History Auto racing 1894-1942

... but not - as some sources state - driving the Archduke's car.

His party trick was driving six-inch nails through tables. With his bare hands!

 

Correct. Apparently he was in one of the two cars that made a wrong turn at some point during the journey.
I tried to identify Merz in video footage i have seen, before and after the fatal shot, but amid all the confusion and a shody cameraman it is difficult to pinpoint.

 

The first photo was captioned Morgan, The center is a GN but I would like to know what the last car is????

 

T-H absolutly no help at all....... but the middle one is 'Spider' at Shelsley so i assume (dangerous thing round here ) its the man himself Basil Davenport....as to the last one ??

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Keith

 

I'd never seen a picture of it from this angle before, but the third picture is HM Walter's Jappic.

You can find more shots of it on Austin Harris' site:

http://www.austinharris.co.uk/car/special/jappic

 

Good detective work I have seen many other photos of it also and did not put two and two together. Thanks T-H

 

A PR photo from when Savannah was courting Vanderbilt for the race. The women may have been hoping to court some rich famous racing drivers.....

 

I can't shed any light on the Morgan pic, although if it's Brooklands it must be pre-1924 (no "can") but if any of you are familiar with the picture of GA (Tony) Vandervell in his Fronty Ford at Brooklands - which I can't find on the net and I don't have a scanner - compare the chap bending over the bike in the background. Looks remarkably like him! And GAV did race bikes before he took to cars, Nortons mainly.

Morgans usually competed against bikes at Brooklands as most car clubs refused to admit 3-wheelers to their races. Of course, the fact that the best Morgans were faster than almost all the small cyclecars was purely coincidental!

 

The Austin Harris site car has the same registration but must be at a different period in the cars life, as the cowl and "grill" opening are different.A posted comment on the Harris site says the car has a 350cc engine, which evidently was an air cooled single cylinder motorcycle engine. 1925 was about the time that the English decided that every single had to have two exhaust ports, even if there was only one exhaust valve.

Herb

 

Have we covered this unknown race before?? It looks to be a smaller event as the stands are not filled. From studing the photos the 40 car which won appears to be a Buick.

Could this possibly be the track at Atlanta that only operated for a short while??

 

A few more 'bugs'


















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T-Head,

Yes almost certain that is Atlanta.

 

1940 Bob Sall in the #5 Peters Special Sprint Car???

Buildy, Thanks.....

 

Felice Nazzaro was not killed in a car crash but died of natural causes on the 21st March 1940.
It was his wife Carolina Petrazzini who died in a car crash in 1923.

 

Some of you may be interested in this book published recently in the UK.



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On the boards......

 

Noted. Thanks.

Thanks again and welcome to the HAMB.

 

Stoddard Dayton at what looks like Indianapolis.

 

A few more from Brooklands.
The first two are from 1914, the latter being the Easter Meeting according to the caption. The last photo is from 1918. I believe that is a Straker Squire from another photo i have seen, other than that i have no other info.

 

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That looks like it maybe from the Briarcliff Road Race.......

 

Some more of Herb Lytle's Apperson from the 1908 Briarcliff race.

I wish these were in color.

 

These photos were taken at the Avon track at Rochester, NY in the teens.

The first photo show some professional looking racing cars and the car on the inside front is a Mercer Raceabout.

The second photo show what looks to be just plain old fairgrounds racing. Note the car with the skull and cross bones painted on the radiator. He must have been Pirate Pete.

The third photo shows Harry Veltz, in his racing car, a Corbin Special.

The forth photo shows Claude R. Newhouse in his Oldsmobile Special. Photos RMSC

 

More photos from Rochester NY of racing on the Avon track. The first photo shows Dwight Porter, who drove a Saxon to victory at the Avon track. Photos RMSC

 

If the first picture is a competition it will be a reliability trial of some sort - the tunnel was often used for those. The paddock shot could very well be as you say: that's a viewpoint you often see in that period, taken I think from the top of the scoreboard.

I can't pin down the car immediately, but I can say with virtual certainty that it's not 1918, as the track was severely damaged during the Great War due to the depredations of solid-tyred lorries and the first post-war meeting didn't happen until 1920.

 

I'm afraid I cannot shed any light on this event or participants, though I would love to know more. It's more of a human interest item than anything else. Surely these fellows were motoring along at a snail's pace, but credit is due - they were out there doing it when not many cars were put to such use (c. 1904?).

 

This postcard turned up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Is this Edge driving an early Napier??

 

Indinapolis before the start in 1929-30 judging by the pace cars which are from then......

 

Austin Clark postcards of his old friend Peter Helcks artwork.......

 

More great Austin Clark, Long Island Museum photo post cards. Austie was a very skilled photographer who shot all of the great early cars that were here from the late forties on.
We can also be thankful for him saving many of the cars that we enjoy today.