complicated dealings with Partin-Palmer, Farmack, Drexell and Studebaker after their bankruptcy in the summer of 1914. There's a thumbnail under Staver at my little American Automobile Plant map project.
Amen. If not Ken Burns, somebody who really has researched this stuff should be hired by the History Channel to do a series.
I see i'm not the only person to have thought of this. Obviously Earl Jones would have to be the narrator.
First heat of the 1935 Internationales Avus Rennen (26 May 1935) Hans Stuck (Bernd Rosemeyer, Luigi Fagioli, Giuseppe Farina) <O</O Auto Union B (Auto Union A streamliner, Mercedes-Benz W25B, Scuderia Subalpina Maserati 4CM) <O</O
Some interesting facts about Bernd Rosemeyer. His lucky number was 13. On the 13th July 1936 he married Elly Beinhorn, 13 days later he won the German GP at Nurburgring. His last Nurburgring win came on the 13th June 1937 and his last GP victory was his 13th start of the 1937 season.
In my first post i mentioned there would not be any discussion in regards to landspeed record racing due only to the fact that the subject deserves a thread of its own. Having said that, as a group we can discuss the exploits of the men or women who did pilot these vehicles at some stage of their career and etch their names in the history books but only if we are 'talking' about the person/persons and not the cars. I'm not having a dig but i hope this can be respected. As we are onto Bernd Rosemeyer here is an article about his wife, the great aviatrix Elly Beinhorn, her exploits, how she met her future husband and the day she took a drive in a GP car. Also in the piece is Rosemeyer's trip to America for the Vanderbilt Cup. Written just before her 100th birthday and also the year she would pass away. www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/elly100.htm
Thats a rare thing (over here) considered very unlucky so not allocated to houses. here's another picture of Rosemeyer
It's hard to find a better driver at that time than Rosemeyer. Probably Tazio Nuvolari was just a tad better but the fact remains, these two were the only drivers that had success behind the wheel of the rear engined AutoUnions.
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