On This Day

The White Sewing Machine Company was organised. The firm as it evolved would later make White cars and trucks.

The Roots Oil Motor & Motor Car Company Ltd., was registered in London, England by J D Roots to manufacture Roots & Veneables motorcars. The first three-wheeled vehicle was presented in 1897. Continue Reading →

The Paris-Amsterdam race organised by the Automobile Club de France began and was the first occasion when a major motor race crossed an international border. Held over 7 days and covering 890 miles, the race was won by Frenchman Fernand Charron driving a Panhard et Levassor for 33 hours at an average speed of 26.82 mph over unsurfaced roads.

Paris-Amsterdam road race (1898)

The first fatal accident at a Grand Prix occurred during the French Grand Prix at Dippe, when Ciassac and his riding mechanic Schaube were killed after their Panhard crashed after a front tyre blew. “Pits” entered motoring terminology at this Grand Prix when a divided trench with a counter just above ground level was provided for team crews, although inappropriate in that structures above ground-level were subsequently used, the term has stuck. The race was won by Christian Lautenschlager in a Mercedes.

Corner at the 1908 French Grand Prix at Dieppe.

The Ford Motor Company was reorganised as a Delaware corporation with Edsel Ford as company president. The reorganization was the last step in Henry Ford's drive to gain 100% of the company's stock for his family. He borrowed heavily in order to buy out the minority shareholders. Continue Reading →

Edsel Ford

The Chrysler Plymouth made its debut at Madison Square Garden, New York City, US, with Amelia Earhart (who had just become the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic) behind the wheel. It was billed as 'A New Zenith of Low Priced Car-Luxury and Performance.' The name Plymouth was chosen as a symbol of 'the endurance and strength, the rugged honesty, enterprise and determination of achievement and freedom from old limitations of the Pilgrim band who were the first American colonists,' at Plymouth Rock, MA. Continue Reading →

American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.

First Plymouth automobile - 1928

The Chrysler Corporation held a private showing for the new DeSoto marque, at the time existing as only a single prototype. time existing as only a single prototype. Chrysler's unveiling immediately attracted 500 dealers. Continue Reading →

DeSoto convertible - 1929

The Tucker 48 was shown in an exclusive preview at the Hotel Statler in Washington DC. Only 51 cars were made before the company folded on March 3, 1949, due to negative publicity initiated by the news media, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and a heavily publicized stock fraud trial (in which allegations were proven baseless in court with a full acquittal). Speculation exists that the Big Three automakers and Michigan senator Homer S. Continue Reading →

Tucker 48

Juan Manuel Fangio won the French Grand Prix in a Maserati 250F. The shared drive of Mike MacDowel (30 laps) and Jack Brabham (38 laps) in a Cooper-Climax came in seventh.

Joseph F. Merkel, designer/manufacturer of the 1905-1907 Merkel automobile and the Flying Merkel motorcycle, died in Rochester, New York. In 1897, Merkel accepted a draftsman position at E. Continue Reading →

Elmo Langley landed his second and final win in NASCAR’s premier series, at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia, US. Langley, who led 231 of the 400 laps, was seven laps ahead of runner-up John Sears at the finish. James Hylton took third. Continue Reading →

Jo Schlesser (40) died during the French Grand Prix after only two laps, after his car slid wide at the Six Frères corner and crashed sideways into a bank. The magnesium-bodied Honda and 58 laps worth of fuel ignited instantly, leaving Schlesser with no chance of survival. As a result, Honda withdrew from Formula One at the end of the 1968 season after Surtees again refused to drive the car at the Italian Grand Prix.

Jo Schlesser

Nikki Lauda's pole at the French Grand Prix was the fastest lap in the Formula One's history. He completed the 2.044 mile Dujon circuit in just 58. Continue Reading →

Ronnie Peterson takes his first ever win at the 1973 French Grand Prix

"The Spy Who Loved Me," starring Roger Moore as the suave super spy James Bond, known for his love of fast cars and dangerous women, had its London premiere. The film features one of the most memorable Bond cars of all time, a sleek, powerful Lotus Esprit sports car that does double duty as a submarine.

Sammy Miller won the £5000 prize for Europe’s first 300mph terminal speed at the Summer International Meeting at the Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire, England. After a 4.68/245 shakedown run and a 4.43/265 when he inadvertently hit the chutes after a bumpy top end ride, he ran 4.20seconds with a terminal speed of 307.6mph.

Nelson Piquet won the French Grand Prix driving a Brabham BT54-BMW. It turned out to be the Brabham team's last victory in Formula One. It was also the first Grand Prix victory since their return to Formula One for Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli. Continue Reading →

Part-time driver Hendrick driver Greg Sacks won the Pepsi 400 pole position. But in post-qualifying inspection, NASCAR officials determined that the Hendricks team's engines had an unapproved "floating block" in the intake manifold sitting under the restrictor plate. NASCAR officials required the team to weld the block in place for race day, which effectively robbed the engine of horsepower. Continue Reading →

1990 Pepsi 400 'The Big One'

The first French Grand Prix to be held at the new Magny Cours venue, was won by Nigel Mansell in a Williams-Renault FW14.

A bus plunged into a river in Liuzhou, Guangxi province killing all 78 aboard.

Eight weeks to the day after Adam Petty's crash, NASCAR Winston Cup driver Kenny Irwin (30) was killed in the same turn on the same race track in Loudon, New Hampshire, during practice for the thatlook.com 300. Irwin's car hit the concrete wall and flipped on its roof. Both Irwin's and Petty's crashes at the speedway are blamed on a stuck accelerator that prevented the drivers from slowing down.

Kenny Irwin

Less than five months after Dale Earnhardt's death in the Daytona 500, NASCAR returned to Daytona International Speedway. Much to the delight of the crowd, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. dominated most of the Pepsi 400. Continue Reading →

Dale Earnhardt Jr.- 2001 Pepsi 400,

Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari F2002 won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Aston Martin celebrated a significant moment when the 1000th V12 Vanquish came off line at its Newport Pagnell facility.

Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

Proton purchased a 57.57% stake of the motorcycle manufacturers, MV Agusta S.p.A of Italy, valued at €70 million. Proton failed to reverse the misfortunes of MV Agusta and finally sold the marque to Gevi S.p.A in December 2005 for €1, with Gevi assuming the €139.44 million debt carried over from MV Agusta.‪

Colin Fallows established a British land-speed record of 300.3 mph driving the jet dragster Vampire at RAF Fairford. At the same event Mark Newby drove his jet car Split Second to an MSA/FIA-accredited average speed of 338.74 mph with a peak of 362 mph, the fastest speed ever recorded in the UK. Since the car was unable to make a return run the one-way record remains an unofficial one.

Driver Colin Fallows in the Vampire car during a speed run at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire

The numberplate, M1, fetched £331,500 at auction, setting a new world record for the highest price paid for a car registration. A mystery bidder from the North West bought the plate as a birthday present for his six-year-old son. Bonhams auctioned M1 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed sale in Chichester. Continue Reading →

Officials with Sprint-Nextel and NASCAR announced that the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series would be renamed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008. Nextel was acquired by Sprint in late 2004.

The fourth Generation BMW M3 made its debut. Similar to the previous M3 generations that introduced a new engine, the fourth generation M3 did the same: the BMW S65 V8 engine. The engine produces 414 bhp (309 kW; 420 PS) at 8300 rpm, with peak torque of 295 lb·ft (400 N·m) at 3900 rpm. Continue Reading →

Fourth Generation BMW M3

Lewis Hamilton set Silverstone alight by qualifying on pole at the British Grand Prix, but was unable to follow up with victory the following day as he came home third.

John William "Jack" Odell, OBE (87) the English inventor of Matchbox toys and the engineer responsible for their unique design died. He joined with partners Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith to form Lesney Products. The company initially made small products for cars such as dashboards and doorhandles. Continue Reading →

Honda set a new Guinness World Record for ‘Lowest fuel consumption – all 24 contiguous EU countries (all cars),’ recording an average 2.82 liters per 100km (100.31mpg) over 13,498km (8,387 miles), in a 25 day drive across all 24 EU contiguous countries.