History Auto racing 1894-1944

[ehdubya]

Originally Posted by T-Head

Marion being from Indianapolis home of the Premier and also Carl Fisher has me wondering if both this car and the Premier race cars both may share the same DNA?

It certainly looks that way, neat pic.

[kurtis]

Originally Posted by ehdubya

T-Head posted that photo not so long ago, how about Howard's wonderful swinger pic? .... http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/index.php/drivers/driver/duray

Do you have any photos of Franville? Perhaps a good head shot?

I have Achille and Henri in #4, Maurice in #7 and Lancia #1

You're right. I checked the results thoroughly this time round having sourced the previous info from an unreliable source amid the daily rush here. My fault.
It's interesting how the two Clement-Bayard's are different. Any idea why this is so?

[ehdubya]

because that eBay photo of Maurice is misidentified

[MrFire]

Photo of the Rajo Ford now known by it's builders name, the Wikner Ford. One of the oldest vehicles still competing in events. This car is the real deal, not a replica. A bit more about it:

http://www.abc.net.au/landline/conte...4/s1185525.htm

"It was built in 1922, by a young man named Geoff Wikner and he actually built the car as a mechanical object, rather than a racing car, because he wanted to show backers that he was capable of building things because he actually wanted to build aircrafts," Mr Partington said.

"He raced it a couple of times, then he was able to persuade backers to take him on and he was able to build his first aircraft. That aircraft - he actually towed from Sydney all the way to Brisbane to Archerfield aerodrome and set some Australian altitude records. He towed it up from Sydney in that car," he said.

Mr Partington paid 14 pounds for the Wikner Ford in 1958. Today it's probably worth more than $1 million, but its owner says the experience of racing it is priceless.

"What's it like to drive?" Reporter Sean Murphy asked Mr Partington.

"Different. Exciting in the sense that you transform yourself and you don't really worry that it's not terribly fast, but it's exciting in the sense that I'm recreating history and it's still there in the form that it was in the 1920s when it first raced," Mr Partington said.

:


Photo taken, by me, at Speed on the Tweed:


photo from the web;



and competing, in the hands of its current and long time owner Mr D Partington

[onelung]

Hey, I thought that last shot of the Wikner Ford looked familiar, but feel free to have used it...no charge at all.
My recollection from the road-closure position I was on was that it had an absolutely wonderful exhaust note: very fruity.
Here's another of it that I took that weekend.

[ehdubya]

The old Penrith - NSW - 1 mile Speedway circuit - circa* 1938- 39, Errol Flynn, in the # 10 dirt track midget, leads Hope Bartlett in the 746cc 120 bhp blown MG Q past a huge crowd of spectators near the Start / Finish line.

http://aussieroadracing.homestead.com/MaxStahlP3.html


Do you guys know anything about the Eldred Norman twin mill ?

[Joe G]

I always wondered if these Buick "Bug" race cars were the reason that Buicks have portholes....

[onelung]

Originally Posted by ehdubya

Do you guys know anything about the Eldred Norman twin mill ?

There'll be those out there who will know more about it but one of the stories I've heard is that Eldred had a bit of strife trying to brake the beast and fitted up a water-cooled brake system using SU electric petrol pumps feeding a spray onto the hard-worked drums.
It is purported to have enveloped any close following competitor in an impenetrable cloud of steam!
In a way, I wish my time had been a little closer to such characters as Eldred; it all seems a bit too regulated now...

Oh, and we know about the hot meal Eldred prepared for himself one race day? Wired a can of beans to the exhaust for the pre lunch break event he was in. Wonderful stuff.

Addendum: I've just realised that the car (see "Historic Racing Cars in Australia" by John Blanden) did not debut until August 1948, so falling outside the limits of this thread...

[model.A.keith]

We've seen all of these before..............it's still good to see them used today........













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[Harley Gene]

Here is a short film from Howard Kroklick's," Vanderbuilt Cup Races site. This is from the latest update. This appears to have been produced in 1957.
HG

http://tiny.cc/xv9jr

[Harley Gene]

Sorry Howard...fingers faster than the brain today. It is from Howard Kroplick's Vanderbuilt site.
HG

http://tiny.cc/xv9jr

[kurtis]

Originally Posted by ehdubya

http://aussieroadracing.homestead.com/MaxStahlP3.html

Anyone know the history of the Bill Thompson Bugatti that was later owned{?} by Bill MacLachlan and fitted with a Ford V8? Does this car still exist?

Another car that made it's way to Australia was the ex. Freddie Dixon works Riley that won at Broolands in 1935. It was driven in Australia by Dick Bland, John Snow. Hope Bartlett and Alec Mildren.
Anyone know the history and whereabouts of this car?

[kurtis]

Originally Posted by ehdubya

Do you guys know anything about the Eldred Norman twin mill ?

I've never seen a good photo of this car.
If i'm not mistaken, i think it was written off on a South Australian beach.

Originally Posted by onelung

Oh, and we know about the hot meal Eldred prepared for himself one race day? Wired a can of beans to the exhaust for the pre lunch break event he was in. Wonderful stuff.

Addendum: I've just realised that the car (see "Historic Racing Cars in Australia" by John Blanden) did not debut until August 1948, so falling outside the limits of this thread...

I'm sure we can make an exception here.
Norman was such an eccentric fellow that probably needed another life to finish most of his inventions.

I like the can of beans story. Never heard that one before.
Didn't he also use one of his sub-machine guns to shape the Collingrove Hillclimb course?

Here's a link to his book on supercharger's.
www.fefcholden.org.au/techinfo/supercharge/index.html

[onelung]

Originally Posted by kurtis

I've never seen a good photo of this car.
Didn't he also use one of his sub-machine guns to shape the Collingrove Hillclimb course?

I'll see if I can find anything in the vaults of the SCC of SA. May take a few days - off up the River (what's left of it after all the upstreamers have sucked it semi-dry..) to a friend's shack and back next week.

The machine gun story? I've heard it was used to make the holes for the gelignite for breaking up the rocks at Collingrove.

And yes, Eldred, like Harold Clisby, really needed two lifetimes for all the ideas in the head: what a couple of super special people they were!

[onelung]

[QUOTE=kurtis;5424714]Anyone know the history of the Bill Thompson Bugatti that was later owned{?} by Bill MacLachlan and fitted with a Ford V8? Does this car still exist?[QUOTE]

According to the Blanden book, Ralph Snodgrass was in 1978 the owner of the "Mackellar Special" as the car (type 37A) was by then known. Can't help with any more recent news of it...

[onelung]

Originally Posted by kurtis

Another car that made it's way to Australia was the ex. Freddie Dixon works Riley that won at Broolands in 1935. It was driven in Australia by Dick Bland, John Snow. Hope Bartlett and Alec Mildren.
Anyone know the history and whereabouts of this car?

Via Blanden (again...), the "Riley-Dixon Special" went to one Ron Farquar in England. This would have been post 1965, when Michael Robinson in Australia "..drove it in several Historic races..."
Blanden's publishing date is 1979.

[MrFire]

Originally Posted by onelung

Hey, I thought that last shot of the Wikner Ford looked familiar, but feel free to have used it...no charge at all.
My recollection from the road-closure position I was on was that it had an absolutely wonderful exhaust note: very fruity.
Here's another of it that I took that weekend.

I made the point that, what turns out to be your photo (good side on of the car), was a web posting . It's just a great car that would usually be found in a museum or tucked away in a private collection. To see it run the course - incredible.

Here's another one of mine, but the car is partly obscured:

[MrFire]

Originally Posted by ehdubya

Do you guys know anything about the Eldred Norman twin mill ?

I just know of many of the true stories, many mixed with urban myth. I did find an interesting article on him by Bill Norman.
Take note that the "twin mill" was road registered:
http://www.mgccq.org.au/nostalgia5/M...0innovator.pdf

(I had an acquaintance who ran a Holden roadcar with a Norman Supercharger and another who tried to adapt another Norman supercharger to a VW Beetle for road and drag racing. Too difficult, too many broken bits.)

[model.A.keith]

[QUOTE=onelung;5424925][QUOTE=kurtis;5424714]Anyone know the history of the Bill Thompson Bugatti that was later owned{?} by Bill MacLachlan and fitted with a Ford V8? Does this car still exist?

According to the Blanden book, Ralph Snodgrass was in 1978 the owner of the "Mackellar Special" as the car (type 37A) was by then known. Can't help with any more recent news of it...

A piece of older history on the ''Mackellar special''

taken from the Autosport bulletin board....................


An event at Penrith Speedway (near Sydney, 1-mile, bumpy dirt) in which the Mackellar V8 (Bugatti with more reliable engine fitted) got out of shape and went straight for the crowd.
Unfortunately this happened just after lunch, and some families were still sitting in front of the 3-strand wire fence that was about 30ft back from the track.
A friend, having seen this once years ago, commented how effective people are as catch fences. Three died, dozens hurt, bodies flying everywhere. Car came to a stop very quickly.


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[Racemaker]

Does anyone have information regarding AAA race regulations from the early 1920s that required a racing car to be able to back up under its engine power (a working back-gear function). The Indy 500 did have such a regulation in place until the 1960s but I would like to find evidence, either written regulations or other knowledge, that this was required at other sanctioned events particularly in 1921, 1922, or 1923.