On This Day

Steam-powered vehicle pioneer William Murdoch (85) died at Sycamore Hill near Soho, England. Murdoch was the inventor of the oscillating cylinder steam engine and he also made innovations to the steam engine, including the sun and planet gear and D slide valve. He invented the steam gun and the pneumatic tube message system, and worked on one of the first British paddle steamers to cross the English Channel. Continue Reading →

William Murdoch

Amedee Bollee Snr successfully tested his Bolle-Dalifol vehicle in a run from La Villette to Belleville, France.

The final prototype Detroit-Dearborn designed by Paul Arthur was test driven – the Detroit-Dearborn Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan was organised by Edward Bland, Arthur L Kiefer, Elmer W Foster and Samuel D Lapham, but would be bankrupt by the end of 1910 after producing just 110 cars.

Detroit-Dearborn - 1909

The 1000th Hupmobile was produced.

The Mora Motor Car Company of Newark, New York was liquidated at auction with its factory, nine acres of land, 50 cars, and assorted parts realising $120,000. They had built the Mora luxury automobile from 1906 through 1910.

The Murray Body Company was founded in Detroit, Michigan, US to manufacture automobile bodies.

Race car designer Harry A. Miller was issued a United States patent for his front wheel drive mechanism.

Director General of Roads in Whitehall stated that Hyde Park Corner, London was the busiest road junction in the world.

The Moon Motor Company, based in St. Louis, Missouri, US, was placed into receivership. The company had a venerable reputation among the buying public, as it was known for fully assembled, easily affordable mid-level cars using high-quality parts. Continue Reading →

Moon Motor Car Company factory (1927)

The 1931 Chevrolets were introduced to the US public.

Chevrolet sales brochure (1931)

Ernest J Sweetland (70), inventor of the Purolator oil filter manufactured by Motor Improvement Inc of Newark, New Jersey, US, died in San Francisco, California.

The design drawings were finished for the Moto Guzzi V8 500cc motorcycle grand prix engine.

Karl E. Scott was elected President of Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd.

Craig Breedlove, driving his jet-powered Spirit of America - Sonic 1 vehicle, raced to 600.601mph over the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to establish a new land-speed record. Breedlove, a four-time land-speed record holder, was also the first driver to break the 400 mph (644 km/h) and 500 mph (805 km/h) land-speed barriers, in 1963 and 1964 respectively. Five years later, Gary Gabelich, in his Blue Flame rocket-powered vehicle, would break Breedlove's record by reaching 622.407 mph (1001.1 km/h) over the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Spirit of America - Sonic 1

The City of Rome registered its 1,000,000th automobile.

The design of the Austin Maxi was signed-off for production.It was the first British five-speed five-door hatchback and the last production car designed by Alec Issigonis.

Four-door Austin Maxi bodyshell

The 1975 AMC models were introduced.

At the Mahwah plant in New Jersey, workers completed the 100-millionth Ford to be built in America. The historic cream-and-gold 1978 Fairmont Futura went on a national tour to mark the milestone, with stops in Detroit and other U.S. cities.

At about 5.00 a.m., two PKS (Polska Komunikacja Samochodowa) buses, carrying miners to "KWK Brzeszcze", crashed in ravine "Wilczy Jar", in lake Żywieckie (Jezioro Żywieckie) - killing 27 miners.

Benny Parsons won the season finale at Ontario Motor Speed­way, California, US as Dale Earnhardt captured his first NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National title. Earnhardt rallied back from a lap deficit to finish fifth. His final margin of victory over Cale Yarborough, who finished third at Ontario, was 19 points.

Gerhard Berger led home Michele Alboreto for a Ferarri 1-2 finish in the Australian Grand Prix on the streets of Adelaide. 1987 was the first time in the history of the Australian Grand Prix (dating back to the first race in 1928) that no Australian driver was on the grid. As it turned out, no Australian driver would compete in an Australian Grand Prix until David Brabham drove for the Brabham team (founded in 1962 by his father, triple World Champion Jack Brabham) in the 1990 Australian Grand Prix.

Gerhard Berger celebrates his victory at the 1987 Australian Grand Prix

The Hooters 500, final race of the 1992 NASCAR season, was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway and was televised live on ESPN. The race is widely considered one of the greatest NASCAR races of all time. Several sidebar stories complemented the closest championship chase in NASCAR history up to that point. Continue Reading →

Alan Kulwicki - 1992 Hooters 500

Nick Favre and Jeremy Agace drove a Bizzarini to victory in the GT class in the 24-hour historic race at Paul Ricard circuit in France. They finished nearly 10 laps ahead of the second place Porsche.

The world’s first volume production line for aluminium cars opened in Neckarsulm, Germany. The facility costing over DM 300 million could produce 60,000 Audi A2 cars annually.

Audi A2

Guildford Cathedral turned into a who's who of international motor racing as a galaxy of F1 personalities turned out for a service of thanksgiving for the life of Ken Tyrrell, who died of cancer in the summer. Those attending included former Tyrrell drivers Jean Alesi, Martin Brundle, Jonathan Palmer and Sir Jackie Stewart who also made one of the addresses. Other racing personalities present included Ron Dennis, Patrick Head, Craig Pollock, Rob Walker, Derek Bell, John Coombs and Teddy Mayer. Continue Reading →

Vivion Daly (48), one of Ireland's most distinguished racing drivers, passed away after a long illness. In a career in motorsport spanning four decades, he twice won the coveted Sexton Trophy (in 1984 and 1986) and represented Ireland in many Formula Ford races.

The Citroen C4 range went on sale in the UK. It was designed to be the successor to the Citroën Xsara and was mechanically similar to the Peugeot 308, which was launched in 2007.

Citroen C4 (2004)

Cosworth Racing was sold to Champ Car World Series owners Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven, who renamed Cosworth Racing to Cosworth.

Super Aguri announced that Anthony Davidson would be joining Takuma Sato at the team for the 2007 F1 season. Davidson had been a Honda test driver for the last few seasons after making his F1 debut in 2002 when he drove two grands prix for Minardi with a one-off race for Honda in 2004. "This is a great opportunity for me and I'm really excited about my first full season as a race driver," said Davidson. Continue Reading →

BMW announced the start of production of the BMW Hydrogen 7, the world’s first hydrogen-powered luxury saloon car.

BMW Hydrogen 7 engine.

Bernie Ecclestone, under fire after dismissing racial abuse of Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona earlier in the year as "a bit of a joke", called for anyone found guilty of the offence to be banned from the sport for life. "I want you to know that I'm not a racist,' Ecclestone told the Mail on Sunday."It came out wrong. Continue Reading →