Cycle cars 1914

[carl s]

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.or...?now=06/SEP/06





http://www.the-rocketman.com/minnesota_cars.html

http://morgan3w.de/index.htm


and finally, from vintage The Arthur's Seat Hill Climb in Australia

[dwcremax]

The forerunners of the midgets! Great find, Carl!

[carl s]

The forerunners of the midgets! Great find, Carl!

Thanks
hey, you guys inspire me

[carl s]

Tacoma Speedway 1916
from pacificnorthwestracinghistory

1916 4 cylinder henderson engine (also shown in first photo in thread)


1913 Cycle Car GP Armiens, France
http://www.motoringpicturelibrary.co...=36&fleID=5859

[Darren Galpin]

Good stuff that I haven't seen before .

[boardtrack]

History of Motor racing Part 8

A few seconds of Euro & UK ‘cycle cars’ from the 1930s, at 6 min 40 sec

Also, 20-30 sec Vanderbilt Cup footage, @ 5min 23 sec. Nuvolari winning

All of these 'History of Motor Racing' segments are excellent.

At least 16 segments of c. 9min+ each.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blSWI...elated&search=

[Vitesse]

Those ERAs and Seaman's Delage are not "cyclecars" as such, but "voiturettes", "vetturette" or "light cars". Essentially the second level of racing, which by the 1930s was recognised as conforming to a 1500cc (91.5ci) limit.

Nothing in that era is constant, in that the GP Formula changed on a regular basis between 1919 and 1939. The Delage was originally built as a GP car in 1926 when the 1500cc Formula arrived.

As a rule of thumb, before about 1935 you can define a "cyclecar" as the third level of racing. Usually that meant an 1100cc (67ci) limit, often with a still smaller 750cc (about 46ci) class too. You can even extend this to the 1500cc GP Formula since races to the Formula did not require riding mechanics, whereas others did, thus creating a two-tier 1500cc class.

By 1935 International 1100cc racing had ceased to exist, although there was a brief revival after WW2.

However, there was no official second or third Formula until Formula 2 was established in 1948, followed by the adoption of the British 500cc class as the first Formula 3.

[boardtrack]

Vitesse,

Thank you for the information on those classes. In MS History #8, the first they showed ..no body work, etc. looked literally like a 4-wheel motorcycle.

BTW: Would you know when 'trials' cars came about? Those 4 wheel Sammy Miller devices. Post War, Colin Chapman's first cars were trials cars & I think the Lotus MK VI could be configured either trials or circuit.
http://utahlotusmuseum.com/id201.htm

RE: The Vanderbilt Cup. I loved that footage. I'd love to see more. Peter Duke should know 'what's where' with vintage film, & w/digital enhancement I'd guess there would be more now that can be made 'usable'.

The film & narrative of Nuvolari through many Segments in the series made all I've read about him come to life......fantastic & compelling. Enzo Ferrari rated him best of all time. No argument. And, he didn't switch bikes to cars until 32 yrs!!

The GP Formula changing all the time. Boy..I guess.

RE: Post War 1,100cc. (sports cars) IIRC in the states Lotus 11's & later the beautiful Lola MK 1, ran w/1,100cc engines. And, I guess this class morphed into the F-Jr, 'car of the month', instant obsolescent class.

Interesting links.

Lotus 11
http://utahlotusmuseum.com/id33.htm

Seems to be 'the' site for Lotus 11
http://lotuseleven.org/

And:
http://www.historiclotusregister.co.uk/

Lola MK 1
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z...1/default.aspx

[Vitesse]

Those spindly things were "Shelsley Specials", built specifically for hillclimbs. There were some weird and wonderful devices, including one with six (yes - six!) JAP motorcycle engines. That was built by John Bolster, who wrote the definitive book on them, called simply "Specials".

Trialling is a peculiarly British branch of motor sport. Originally a long-distance event similar to rallies, with regularity elements, post-war trialling evolved into a shorter format which could be completed in a day over one or more hills. The pre-war format meant that cars had to be road-registered, but once the shorter version arrived so the trials special appeared.

For those who've never seen trialling, it basically involves getting a car up an impossibly steep hill (usually muddy). Two-man crews - driver and "bouncer". As Vin pointed out, trialling was the birthplace of Lotus, but the best-known make these days is Dellow.

[boardtrack]

Those spindly things were "Shelsley Specials", built specifically for hillclimbs. There were some weird and wonderful devices,

including one with six (yes - six!) JAP motorcycle engines. That was built by John Bolster, who wrote the definitive book on them, called simply "Specials"..

Six!!!! I'm assuming the twin, which came both air-cooled & water cooled... with six....they'd better be water cooled.

JAP 500cc single...mainstay of 'Speedway Racing'...motorcycles..(Go Sheffield Tigers!!......no not the Sheffield Tigers Rugby U.F.C. team.....the REAL.......Sheffield Tigers Speedway Team.).

The twin JAP was common on Morgan trikes (1930's), with the air-cooled JAP the most desirable. (Matchless air & water cooled also common).

....trialling was the birthplace of Lotus, but the best-known make these days is Dellow.

And, the first 'brand' of trials machines, 1947. From 1968 - early 70's, when I was scrounging the UK for MG-TC's, Bentely R-Types & Morgan Trikes, (always managed to be there for the IoM TT) Dellows were in the same 200-400 Sterling range (up to 600 for a really nice manual R-Type). [then fixed at $2.40 to 1 pound].

The link is to a 1951 Dellow, asking 8,950 sterling. [pond now c $1.90+]
A very pretty little car.
http://www.dellowregister.co.uk/dellow_Sales.htm

Dellow History---With good trials photos
http://www.dellowregister.co.uk/dellow_history.htm

[Vitesse]

Sorry, mild brain fade. It was "only" four JAP engines! However, John's brother Richard also built a similar machine: that had four Rudge engines.

[carl s]

fwiw: Gordon White (Historically Speaking column) in the (current) May 07 issue of "Vintage Oval Racing News" has a brief but interesting article on Cycle Cars and our old nemesis, The AAA.

[carl s]

fwiw: Gordon White (Historically Speaking column) in the (current) May 07 issue of "Vintage Oval Racing News" has a brief but interesting article on Cycle Cars and our old nemesis, The AAA.

some notes from his article:
"First we know of raced at the old Ascot Park"
Also ran @ Pan Pacific Exposition in San Fran before the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup
also at the opening of a new housing development in Culver City, CA"
"Called Cycle Cars because of their engines of choice"

"In period just prior to WW I the Cycle Cars raced at various fairgrounds in CA. and there was a movement to hold more organized races at county fairgrounds tracks elsewhere."
The Contest Board of The AAA would have nothing to do with what they considered 'exhibition races with toys' and in fact this disagreement between The Fair Boards and the AAA over the Cycle Cars was one of the several irritants that led to the Fair Board Association calling in independent promoters and establishing the 'outlaw' IMCA."

"The First WW and AAA intransigence killed the Cycle Car races. The cars remained as toys built by teenagers to play with during the Roaring 20s.
It wasn't until the early 1930s when the Depression reduced US championship racing to a handfull of events that the cheap, home built little cars, by then called midgets found their niche."

[Jack Harrington]

http://spyder.brp.com/

Is it the second coming of the "voiturette"? I don't know, but I'm gonna' test-drive one!