Text and pictures with courtesy of Hathitrust.org hathitrust.org; compiled by motorracinghistory
MoToR, Vol. VI, October 1906
FOREIGN TEAMS IN THE VANDERBILT RACE.
THE MEN AND CARS THAT WILL REPRESENT FRANCE, ITALY AND GERMANY. BRIEF HISTORIES OF WHAT THEY HAVE DONE.
THREE countries besides America will be represented this year by teams in the Vanderbilt Cup Race. France, for whom Heath won in 1904, and Hemery in 1905, will have five representatives, or a full team, each driving a different make of car. Italy, represented in both previous Vanderbilt races, will be represented again this year by a full team, including Lancia, the popular hero of a year ago. Germany will have two representatives, Jenatzy and Foxhall Keene, both piloting Mercedes cars. The make-up of the three foreign teams is given below:
FRENCH TEAM.
Car. Driver.
110 H. P. Clement-Bayard, A. Clement.
120 H. P. De Dietrich, E. Shepard.
120 H. P. Hotchkiss, Wagner.
100 H. P. Darracq, Duray.
100 H. P. Panhard, G. Heath.
ITALIAN TEAM.
Car. Driver.
110 H. P. Itala, Fabry.
110 H. P. Itala, Cagno.
100 H. P. FIAT, Lancia.
100 H. P. FIAT, Dr. Weilschott.
100 H. P. FIAT, Nazzarro.
GERMAN TEAM.
Car. Driver.
120 H. P. Mercedes, Foxhall Keene.
120 H. P. Mercedes Jenatzy.
Lancia, whose daredevil driving in the last Vanderbilt Race won him a permanent place in the hearts of American motor-race enthusiasts, has been dubbed „The Unlucky.“ His experience in road racing is very great, and he succeeded this year in shaking off his hoodoo sufficiently to win the Copo d’Or. Heath has a long record of victories to his credit, notably the Vanderbilt Race in 1904 and the Circuit des Ardennes in the same year, besides second place in the Vanderbilt Race in 1905. Nazzarro, of the Italian team, gained recent glory by finishing second in the Grand Prix, the big road race in France this year. Clement, who was third in the Grand Prix, ran second in the Vanderbilt in 1904, and came within a very little of winning. Although young, he is a veteran at motor road racing and promises to make a strong showing in the present race.
By many, Duray, of the French team, with his 120 De Dietrich, is looked upon as a likely winner. This is, in many cases, based upon the superstition that the winner of the Ardennes is the winner of the next Vanderbilt race. This happened in 1904 and 1905. Duray in the Ardennes averaged 66 miles an hour for the entire course, including all stops for tank filling and tire changing. The fastest round in this race was made by Wagner, who will drive the Darracq in this year’s Vanderbilt Race in place of Hemery, as was originally intended. He covered one lap in the Ardennes in 45 min. 29 sec., which means an average speed of 68.4 miles per hour.
Elliott Shepard, while new to road racing in this country, made an enviable record for himself in the Grand Prix, in which he ran fourth with the Hotchkiss car that he will drive this year in the Vanderbilt. Foxhall Keene’s most notable performance in road racing was probably in the Gordon-Bennett Cup Race in Ireland in 1903, when he was in the lead for a greater part of the distance, and finally retired with a broken front axle. Last year he collided with a telegraph pole on the dangerous S turn at Albertson while driving a good race in an effort to land the Vanderbilt Cup.
Cagno, of the Italian team, driving a 100 H. P. Itala, a new car to compete for the Vanderbilt Cup, won the recent Targa Florio, in Sicily. Jenatzy needs no introduction, for he not only has been with us before, but he won fame in carrying off the Gordon-Bennett Cup for Germany with a Mercedes car in 1903.
Never before has there been a better collection of cars to compete for the Vanderbilt Cup. The French team is equipped with cars all of which have been upon the road for many months and have been tested out in at least one long, hard road race, many in two. Clement participated in the Grand Prix and the Circuit des Ardennes, as did also Wagner, Duray and Heath. Of the Italian team the two Itala cars were specially built for the Vanderbilt race, but have been on the road long enough to be tested out. The FIAT and Mercedes cars have all been in long races so that they have had ample opportunity to be „tuned up.“
Photo captions.
Page 30: 108 Heath in His Panhard. – 2.A Lancia (100 H.P. Fiat). – 2.B Nazzarro (100 H.P. Fiat). – 3 Clement (110 H.P. Clement). – 7 Duray (120 H.P. De Dietrich). – 4.B Wagner (100 H.P. Darracq).