History Auto racing 1894-1942

I saw a photo on here of Lee Wallards 99 Hal sprint on this site. Anybody remember where it is at?
Stan.....................

 

A couple of links to some good photographs:

http://www.vintagespeedway.com/Maroubra.html

 

http://www.newcastlespeedwayhistory.co.uk/old%20bikes.htm
http://www.newcastlespeedwayhistory.co.uk/old bikes.htm

 

Claremont Speedway, Western Australia:

http://www.vintagespeedway.com/Claremont.html

 

Midgets from Sydney Sportsground Speedway (New South Wales):

http://www.vintagespeedway.com/earlymidgets.html

 

Bob, is the SIMPLEX a carry over from the Ed Roy project? Ed was a truely great guy who restored a 1911 SIMPLEX then later in life built six running models, EVERYTHING WORKED. Back then I took photos and had them developed as slides, I have quite a fewof Ed and the models. Ever the brass cowl lights had wicks in them and you could light them. The project filled many issues of The Bulb Horn, the VMCCA newsletter. Ed Restored the 1914 INDY 500 winning Delage, then gave it to INDY.

 

Bob,

That looks a lot of work, waitin on the rest of the story.


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just a few more from Shelsley
















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And the rest of us get nothing done waiting for your next update! I, for one, appreciate everyone's contribution to this interesting period of racing. Thanks to all that share their wealth.

 

The Atlanta photos are from the Nathan Lazarnick Collection and listed as unidentified here... http://www.geh.org/autoraces.html

I can't identify the race at this short lived track, the almost empty stands suggest it's near the end in 1910 when management were contemplating turning it into a board track.

The NY Times has some great Atlanta stuff like this neat picture spread and Louis Chevrolet on the 1909 season past and
lots more

Baker electric Ormond Beach 1904...

 

Captioned as......


De Palma FIAT 1912....(Ancourt)

 

An unknown fairgrounds track....

 

Follow these two links to a great film of motorcycle racing on the Beverly Hills Board track in 1921. I will give you a very good perspective of what board track racing was like.

http://blog.hemmings.com/

http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/beverly-hills-board-track-racing-1921

 

Unusual shot, that. Pictures of Ancourt bridge usually show it from above or the other side, with cars emerging and accelerating away. There seems to be a certain lack of urgency and there are no spectators visible, so I've always been of the opinion that this could have been taken in practice rather than the race, in which De Palma was disqualified for working on the car away from his pit.

You can also find this picture in this thread at TNF, which includes several "then and now" views of the Dieppe circuit:

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=22656

 

I've had the privilege to "tech" this car at the "Fall Festival" at Elkhart Lake. It is a very wonderful machine and it's owner is so very much fun to talk to!!

 

Wow, thank you so much. After talking with fellow historian Mike Bell, we've agreed there is little doubt that these photos are from the Atlanta Motordrome. Asa Chandler, who was Mr. Coca-Cola, poured a ton of money into the place, as evidenced by the elaborate pit area, the enclosed garages, and the raised stands, among other things.

This is incredible! We've searched for years for photos of the track, and found only a few. These photos unlock a big mystery for us as to the construction of the track, and just how much Mr. Candler put into it. Thank you guys so very, very much!

Now the next question is why did the track close? I know the generally accepted reasoning has been low turnout, but Mr. Candler had enough money that a few bad races wouldn't have hurt him. I've always believed it had more to do with the deaths of T.B. Dial and Al Livingstone in testing crashes at the track. Being a well respected businessman, and the head of Coca-Cola, he may have not wanted the negative publicity the high speed deaths could have caused.

I believe the answers may lie in Mr. Candler's papers, which are housed in Atlanta. One of these days, I'm going to get a chance to get down there and rifle through them.

Thanks again!!!!!!

 

Thanks to EHDUBYA for re finding the rest of the photos.....I looked at some photos of the front stretch their last winter and compared them to these which I have not looked at in quite a while recently and they matched.

Another mystery hopefully solved.....

When I posted the photos a coupe of weeks ago I included one of the #40 car which is a Buick which won the race. I am thinking this might have been Burman?? I would also like to know who may have been driving the Lozier which is car #6

 

T-H

Thanks for the link to the bike movie!!

I had a stroked Power Plus at one time- 85 MPH engine-35 MPH suspension, 15 MPH brakes.

Like riding a camel with a firecracker shoved up its butt- Had a lot of fun riding it. Good old days-------

Herb

 

Typo?? No, me? Impossible.

Thanks for the info. This was an intriguing race. I think hats must go off to the Chrysler team. What an amazing car.
...and what's with the Bentley's not carrying any jacks on board. Surely it couldn't of weighed the car down much.

Great link. I was going to post this during T-Head's excellent posts of the Lartigue photos but somehow got sidetracked.

 

Excellent photos as always Keith. Thanks a bunch.

Here's another front shot but this one is of an 1937 C Type ERA with Porsche suspension.
I did look into finding more info about this car but i haven't found anything written about it. Does anyone know more.

 

Thanks for the wonderful links.
Our American friends should be reminded that the great motorcycle champion and Indy 500 pole sitter, Ralph Hepburn, also visited our shores. I think he set some records at the Melbourne Motordrome.

Although i made the rule of no motorcycle photos i might make this one an exception.
Your description of a great motocycle leaves me wanting more. Tell us some stories Herb.

 

Kurtis,

Front shot of ERA R12C





Keith

 

Thanks again Keith.
It seems this car was built from a wreck. Still doesn't explain why this front suspension was used other than period parts were used in the rebuild.

http://members.madasafish.com/~d_hodgkinson/ERAcars.htm

 

Right - this gets complicated. The picture above shows c/n R12C as raced by the works in 1937 (that style of white-outlined grille number is indicative of works cars BTW). It had been built up towards the end of 1936 as a B-type and Mays used it just twice in that form, setting FTD at the Autumn Shelsley and winning the Mountain Championship at Brooklands.

For 1937 it was upgraded to C-type spec with Porsche ifs and a Zoller blower. It was raced ten times that year, scoring six wins - two each for Fairfield, Dobson and Mays.

In 1938 R12C was sold to Prince Chula for 'B Bira' and christened "Hanuman". Bira had retained "Remus" for minor events but "Hanuman" still recorded four wins, one second place, two DNFs and a DNS.

Both cars were retained for 1939, but because the International calendar had shrunk so much that year, "Hanuman" raced just once before July, Bira winning the Nuffield Trophy on June 10th.

Bira crashed "Hanuman" at Reims in practice for the Coupe de la Commission Sportive. Bira escaped with not much more than cuts and bruises and a severe shaking, but the car was badly damaged. Once the war came it was obviously not a priority to repair the car. The cousins decamped to Rock in Cornwall, accompanied by their wives, dogs and cars, while R12C underwent a "reverse modification" back to B-type specification on a "new" chassis, which was actually a spare works one numbered R8B! The resulting car is known as "Hanuman II". Bira used it for a while after the war and it then passed through various hands before ending up in Rhodesia.

However, the original chassis had not been destroyed and was still accompanying "Hanuman II" as a spare. Bill Morris bought both "Hanuman II" and the damaged chassis sight unseen from Rhodesia and, while racing "Hanuman II" in Historics, also set about collecting enough spares to rebuild "Hanuman" to C-type specification on the original chassis. It took a while, but the car was eventually completed in the early 1980s. Which is why there are two ERA R12 chassis.

I do hope that makes sense ...

 

Oh my goodness.

I initially thought this was the old film that made it's appearance a few years ago so i bypassed the links you provided having seen it many times before.
Well, i got the itch so i went for another look but to my suprise it's one i haven't seen before. THANKYOU. THANKYOU. THANKYOU.

 

Yes it does. Thanks.