here are a couple pics of Lee Frayer, a relative of mine who had an early car company and raced in the early 1900's (including the first Indy...) -scott noteboom
Buildy I am pretty wishy washy on the venue. In San Fran much of the race course went thru the city, around the museum and buildings etc but the minute I say there were no open areas with grandstands some picture will magically appear to prove me wrong I suppose. San Diego on the other hand probably had more areas like this. BUT this Mercer is a Type 45 and Pullen was driving a 45 at the time. I am not sure that the car Ruckstell drove at San Diego was a type 45. My records and writeups on this San Diego race are kind of thin. Hate to be so undecided but if I don't have a real good guess then it is best to say so. As to the tank, I was searching for my notes on the car (my filing of semi-useless info sucks) but if I remember my conversation with Randy Reed I believe it was for oil. Many of these racers including the car in my avatar had large oil tanks under the cowl (there is a filler cap up there). DePalma insisted on a 5 gallon tank under the 1914 Mercedes after his episode at Indy in 1912 with leading up until the last two laps and then throwing a rod and not finishing. For his 1914 Merc at the 1915 Indy he once again blew his bottom end in the last lap or so but with the extra oil he was able to win the thing. These old racers had a tendency to use copious amounts of oil during a race. I BELIEVE this was for oil and possibly when they rebodied the car they either put a tank under the cowl or did away with it altogether. I like the look though-Jim
I will try my best and give you a summary of the major events from France where all of the early races were run and at the same time i will include some American races as a comparison. The reason for this is quite simple. It is easier to find information from France and the United States in regards to the speeds the vehicles were attaining than countries like Italy, Germany or England. The beginning..... I will start with the Paris to Rouen event of 1894. This was not a race but a trial to determine, in the eyes of the judges, which vehicle showed the best handling without danger and in addition was easy to handle. 102 entries were received, some powered by steam,petrol,compressed air,gravity,pendulums or hand levers. After qualifying the field was reduced to 21 cars. Eight steam and thirteen petrol, among them were five Pugeots and four Panhards. After nineteen made the starter's call, it was Count Jules de Dion who was the first driver off with the others following at 30 second intervals. De Dion only surrended the lead once, stopping for lunch 30 miles from the start and finding himself behind a Peugeot and Emille Levassor in a Panhard. Fifteen miles later he regained the lead and was the first home ahead of Georges Lamaitre in a Peugeot, Doroit in another and Levassor finishing in fourth. Although de Dion was the unofficial winner he was later relegated to second because his car only carried two passengers when the rules stipulated a car must carry atleast four. Not to be detered, the Count had the fastest speed of 11.6mph ahead of the two Peugeot's recording speeds of 11.5mph and 11.1mph respectively. On November 2nd of this year, de Dion called a meeting with Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubot, Pierre Giffard of Le Petit Journal, organizer of the Paris to Rouen, Levassor, Peugeot, Serpollet and other motoring luminaries. The idea was to form a committee and organize a race from Paris to Bordeaux and back. The fastest car would be the winner. This is when autoracing was born. THE NEXT POST WILL BE THE YEAR 1895. Count Jules de Dion's steam tractor pulled a passenger carriage in the Paris-Rouen trial run and was the fastest vehicle in the event. The tractor weighed 2.500kg fully laden and could develop 20hp. The front wheels were solid rubber while the rears were shod with steel. DE Dion was a wealthy playboy renowned for his love of gambling and a propensity for fighting duels.
Thanks Jim, Oil tank makes sense. Unusual location to mount one though! I`m glad I found that photo-it spurred at least $2.50 worth of conversation-LOL I love that early era of racing,still lots to learn about it!
1895. After the meeting of the previous year the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race went ahead on the 11-13 June. Regulations for this event were kept to a minimum. Cars had to carry more than two passengers and driving could be rotated. This is the race newspaper publisher Gordon Bennett and W.K.Vanderbilt were sponsors. Twenty one competitors entered and it was de Dion again proving to be the strongest runner, the steamer having a sizable advantage when climbing steep hills. He was closely followed by the seven seater Bollee steam omnibus. Eventually these two cars suffered mechanical failure handing the lead and the win to Emille Levassor. The Panhard, having only room for two passengers was later disqaulified handing the win to frenchman A.Koechlin in a Peugeot with a speed of 12.2mph. The Panhard recorded a top speed of the race at 15.1mph, at night. The Panhard was proving to be a popular car. Built by Emille Levassor and Rene Panhard, this car was built with an eye on detail but at the same time it was important for the two men to showcase to the public a safe and robust car with power. Together with Peugeot, Bollee and later Mors, the Panhard et Levassor was marketed to the population with a philosophy of "win on Sunday, sell on Monday". And it worked. In the United States another wealthy newspaper owner organised his own race to kickstart the American industry. This race, backed by the Chicago Herald Times had close to 100 entries but only two were ready for the race. Eventually it was decided to run an exhibition and later in the month the real race would be run giving the participants more time to finish their cars. In the exhibition it was Frank Duryea against the Muellar-Benz driven by the owners son, Oscar. The Duryea was fastest but it later broke down giving the win to Muellar who recorded a speed of 9.8mph. In the race proper staged weeks later on 28th November only six entries were received and again it was the Muellar-Benz and Duryea that fought until the end in arctic like conditions with Frank Duryea crossing the line first. No times were recorded. DURYEA MOTOR WAGON. 1895 CHICAGO-EVANSTON On the 1st November of this year the American Motor League was formed, the first of it's kind in the world and on the 13th of the same month the Automobile Club de France was established. NEXT POST WILL BE 1896. This is the year when one manufacturer stamped it's authority on the rest of the field and it was a time when the Americans were slowly catching up.
Yes, '15 D6 5 passenger touring. It is shock going from a model T to this, boat loads of torque and smooth as a silk.
1896 There were three races of varying degrees of significance staged this year. The first of the year was the 'COSMOPOLITAN' ROAD RACE in New York on 30th May. Organised by the magazine of the same name this event was run over 52 miles and attracted 30 entries for a $3.000 prize but only six started. One lost a wheel, another a drive chain, a third collided with a bicyle and the rest stopped struggling to make it up a hill. Once again it was Frank Duryea who crossed the finish line. The third ever race in America was held later in September at the Long Island State Fair, Narragansett Park, Cranston. This was called the U.S. Providence Race and was run on a one mile horseracing track. This event is best remembered for the 50,000 people who witnessed the whole race from start to finish giving it the title of the first race anywhere in the world to be staged on a closed course. This also brought in another innovation; there was a profit to be made. Spectators would be charged. At the end it was an electric Riker driven by A.L.Riker with his passenger C.L.Whiting to a speed of 25mph comfortably beating five Duryea's. In France the ACF organised the longest race up to that point, 1,062 miles from Paris to Marseilles and back, in ten daytime stages to avoid driving at night. This race was full of obstacles from the thousands of people lining the streets, cars running over chasing dogs and the driving rain which eventually caused Amedee Bollee to hit a tree then a bull on the loose and as a result crashing into another Bollee, damaging it beyond repair. De Dion once again was a strong runner but it was this cars unreliability that allowed the Panhard car driven by Emille Levassor to lead until he himself hit a dog, overturning the car and throwing him out. He was badly bruised but insisted on continuing until he reached a hospital. Thirteen cars made it back to Marseilles and the winner being another Panhard driven by Mayade to a speed of 15.7mph. In Britain, racing was prohibited on public roads. For one to travel on a road there had to be a a man on foot holding a red flag to warn pedestrians and horse riders. When this law was lifted the London Motor Club organised a 'Tour' from London to Brighton. On the 14th November the Emancipation Day Run was staged with the majority of them French with Levassor's Panhard and a group of small Bollee tricycles among them and it was these machines which crossed the line first. It is safe to say that motor racng was born in Great Britain. THE NEXT POST WILL BE 1897
1897 There were three major races held this year. The standout amongst them was the Paris to Dieppe on 24 July. For the first time there would be four categories classifying each model to it's respective group. There was a class for two seater cars, four seater cars, six seater cars and Voiturettes {light cars}. In the two seater class it was a Panhard driven by Gilles Hourgieres to a speed of 23.1mph from the second place Panhard of Fernand Charron with the Peugeot of Charles Prevost in third place. Count de Dion decimated the field for four seaters, clocking an astonishing speed of 24.6mph ahead of a charging Panhard and Ernst Archdeacon, an Englishman, in a Delahaye. Frenchman Daniel Courtois won the six seater battle in another Delahaye with a speed of 17.8mph and in the Voiturettes class it was a Bollee driven by Jamin with the win and the fastest time of the meet with a top speed of 25.2mph. There were many things learned this year. The steam De Dion's were still the most powerful while the most efficient engine was that of the Panhard. Peugeot was always a strong runner as was the ever improving Bollee while the Mors, one of the better looking cars was slowly becoming a favorite with the public. There was also some sadness when Emille Levassor died in April having never fully recovered from his crash the previous year but that didn't stop the Panhard from even more improvements and a total domination of racing in Europe the following year. There were no major races in the U.S. this year although Alexander Winton won a race in Cleveland, Ohio in a car of his own design. He covered one mile in 1 minute and 48 seconds, recording a speed of 33.8mph. Later on the 28th of July, Winton arrived in New York having taken ten days to drive from Cleveland. This was major news at the time and it woke up some of the French. The Americans were coming. The Paris-Bordeaux of 1896 was one of the last races for Emille Levassor aboard the Panhard.
1898 When motor racing was started it was a way for the manufacturers to showcase their product. To stay competitive some in the industry adopted a philosophy of continuous improvement to keep winning, thinking the best way to sell their cars to the public was to beat their rivals. Many potential buyers were never interested in racing but it did hold sway when some were purchasing a vehicle. One company that did stay ahead and lead the way was Panhard et Levassor. They had great success in cooling doen the engines after fitting grille tubed radiators made to the specifications drawn up bu Leonce Girradot making them standard on many cars. Pneumatic tires soon became another must have product to the builders but it was the steering wheel in place of the tiller, adopted by the Bollee and Panhard, that was the biggest innovation. These technical improvements were vital but it was still engine power that was the most important. When Panhard first released it's car in 1894 it was powered by the Daimler V-twin engine of it's own design. This first engine, a 1,200cc called the Phenix, ran at a constant speed of 800rpm and produced around 3.5hp. There was no accelerator, speed was controlled by changing gear and fuel was ignited by a hot platinum tube in the head, heated by a petrol burner. Fast foward to 1898 and the engine was still in use in their touring cars but the racing cars had a 2,408cc four cylinder 8hp Centaure, essentially two Phenix engines back to back and later rising to 16-18hp with the adaption of electronic ignition. Bollee went to a 3,000cc and Peugeot went for 3.320cc. As we all know this would soon become a trend and engines would rise significantly over the years. Technical drawing of the Panhard et Levassor and the Daimler V-twin engine. The Bollee was the first car to adopt streamlining having a pointed grille on the 1898 car.
1898 cont.... Once again only four races were held in France. This was the year Panhard would sweep all before it. The 'Marseilles-Nice' race on the 6-7 March was designated by class numbers, similar to the previous years trial. Class 1 {Heavy cars over 400kg} was dominated by the Panhards with Fernand Charron taking the win with a speed of 20.4mph. Class 2 only had two runners with Georges Richard in a car of his design ahead of 'Laboure' in a Parisienne. Class 3 {200-400kg cars} final placings were all Bollee and the De Dion was the strongest and took the first three placings in Class 4. The 'Criterium des Entraineurs' race in Paris on 11-12 May was once again dominated by the Panhard with Rene de Knyff taking his first win and a 22.1 top speed. The 'Paris-Amsterdam-Paris' race on 7-13 July was also won by Panhard but a Bollee filled the third place. This was also the race where George Heath, the first American to race abroad, finished 13th. On the 18th of December, Paul Meyan of La France Automobile magazine decided to organise a different race. This one would be run over a 2km course marked out on a flat and straight road. Top speed was timed over the first kilometer from a standing start then over the second with a flying start. Count de Chasseloup-Laubot was fastest at 39.3mph driving a 40hp electric car. A car so ugly i refuse to add a photo. This is when Landspeed racing was born. NEXT POST WILL BE 1899
1899 This year the cars were developing more horepower. In the 1898 Paris-Bordeaux race the cars typically had between 6-8hp but now the figure rose to almost 20hp. No major changes were made to displacement but manufacturers learned the art of refinement and fine tuning. Tires also made a big difference. Panhard once again had everbody chasing their tails, winning two major races and placing second in the first race of the year. Georges Lemaitre winning the 'Nice-Castellane-Nice' race on 21 March on a much improved Peugeot at 26mph. This year's 'Paris-Borseaux' race on the 24 May was run a little different than in previous years. For this race all 28 entrants were to start en masse for the first time causing one or two accidents in the process. The Panhards soon took control, filling 11 of the first thirteen places. Fernand Charron eventually winning in a time of 11 hours 43 minutes 20 seconds-just over half the time it had taken Emille Levassor to cover the distance in 1895. His speed was 29.9mph. This year was also the first running of the 'Tour de France'. This was the longest race the ACF had organised, an epic 1,378 miles. This proved to be a gruelling contest and many did not finish. Those who did relied on their resourcefulness. When Leonce Girradot broke a wheel he borrowed another from a farmers cart and Camille Jenatzy also smashed his wheel and finished in a ditch but somehow managed to get going again. Charron drove many miles with both front springs broken and when a bearing cover broke on his Panhard he was left with only reverse gear and drove the remaining 25 miles backwards to finish the stage. The eventual winner was Rene de Knyff, Leonce Giradot and Count de Chasseloup-Laubat all on Panhards filling the final placings. The ever improving Mors won the final race of the year at the hands of Pierre Velghe or 'Levegh' as he was known. Each year this car was improving on power and it's 37mph speed showed. Although the ACF organised races were of high interest it was the speed duel between de Chasseloup-Laubat and Camille Jenatzy that caught the attention of the public. In the end it was Jenatzy who took the record with a speed of 65.792mph in his twin electric motored car he named 'Jamais Contente' {Never Satisfied}, He would hold this record for another 3 years. No major races were held in the U.S. but a new official body was established to represent the country in international competition. 'The Automobile Club of America'.
1913 Sunbeam GP. A very good write up on this engine was done by Lawrence Pomeroy. 3 Litre, L Head. 70 hp.
This last car looks like Resta. Is this the 1913 car that competed at Indy? I have a pic somewhere (I posted it not long ago with Burman looking the 1913 Indy car over on the back property at Indy). Car looks a bit like Toodles V but Toodles had wires, and I believe this car to be a six and Toodles wa a 12. Pretty cool car though. I'm out of here for now-Jim
I would love to have a good copy of this picture. I have one that is just OK, but if you could scan it- or trust me to do it ! More Christie stuff - Kurtis, you mentioned Christie got a pass into the Vanderbilt race. That was the 1905 race. Walter Christie qualified fair and square for the 1906 race, and he did it with one of his ordinary street roadsters. He crashed his best racing car in practice. However, all that was before the 1907 Christie came along, that is the car in most of the photos shown here. Walter tested the GP car before leaving for France, and he supposedly got it up to 120mph. That would have been competitive, but he never ran a real race before starting the GP. Naturally he had problems and didn't end up finishing. Upon his return to the US, he did a deal with William Pickens to manage a little barnstorming tour. At the August Brighton Beach 24 hour race did a one mile exhibition run. September 1 in Readville he gave the car a workout but the races were rained out. September 8 he was in Hamline, MN. September 10 Walter crashes at Brunots Island, Pittsburg and breaks his wrist. By now one of Christie's investors owns the car, a Mr. W. Brokaw. Christie's nephew and mechanic in the GP, Louis Strang 'borrows' the car while Walter is recuperating in the hospital. He supposedly sets a mile record in Birmingham, Alabama in October. Walter sets Pickerton detectives after his nephew to get his car back. The GP Christie appears again at the 1908 Ormond Beach races with Ned Blakely driving. No good results. Christie lets J. Morton Seymour borrow the car for a straightaway speed trial on Long Island, and he wrecks the radiator. By August Walter is on another barnstorming tour with Barney Oldfield. Latonia, Indy, Glenville, Maxwellton. By December Hughie Hughes is at the wheel and the car is at Tanforan Park, San Francisco. Then Ascot Park around Christmas. Hughes wrecks the Christie in Phoenix and that's the last we ever hear of it.
Kurtis, thanks for posting that one of the Sunbeam at Indy. I figured the first three guys but couldn't place the fourth guy. I guess your guess is as good as anyone on Crossman. I posted another pic of Burman with the same car. You could see he liked that car, so would I. As to the Mercers I believe that is George Bentel's shop. George Benetel was the west coast patron and real driving force at that time for the Mercers. Years ago Fred Usher and I spoke about that photo and he also thought it was Bentel's shop. I have a copy of that photo in a file somewhere, thanks for posting it-now I don't have to look for it. Don't have any pics of the MILACS do you? Any info? Anyone-another mystery that had Fred and I a bit stumped. By the way that is an acronym for Made In Los Angeles California. They built a couple OHC cars (199 ci and 299ci), they being Linthwaite-Hussey. As to Resta, if my memory serves me although he was of Italian descent he was raised in England and I thought he worked for Sunbeam including some driving or testing chores before he came stateside and jumped in one of Kaufman's Peugeots. FB thanks for the pic as well. Lee good stuff on Christie. For some reason the name Stohr is familiar, any tie in to early racing?-Jim
Kurtis,as Jim says,thanks for the Mercer photo of the cars in the Shop! Early Indy stuff is always very welcome as well. I always enjoy anything on De Palma such as the Sunbeam photo.
Jim, In regards to the mystery mechanic in the Sunbeam photo, i think it will be just that. Information about the mechanics is hard to come by. In the other pics FB posted it's hard to make out the faces. The #9 Sunbeam is driven by Dario Resta to a 6th place finish at the '13 GP de L'A.C.F. This is obviously him. The photo below is the Dario Resta #17 which finished 4th overall and placed 2nd in the 'Voiturettes' class at the '12 GP de L'A.C.F. just infront of the #52 of Emile Medinger in the picture below. It may be late here so my eyes could be playing tricks but it doesn't look to be Resta in the second photo. Anybody? As to the photo of the Mercer garage i will trust your judgement on that one. It sure is a great photo though. There is some great info about Bentel here if anyone is interested....www.coachbuilt.com/bui/t/thompson_robert/thompson_robert.htm I have never heard of the MILAC. Sounds interesting. Any more info?
Kurtis I have very little info on the MILAC racers. There are pretty intriguing though and have been searching for more info for 25 years. You are not the only person to have never heard of them. Besides Fred Usher I have not run into many that have heard of them. As to the Milac there were two articles with pictures in the LA Examiner and the LA Evening News in Feb of 1916. If anyone knows of a way to get pics from them let me know. I figured with some of your 1916 San Diego and Corona pics you may have stumbled on a pic or two. It ran at Ascot on 3/15/16 and won a 10 lap affair at Ascot on 3/16 as well as the pusuit race. It placed 2nd at San Diego on 3/26/16. It was driven in all of these events by Teddy Tetzlaff (this was the 199ci car) It was scheduled to run at Corona but broke in practice. Then a 300 ci car was being built for Frederick Robinson the same guy that built the Tahis we spoke of earlier for late in the year but I know little of this car. Sometime hopefully we can find some good stuff on these little jewels. As to Bentel he was a character. If someone would write a definitive book on the patrons of the early racers I would pay quite dearly for a copy. The stories they could tell-Jim
Without question, the MOST VALUABLE thread ever posted on H.A.M.B.!! A HUGE THANK YOU to all contributors! JG
The Morrison-Sturges electric, built in 1890 and modified for the Chicago Times-Herald contest of 1895 (taken from 'The American car since 1775') by the editors of Automobile Quarterly (1971) . .
Another Times-Herald entry from 1895, George W lewis, this is the second car he entered and is distinguished by the water and fuel tanks mounted as a dashboard. Appologies for the poor images, my scanner has given up ! . .
Jim, I don't know about any Stohr's in racing until I messed around a bit. You probably know about this article on the Milac, but I thought I'd try and post it anyway. I found a very, very poor scan of a photo of a Milac credited to W.A. Hughes. I believe his photos were acquired by Bruce Craig, and now are in the Collier Collection. Although Collier has not cataloged everything, I bet there are some good Milac photos in there somewhere. There is a good Milac photo in the book Road Race Specials on pg14/15. It was a Bruce Craig photo. Unfortunately the photo runs across two pages in the book so it's hard to scan.
The Jalopy Journal
