9 replies to this topic

[gerrit stevens]

In the appendix of American Automobile Racing (Albert Bochroch) the winners of various races and/or record attempts are given (compiled b y Charles L. Betts).
I am especially interested in the very early results and I wonder is someone has more info than only the race winners.
Here is the list.

1896
May 30, New York City to Ardsley Country Club
15 mi. Road Race sponsored by Cosmopolitan: J. Frank Duryea (Duryea)

1897
May 30, Cleveland, Ohio
1 mi. ?? (Winton) 1.48.0 (33.8 mph)

July 28, Cleveland to New York City: ?? (Winton) 10 days


1898
no races!


1899
May 22, Cleveland to New York City: Alex Winton (Winton) 47:37.00

Date??, Branford, Connecticut (1½ mi. Dirt Track)
5 mi. Race: Hiram Percy Maxim (Columbia)

Aug. 30, StevensClimb to the Clouds, Pinkham Notch, Mt. Washington, N.H.
8 mi. hill climb: Freelan O. Stanley (Stanley) 2:10.00


BTW Albert Bochroch mentions also about William K. Vanderbilt.
page 17.
Hillclimb at Newport, Rhode Island, in September 1900.
Fastest time of the day by William K. Vanderbilt Jr.

and on page 18
"Actually, the Vanderbiltcup of 1904 was the second he gave. In September 1900, J.H. McDuffee won a cup inscribed "donated by William K. Vanderbilt Jr." when McDuffee's Mobile won a five-mile race for steam carriages over a half-mile track at Newport".

Does anyone know more about these races.

Gerrit Stevens

[Vitesse2]

Gerrit: we covered the 1897 "event" before. It was a reliability run:

http://forums.atlasf...393#post1510393

My guess would be that the 1899 Cleveland-New York was to prove how much Winton's cars had improved in two years.

[AAA-Eagle]

And of course it's need to name one of the most famous race of the time -- Chicago-Evanston-Chicago held on the 28th of November, 1895.

Look in 8W Christmas Quiz thread for more information.

[fines]

Originally posted by gerrit stevens
1896
May 30, New York City to Ardsley Country Club
15 mi. Road Race sponsored by Cosmopolitan: J. Frank Duryea (Duryea)

30 entries, 7 materialised, 6 started, only one finished (although some sources have Charles Duryea finishing second)

DNF:
Charles Duryea, Duryea
Henry Wells, Duryea (accident)
etc.

Note:
- all three Duryeas were of the type "1896 Motor Wagon" (horizontal petrol engine, 2 cylinders, 4*4.5", 1853cc, low-tension ignition, 3-speed belt transmission)

[fines]

Also in 1896: Rhode Island State Fair, Providence (Sep 7-11)
5 days of 5 laps each around a 1-mile horse race track
Days 3 and 4 cancelled due to bad weather
at least 7 starters, of which five 1896 Motor Wagon Duryeas

1 Andrew Riker, Riker (39'35")
2 Henry Morris, Morris & Salom
3 Frank Duryea, Duryea
etc.

Notes:
- Riker and Morris & Salom were Electric Cars
- Fastest 5-lap heat: Henry Morris, 11'27"/42 kph (Sep 11, unofficial world record)

[fines]

Originally posted by gerrit stevens
1896
May 30, New York City to Ardsley Country Club
15 mi. Road Race sponsored by Cosmopolitan: J. Frank Duryea (Duryea)

Oh, one more correction: I have this race as:
Road Race (sponsored by "New York Cosmopolitan"), New York - Irvington-on-Hudson - New York, 60 miles, winner's time approx. 7:13' (13 kph)

[billthekat]

I am pretty much tied up at the moment, but the lack of any events for 1898 just doesn't seem to ring true, there being a listing of at least several events that year that I saw somewhere in my digging around for information. I need to take a look at the Bochroch listing and then make time to set time to get in front of a microfilm reader and see exactly what I have on this period that is in the Gordon White material. While I am thinking of it: Do you have the Betts material? There is a copy of either part or all of the Betts compilations somewhere on my microfilms.

By the way, if there is anyone who knows of someone who can convert materials from microfilm to a digital format on a CD -- hopefully at a reasonable cost, please let me know. If I can ever get the material I currently have on microfilm converted, it will make some areas of research much easier to respond to questions such as this one.

[gerrit stevens]

Originally posted by fines

Oh, one more correction: I have this race as:
Road Race (sponsored by "New York Cosmopolitan"), New York - Irvington-on-Hudson - New York, 60 miles, winner's time approx. 7:13' (13 kph)

Michael you're right. I only mentioned it because I did not know a 15 mile road race. If I had checked the date I would have known it was the Cosmopolitan race.
I also completely forgot I had started a thread something similar like thsi about a year ago. My apologies, probably I am getting old.


I have different sources on the Cosmopolitan race.

Source 1: Gerald Rose in A record of Motor Racing pp. 32-33.
distance about 60 miles.
30 entries, 6 started the race, one finisher (A Duryea, driver is not mentioned) in 7 hours 13 minutes.
On page 33, also a rhyme which was published in an American paper at the time.

Six horseless carriages, entered for a drive,
Wheel came off one, and then there were five;

Five horseless carriages, racing as before,
Chain slipped on one, and then there were four;

Four horseless carriages, speeding merrily,
Bicycle ran into one, and then there were three;

Three horseless carriages came to a hill,
Hill stayed right where it was, so the drivers had to

And then the rhyme is stopped abruptly. The text goes on with


get off and push, and that was why the time between City Hall and
Irvington for the prize of 3000 dols. offered by a magazine, was not what it
might have been if there had been anby hill there.

The race was a complete fiasco and thereby the self-propelled vehicle
earned for itself in America a reputation which for a time seriousky damaged its future.


Source 2: "American Automobile Racing" Albert Bochroch, page
Winner: J. Frank Duryea and only finisher. 30 miles in 7:13'.
30 entries, 6 starters.
Bochroch gives also a distance of 15 miles. page 207

Source 3: "The Great Road Races" by Henry Serrano Villard, pp. 43-44

The next item on the American programme was a race organised by Cosmopolitan magazine for Memorial Day, 30 May 1896. Again many were called but few were chosen; with more than thirty entries only seven turned up.
and
It was a round trip of xixty miles and the sole car to finish was a Duryea, which took 7 hrs 13 mins to do the job. Of three other Duryeas, one was involved in an accident that caused the arrest of its driver; another driver was excluded for having knocked down a spectator. Wheels dropped off, chains and belts slipped, gradients got in the way and collisiobns occurred until; the whole affair was a joke, giving rise to the taunt 'get a horse!' which was to plague a generation of automobilists.

Source 4: "The Checquered Flag" Ivan Rendall (1993).
1. J. Frank Duryea, 2 Charles E. Duryea (results pages)
30 entries, 6 started, distance 52 miles (p.16).
One car lost a wheel, another a drive chain, a third collided with a bicycle, and the Ardsley hill was a barrier too heavy for another one.



Gerrit Stevens

[john glenn printz]

Try the thread "THE YEARS 1894 TO 1897".

[D-Type]

Try the thread "THE YEARS 1894 TO 1897".

Related threads include these ones:

The years 1894 to 1897
1894 - the first 21 starters
1894 and all that
1894 Paris-Rouen Non-qualifiers
American Racing 1894 to 1920

With this number of threads on essentially the same topic, is it worth a wholesale merge? Or would it become unmanageable?

Edited by D-Type, 16 January 2011 - 20:57.