History Auto racing 1894-1942

After all of the recent Mercedes and Benz photos I found a classic. David Bruce-Brown is on his way to winning the 1910 American Grand Prize race on November 12, 1910, in Savannah, Georgia.

 

That's not at all surprising when he spent little more than the first 3 of his 72 years in Australia.

 

I believe it is a Darracq Bollee 20hp driven by 'Lefevre' to 16th place in the 1900 Coupes de Voiturettes on the 11th of March. I could also be wrong as Lefevre wore the #68 in this race but there is a chance it could be a typo by the author. No other Bollee cars before 1900 were listed as #66.

The car was actually designed and built by Leon Bollee Automobiles in 1899 and his first four wheel independent suspension design with a 20hp petrol engine. Among those licensed to build this model was Alexandre Darracq and he later bought the design from Bollee for an estimated 250,000 Francs in 1900 or 1901.

Leon Bollee is credited as being the first to build a Voiturette, designing his 650cc 3hp tricycle between 1895-1898. He is also the son of Amedee Bollee who was an early pioneer of steam automobiles in France.

Another photo of the 1899 Bollee 20hp built before the design was sold to Darracq.
"Avis" @ 1899 le Tour de France.

 

Kurtis,

Any idea what those shafts on the front end are(steering arms?),and what is the box like thing in the center?

 

Found this cool ad of the Blitzen Benz from 1911.

 

That is correct. This steering principle was based on his father's earlier design from the late 1870's when he adopted it to his steam vehicle. It's basically another version of the "Ackerman" design very similar to the way a Morgan 3 wheeler steers, if that gives you some idea.

Below is a drawing of the innards of the box you referred to. This is from the Amedee Bollee designed omnibus and is very similar to the 1899 Leon Bollee.

 

Thank you very,much!

 

Thanks Vitesse.

My knowledge of Brooklands and most of British motoring is very much nonexistent.
Here is another photo i only know by the description. Frank Newton i have heard of and the car is obviously another Napier but that's as far i get. I'm assuming it's from the first meeting but....

 

Nope - it's actually an Amédée Bollée fils, driven by Étienne Giraud on the 1899 Tour de France. The number is #6, not #66, it just looks that way because of the design of the car.

There were three car manufactureres by the name Bollée: Amédée Bollée père, Amédée Bollée fils and Léon Bollée. Amédée père (sen.) was the father, who built several steam automobiles in Le Mans in the late 19th century, one taking part in the 1895 Paris - Bordeaux - Paris race, the first "real" automobile racing contest in history.

His sons Amédée fils (jun.) and Léon built gasoline cars around the turn of the century, but the younger Léon almost exclusively built his unique (for the time) tri-cars and named them "Voiturette". Later, that name was used for very small quadricycles built by other companies as well, but for a time he had the name patented and other manufacturers had to call their little cars "Voiturelle", "Voiturine" or whatever - all those words meaning the same thing, a diminutive of "voiture" = car.

This 1899 Amédée Bollée fils car was a 20 hp 6.3 litre 4-cylinder, and the design was also licensed to De Dietrich, back then still a German manufacturer. Later, De Dietrich began manufacturing its own designs, and for a time employed a young designer by the name of Ettore Bugatti. The first Darracq was indeed a Léon Bollée design, but a 6hp 1.6-litre 2-cylinder - basically, a doubled-up Léon Bollée. Only a few were built, before Darracq commenced building original cars.

 

The Junior Special engine was not a Miller product, instead it was built by a few racing enthusiasts from KCMO, led by Billy Brown and Riley Brett. Cotton Henning and Tony Gulotta were also involved in minor roles. Later, these engines were fitted in two custom-made cars, and the evidence is those cars were built in the Miller shop.

 

This picture appears in Boddy's Brooklands history, but captioned as Henry C Tryon at the wheel rather than Newton. As Newton had a moustache, I'm inclined to agree with that. However, the car is the Napier T23 c/n 4002, usually driven by Newton.

Looking at the spectators' hats, I'd say the picture is taken at either the July 20th or August 5th meetings, but AFAIK there is no specific record of Tryon driving 4002 at either. Newton drove it at the August meeting, winning the International Plate. However, both Tryon and Newton competed in a later event, the Prix de France - Tryon was said to be in a T21 and Newton the T23: perhaps that's the wrong way round?

Tryon did run the T23 in some record attempts in October and November, but the Panama hats and the crowd in the background would indicate that the August Bank Holiday meeting is most likely.

 

Louis Mooers - PEERLESS 17 Liter @ 1903 GORDON BENNETT TROPHY. Athy, Nth Ireland. DNF. 1st lap - tyres.

 

PEERLESS 'Green Dragon'
Barney Oldfield & Louis Mooers.

Read about it here.. www.peerlessmotorcar.com/

 

kurtis -
Love the Green Dragon images. Does anyone have blueprints or can post of PM me accurate stats for the above pictured vehicle - WB, track, tire size F & R, etc. Might make an interesting sketch.
Bob.

 

Rapid Robert,

There is a replica of IIRC of the 1904 Peerless Green Dragon. I don`t know how accurate it is.
Maybe someone here knows the owner and can get some measurments ?

 

An experiment. Newspaper account of the building of the Playa Del Rey Motordrome.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1910-02-13/ed-1/seq-32.pdf


It works,we can link to PDfs here.

 

That car has been restored about 4-5 times since the late 1970's, looks nothing like the car in the photos, but it is a Peerless.

 

So much for that idea,then.

 

Here is one I found today for Jim and T-Head

 

What's the theory of mixing wood spoke and disc wheels? I read an explanation written years ago why wood wheels were better. Just wondering why the mixture?

 

Thanks Buildy-Jim

 

You are quite welcome Jim.

 

Part of the 'Alfa 100 years' display at the Historic Motorsports show this past weekend.











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Thanks Keith. Surely you have more.

Here's some earlier ALFA with some very famous individuals.

1932 Coppa Acerbo.
1st pic: before the start - Pietro Ghersi - Piero Taruffi - Tazio Nuvolari - and to his left is Enzo Ferrari - Antonio Brivio - Guilo Ramponi - Carlo Ongaro.
2nd pic: after winning the race a photo with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's two sons, Vittorio in the cockpit and Bruno to the right of Nuvolari.
3rd pic: With Mussolini behind the wheel with Nuvolari and mechanic Renato Balestrero behind the car.

 

Kurtis,

Still downloading but here's one more





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Kurtis nice pics, last one the duece is congratulating then on winning the 1932 european championship in his garden. I notice you wrote ALFA, Mr Romeo had been in control for a long time by then, the only known G1 ALFA in existence is owned by the distributor there.
1921 Alfa Romeo team from left Merosi G1 Ferrari 20-30 Ascari GP Sivocci 20-30 Campari 40-60

 

1932 dream team approaching the Italian GP grid, Nuvolari at the wheel and designer Vittorio Jano at right. The sight and sound must have been quite intimidating to the opposition

 

Ugo Sivocci testing Alfa Romeo P1 at Monza August 1923

 

Can anyone help explain why "Australia" appears on the door in the background to this shot from the web?
I think it was during the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup - note the swastika... and was this the only time other than the '37 AVUS event that it (the swastika) appeared? Factual corrections welcome.