History Auto racing 1894-1942

A very nice photo of a Hudson which won the Red Cross Derby at Minneapolis July 14, 1917. Ira Vail is listed as the driver with Ernie Olson as the mechanic.

I think present day NASCAR learned a little from these gasoline promoters.

 

Australia's first race car, (a history on the link is worth a read):





Australia's first racing car, a 1902 Locomobile 4.5hp steam car with a tiller steering. James dropped the roof down for the race.

http://www.hyperracer.com/hyper-racer/proracer/family.html

Exerpt, without photos:

"1904 - Australia's first car race winner.
James Robert Crooke staged, and then won, Australia's first motor race on 12 March 1904 on the horse racing track at Sandown Park. The first race of the day was a voiturette race for cars with engines of 6hp or less and the Australian Motorist magazine reported that "(Crooke) tied down the pressure valve of his steam car and obtained about 1,000,000lbs (!!) of pressure to start with and made hacks of the other cars, travelling nearly 30mph."

1905 - 1906
The world's first race purpose built racing car track.
In 1905, James built the world's first motor racing track inside his pear shaped horse racing track at Aspendale Park. The new track was acknowledged as Australia’s “first commercial (race car) track”.

The Argus newspaper reported that Crooke, “encouraged by the success of motor-cycle racing on the grass track”, had decided to construct a banked speedway. On 28 October 1905, there was a report in the Moorabbin News that "the steam roller was at work on the motor cycle track on Mr Crooke’s prettily situated and popular race course. The path is in excellent condition and the motorists should be able to put [in] some fast [times]." A History of Australian Speedway states that, "(Crooke) laid down a crushed white gravel circuit, a project which reportedly cost a then enormous 1700 pounds.".

The first car race meeting on the track, was held there by the RACV on 29 January 1906, in front of an estimated 1,000 spectators.

James, an aggressive entrepreneur, had built at his own cost, his own railway station beside the government owned railway line that ran past his Aspendale property. The track facilities were extensive and 'state of the art' for the time, with an impressive grandstand and gardens designed by William Guilfoyle, the director of the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, who has been described as ‘a landscape architect of genius’.
1907
A year and a half later, on the 17 June 1907, Brooklands race track in England was opened. Owing to the complications of laying tarmacadam on banking, and the expense of laying asphalt, the track was built in uncoated concrete. The Brooklands Society and the Brooklands Museum claim that Brooklands was "the world's first purpose built racing circuit." Lesson - never let the British write history.

1921
In 1921 a new banked concrete (bitumen) saucer-track, a mile in circumference, was built to replace the old track.

The History of Australian Speedway describes it as; consisting of two straight runs, each about a quarter of a mile long with a width of 60ft and “banked on the outside to a height of 27 feet” permitting competitors to travel at speeds of more than 100 miles an hour.

The James Flood book describes it as a bitumen-coated track, a few yards short of a mile with a width of 45 feet, designed to permit racing cars to negotiate the banked turns at [FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]90mph.

Motor car racing continued at Aspendale Park until the late 1940s."[/FONT]

 

STOP! with these negative posts.

....and quit with the WE and THEM.

Interesting photo BTW. That's alot more positive.

 

Love those Lobethal pics. Am I correct in thinking that as the darker K3 is Jackson's K3016 then the lighter one must be Dunne's K3030? The other MG looks to be Les Murphy's PA. Numbers don't fit pictures I've seen of the 1938 South Australian GP, so are these from the Lobethal 50? And who's in the Alta?

 

Nice photo of the Ira Vail Hudson, I didn't know this car was around in 1917, Vail finished 8th at INDY with it in 1919 . It is in a West Coast collection today, was regestered and street driven in Philadelphia in the 1920's.

 

Peter Helck: 'Match Race at Brighton Beach'.

 

.

.

 

.


.

 

.

.

 

.

.

 

I like it Keith, I'd like to put curved louvers on my '30 Roadster hood.

 

Thanks for the info. I editted my message after re-reading your post and noticing that you actually did state approx. date. Guess I was a little late though as you were already answering it. Great that you are actually going to be using it. Always like seeing your shop/car build photos and reading your posts. Very interesting work you do.

Glad you like the photo. It was likely taken at a SoCal car show. I believe the car in the photo is the one in the attached image. I have info on it somewhere but cannot find my notes on it right now. I did find a link I had bookmarked with some photos of it on flickr...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94957089@N00/sets/72157607324953256/

I have seen other shots but a quick search didn't bring up any. As far as I can recall, it was never a Gilmore sponsored car. Just restored using their Lion Head signage/logo. Without my notes, I cannot tell you anything else as of now. Maybe someone else can chime in with more info.

 

A circa 1910 Stoddard-Dayton racing car.

 

Gilmore, Welcome to the HAMB, please post more info on the #5. Restoration or modern clone it is a great looking car. If it is the car I think it is there is a great story behind the restoration.

 

Twin6 passed this great Simplex photo to me.....I am guessing that it maybe a road race somewhere judging by the temporary looking seating.

Since I don't do statistics or records can anyone ID this race and driver??

 

This photo is identifed as a Haynes but I have no or info on it. I looks like a well constucted racing car.

 

This 1911 Mercer looks like it did not end well.....It has a non standard cowl and seats so it is slightly modified. I could have started as either a Raceabout or a Runabout.

 

Looks like an O-uch!

The raceabout and runabout used the same basic chassis till 1914 when the got wider and longer

O engines are also little bigger and rear end is taller

 

Thanks Keith.

 

Probably the Simplex 50hp driven by Leland Mitchell at the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup. He finished 7th.

The photo of the Haynes?? is an interesting one. Can you make out what name is on the driver's vest?

 

That thing is cool. It looks like a little version of the Mercedes grand prix cars.

 

There is a nice cutaway drawing of this car on page 89 of the Pre WWII picture thread that T6 started.

 

Perhaps this is why I always have this mental image of most here moving their lips whenever they have to actually read anything here. Plus, the endless and relentless posting of pictures with little to no attribution or information or even a rationale does tend to make it easy to skim through here about once or maybe even twice a day and not use up a lot of time doing so. No offense, but while pictures can be worth a thousand words, the words are still important to some of us. While the inevitable nuggets do surface here, most of this is just clutter.

 

While you are here Don, can you tell me if the AAA sanctioned any racing at 1/2 mile tracks?
How is your work progressing with what you refer to as "The Catlin Catastrophe"?
Will the official records be changed because of these findings?

 

Zippy..... Thanks for the ID...... The second photo is not good enough to be able to accurately make it out.

 

Yes, the A.A.A. Contest Board sanctioned quite a number of events at half-mile and even shorter tracks right to the end.

I have been looking through the A.A.A. Sanction Book records lately and just in the Southern states and Texas found a large number of such tracks with sanctions that were less than a mile in length.

In 1920 in the South alone, A.A.A. sanctioned events held on half-mile tracks included: Goldsboro, Gainesville, Ocala, Tampa, Bluefield, Norfolk, and Augusta.

 

Early races at the Hamline track during the Minnesota State Fair.

The first showing what maybe be a Winton on the left. And the second a pair of small Buicks.

 

...

 

That second photo is fantastic. Thanks TH.

 

Miss Lepitt running one of the early Napier racing cars at Brighton? The note lists 28 2/5 seconds for a Kilometer. What type of an early event was this??