In the beginning of the 20th century, motor racing was on the verge of its very existence. Since several decades, development of the IC engine, and with it, the motorcar or autocar, was ongoing. Many patents had already been filed, of which some of the most striking ones are those of Gottlieb Daimler (“Motor Engine” issued 1886, “Gas Motor Engine issued 1889) and George Selden (“Road Engine” filed 1879 – issued 1895).
Originally, these autocars were in fact nothing more than horse-drawn carts or carriages, only equipped with mechanical “horsepower”. These contraptions were even referred to as “horseless vehicles”, in French as “véhicules sans chevaux” or simply “les sans chevaux”.
Be it with a steam engine or with an internal combustion engine, merely the means of vehicle locomotion changed in these early days. From about 1900 on, the basic form of the autocar as we know it today, with engine, steering wheel, radiator, pneumatic tyres etc., appeared more and more on the streets. Streets that were also not more than the horse trampled pathways, instead of some prepared flat surfaces. All that, cars and roads, needed development; but that would come soon.
In those days, already racing events were organised. Wasn’t it Henry Ford who once stated, that directly after the first two autocars were sold, racing events were organised.
We’ll cover motor racing through its early years, from the mid of the 1890’s until the end of the 1920’s, thereby covering the first 35 years of motor racing.
City-to-City racing over public roads, Road racing over temporarily closed public roads, Track racing, Speedway racing, oval racing as well as Board Track racing would come successively into being.
The contents of this site will be based on the regular automobile magazines of those early days in which the automotive industry and with her, motor racing underwent significant developments. We’ll have a look into United States based magazines e.g. Motor Age, The Automobile, Automotive Industries and Motor. France had their La Vie au Grand Air, La Vie Automobile, La Locomotion and Omnia. In Austria, the Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung also covered motor racing.
The contents of these magazines are retained from institutions such as:
Hathitrust, USA: www.hathitrust.org
Bibliothèque National Francais, gallica, F: www.gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/content/accueil-fr
Conservatoire numérique des Arts et Métiers, F: www.cnum.cnam.fr
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, A: www.onb.ac.at.
These magazines give a vivid impression of automobile developments and -culture in the heydays of motor racing.
NOTE
I’ve compiled the magazines’ text from the ocr/text-only data of the different institutions. These original French and Austrian-German texts, I’ve translated “to the best of my abilities” with support of some translator algo’s. Although I’ve tried to translate the original text as much as possible into English, I unfortunately cannot guarantee a complete faultless translation. So please be a bit considerate in that view.
ALTERNATIVELY
For those, having issues with foreign texts, we’ve incorporated an on-site translator. With this, you can translate the original text in any other language, at your convenience. As it’s kind of an algorithm, I wouldn’t guarantee for a faultless one-to-one translation, though. But these translations do give you a first-order attempt in reading these foreign texts.
Interested to embark on a journey back in time? Want to get an impression on the writing, thinking and the enthusiasm on motor racing events in those early days?
Then just climb in! Enjoy and extend your understanding of a motor racing era, some one hundred years ago.
I’d say, Bon Voyage!
GrocerJack
City-to-City Races, were among the first motor races on open public roads, mostly organized by journalists and/or newspaper editors. Through the years, the organization of these events was gradually taken over by local or by national automobile clubs.
The 1894 Paris-Rouen course or Trial was the first “race” on the continent with many contestants. The IC-engine driven vehicles barely drove faster than bicycles, but it was the first trial of “horseless carriages”, initiated by Paul Griffard of the newspaper Le Petit Journal.
The first real race in Europe then took place in 1895 over an overall distance of about 1200 km from Paris to Bordeaux and back to Paris. Indications show that a little earlier, in the USA and in the UK, similar races have taken place, although with only a few cars. These City-to-City races ended shock-wise however in 1903, when during the Paris-Madrid Race, many contestants and onlookers were wounded or even killed. It was for this reason that this last race was named the “Race of Death”.
Parallel to this, the annual Gordon Bennett Cup races were held from 1900 – 1905. Instigated by James Gordon Bennet jr., also a newspaper man, who started with an international motor race competition for national automobile clubs. Each nation was allocated a specific colour, and the participating cars were to be manufactured in their home country. This series ended in 1905 and were replaced by the Grand Prix races.
From 1906 on, the Grand Prix races were held in Europe, of which the French Grand Prix de l’ACF was the most well-known and most famous. In fact, the Grand Prix Races originated from the Gordon Bennett Trophy. Later on, many other countries organized a Grand Prix.
Starting in 1904, the American Vanderbilt Cup, organized by William K. Vanderbilt jr. of Long Island, was a first series of international motor races in the United States. It was meant to improve the performance of American automobiles.
“Chain your Dogs and Lock Up your fowl” as was heralded before the first race. Originally, these events encountered some resistance from local farmers and civilians, but eventually, many enthusiastic people supported this kind of racing, making them a success not only for their organisers, but also for the automotive industry that earned a huge development boost.
From 1904 till 1910, the annual Vanderbilt Cup races ran on the Long Island roads and through villages. From 1911 onwards, the Vanderbilt Cup was raced at different other locations, but it would never again retain its Long Island success.
The 1908 Grand Prize was in fact the relocated Vanderbilt Cup from Long Island to Savannah, Georgia. As this was a slamming success, the next Grand Prize races in 1910 and 1911, in fact being the Vanderbilt Cup, were again held at Savannah. After that, no Grand Prize races were held anymore.
The Italian Targa Florio was one of Europe’s toughest competitions. The series started in 1906 and was created by count Vincenzo Florio, who already organized earlier the Lombardian Coppa Florio. The Targa Florio was one of the most long-lasting European series of motor racing in the hills of Sicily, lasting until the mid of the 1970’s. After the first World War, it even saw the first victory of a supercharged engine in Europe.
Following the British Brooklands high-speed oval, the United States built their first speedway in 1909. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was an initiative of a group industrialists, led by Carl G. Fisher. His idea was that America’s automotive industry would benefit from some kind of test track, that would enable cars to obtain high speeds during some time. Up to World War 1, the European automotive industry was world leading and quite developed. The United States’ automotives lagged. After WW1 though, this would completely change.
In 1909, the Indianapolis Races started on this newly purpose-built high-speed racetrack. Unfortunately, with a catastrophic ending, where several spectators, drivers, and mechanics were wounded or even killed. This was mainly a result of the poor track surface, being merely compressed sand and a tar-mixture as surface cover. After bricking the track however, the speedway survived successfully. From 1911 on, the Indianapolis Sweepstakes or the Indianapolis 500 were organized with huge success, leaving the track and its annual race meet today as vivid as it was in those days.
