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Race Cars Automobile Racing in 1902 Vanderbilt Fournier Aquidneck Park
Race Cars Automobile Racing in 1902 Vanderbilt Fournier Aquidneck Park
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Kindle version of vintage magazine article originally published in 1902. Contains lots of great info and pictures seldom seen in the last 110 years.
Read excerpt -
One day last August seven thousand people gathered at Aquidneck Park, near Newport, to see what American chauffeurs could do.
The track was only a half mile long, and the turns were short and without protecting banks. Yet the auto cars were driven around at speeds that would have done credit to railroad en¬gineers. Interest centered in the closing races, for vehicles developing more than twelve horse power. The first of these events was a match between Foxhall Keene and David Wolfe Bishop. Both rode Morse machines of French make, and Keene's is said to develop sixty horse power. At the sound of the pistol Keene leaped to the front at once, and forged ahead so rapidly that he lapped his opponent, being half a mile in advance before four miles had been run. The five miles were covered in two seconds over eight minutes.
This heat was, exciting enough, but it did not compare with the one that followed between William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., and William N. Murry of Pittsburg. Mr. Murry's mount was a forty horse power Winton, said to be the strongest American machine yet node. Mr. Vanderbilt rode his famous new Red Devil, which is a Daimler, of German make. When the pistol sounded, the Red Devil shot forward from a dead stand as if fired from a cannon, the entire strength of the enormous power being applied at once. How steel could stand the strain none who witnessed it understood; but it did, and the automobile rushed forward with a speed that made it almost invisible in the cloud of dust. Even when the sharp corners were taken there was scarcely any slackening of the pace. The driver leaned far out over the track to balance the machine, like a sailor on the windward side of his boat in a stiff breeze. Fast as he went, however his opponent was close behind. Murry lost a few yards at the start, but he hung on like grim death, and for half of the five miles the two machines kept the same distance apart. Then the Red Devil, taking a fresh burst of speed, gradually opened the gap, yet so slowly that when it crossed the tape at the end of the fifth mile Murry was less than five seconds behind. Vanderbilt's time was 7 minutes and 43 1-2 seconds.
Read excerpt -
One day last August seven thousand people gathered at Aquidneck Park, near Newport, to see what American chauffeurs could do.
The track was only a half mile long, and the turns were short and without protecting banks. Yet the auto cars were driven around at speeds that would have done credit to railroad en¬gineers. Interest centered in the closing races, for vehicles developing more than twelve horse power. The first of these events was a match between Foxhall Keene and David Wolfe Bishop. Both rode Morse machines of French make, and Keene's is said to develop sixty horse power. At the sound of the pistol Keene leaped to the front at once, and forged ahead so rapidly that he lapped his opponent, being half a mile in advance before four miles had been run. The five miles were covered in two seconds over eight minutes.
This heat was, exciting enough, but it did not compare with the one that followed between William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., and William N. Murry of Pittsburg. Mr. Murry's mount was a forty horse power Winton, said to be the strongest American machine yet node. Mr. Vanderbilt rode his famous new Red Devil, which is a Daimler, of German make. When the pistol sounded, the Red Devil shot forward from a dead stand as if fired from a cannon, the entire strength of the enormous power being applied at once. How steel could stand the strain none who witnessed it understood; but it did, and the automobile rushed forward with a speed that made it almost invisible in the cloud of dust. Even when the sharp corners were taken there was scarcely any slackening of the pace. The driver leaned far out over the track to balance the machine, like a sailor on the windward side of his boat in a stiff breeze. Fast as he went, however his opponent was close behind. Murry lost a few yards at the start, but he hung on like grim death, and for half of the five miles the two machines kept the same distance apart. Then the Red Devil, taking a fresh burst of speed, gradually opened the gap, yet so slowly that when it crossed the tape at the end of the fifth mile Murry was less than five seconds behind. Vanderbilt's time was 7 minutes and 43 1-2 seconds.
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