On This Day

The first Sassi-Superga Hillclimb was staged near Turin, Italy was won by Vincenzo Lancia in a FIAT 24-hp, the marque's racing debut.

Pierre de Crawez drove his Panhard 70hp to victory in one of the first races run over a closed circuit (Ardennes Circuit) in Germany.

Pierre de Crawez - Ardennes Circuit - 1903

The Cole Motor Car Company was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, US by Joseph Jaret Cole. In 1904 Joseph J. Cole, formerly with the James Moon Buggy Company, who built the Moon Automobile, purchased the Gates-Osborne Buggy Co. Continue Reading →

The 75,000th Essex was produced, a 5-passenger, 2-door Coach.

'Volvo', which means 'I roll' in Latin, an appropriate name for the ball bearings from Swedish company, Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF), was officially registered as a brand name in Stockholm. Eleven years later in 1926, an SKF employee, Assar Gabrielsson, was eagerly campaigning the SKF board of directors to produce a Swedish car. Together with his friend Gustaf Larson, an engineer who had worked for Morris in England, they finally obtained SKF's go-ahead and financial backing, along with some factory space and the name Volvo. Continue Reading →

Volvo ÖV4 'Jakob'

Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston won the Le Mans 24-hour race in their Bentley Speed Six, the fourth consecutive win for the marque bin this event. Barnato, in his third and last appearance, recorded his third victory to complete a perfect record.

1930 Le Mans 24 Hours - 'Bentley Boys' Glen Kidston and Woolf Barnato celebrate victory

Lieutenant Sir Henry R. S. "Tim" Birkin (36), British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s, died. Continue Reading →

Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin

Ferdinand Porsche signed a contract with the Automobile Manufacturers Association of Germany (RDA) to build three prototype "people's cars" over a 10-month period. The contract was a direct result of Hitler's personal request to Porsche that he design such a car. The result, of course, was the Volkswagen. Continue Reading →

Ferdinand Porsche in front of a VW prototype W30, 1937

Sir Herbert Austin, Chairman of the Austin Motor Company Ltd, received the title of Baron from King Edward VII.

Powel Crosley Jr. presided over groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Crosley Motors Inc. factory in Richmond, Illinois, US.

(22nd - 23rd) The Porsche 356 scored its first international success in motor racing, winning the 1100-cc category in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This race saw the death of French driver Jean Larivière within the opening laps of the race.

Porsche 356

Three Jaguar C-types entered Le Mans, one driven by British drivers Stirling Moss and ‘Jolly’ Jack Fairman, one by fellow Britons Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead (a couple of gentleman farmers), and the other by Britain’s Leslie Johnson with Italian Clemente Biondetti. The Jaguars were an unknown quantity and the crowd were there were to watch the Ferraris, Talbots and Cunninghams. Moss set off at a great rate of knots, breaking the lap record and the opposition. Continue Reading →

Jaguar C-type

Alberto Ascari driving a Ferrari 500 claimed victory at the Belgian Grand Prix (F2) held over 36 laps of the 8.8 mile Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Mike Hawthorn made his major racing debut, finishing fourth in his Cooper-Bristol. The Aston-Butterworth made its debut, but the car driven by Robin Montgomerie-Charrington retired with mechanical problems.

Packard and Studebaker signed an agreement to merge the two companies.

Charles King (89), the first person in Detroit to design, build and drive a self-propelled automobile - 3 months before Henry Ford built his automobile, died. The Detroit Journal of March 7, 1896, reported that King drove his motor-powered vehicle down Woodward Avenue – being the first person in Detroit to build and drive such a vehicle. The Journal also reported that King made and sold the first complete automobile in Detroit.

Charles B. King 1893 first car design

Filming of staged racing sequences for the movie "Le Mans" began. The star of the film, Steve McQueen had intended to actually race a Porsche 917 together with Jackie Stewart, but the #26 entry was not accepted. Instead, in the movie, he was shown starting the race on the blue #20 Gulf-Porsche 917K, which in the real race was driven by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman. Continue Reading →

The 1,000,000th Ford Thunderbird was produced, a gold coupe, was sold to George Watts, owner of the oldest known Thunderbird, a black 1955 convertible.

The last Volvo 1800E sports coupe was produced.

Volvo 1800E

James Hunt won the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. It was the first Grand Prix win for Hunt and only Grand Prix win for Hesketh Racing.

James Hunt

Louis Chiron (79), the oldest driver who has ever taken part in a Formula One Grand Prix, aged 58 years, died. The son of the maitre díhotel at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, Chiron was born in the Principality in 1899 and received a ride in a Type 35 Bugatti funded by Alfred Hoffmann. He promptly beat the works teams at the Grand Prix du Comminges, before joining the Bugatti works-team for a few successful years, most notably winning his home Grand Prix in Monaco in 1931. Continue Reading →

Louis Chiron

Jimmy Hensley got past Tommy Houston with 20 laps left and led the rest of the way to win the Kroger 200 for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park (US). Hensley, who posted the third of his nine career wins in the series, was nine seconds ahead of Houston at the finish in the caution-free race. Larry Pearson took third as the first driver one lap down on the .686-mile oval.

Rising star Ayrton Senna started on pole at the Detroit Grand Prix and came away with a hard-earned win, the fourth of his career. The young Brazilian in his Lotus-Renault 98T charged through the field after dropping to eighth with a deflating tyre for his first US Grand Prix victory. The race saw six lead changes among five drivers, and the victory for Senna began a streak that would see him take five United States Grand Prix wins in six years.

(22-23rd): Nine NASCAR drivers conducted a tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first official NASCAR test in the track’s history. The following drivers participated: Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Ernie Irvan, Davey Allison and Kyle Petty. The top speed of the test was 168.767 mph by Elliott on June 23.

In the closest finish in CART history - 0.027 seconds - Mark Blundell won the Budweiser G.I. Joe"s 200 at Portland, Oregon. The win was Blundell's first in CART.

"The Fast and the Furious", a crime drama based in the underground world of street racing in Southern California, debuted in theatres across the United States. In the film, directed by Rob Cohen, Paul Walker starred as Brian O'Connor, an undercover cop who infiltrates the illegal late-night racing scene in Los Angeles to catch a gang suspected of hijacking big-rig trucks to get the parts to outfit their souped-up cars. Despite mixed reviews from critics, "The Fast and the Furious" was an unexpected hit at the box office, spawning three sequels.

On the 71st lap of the Dodge/Save Mart 350, Kevin Harvick was leading Robby Gordon when a caution came out for a crash at a different part of the track. Gordon kept charging (racing back to the caution), and passed Harvick in Turn 7, taking the lead before they crossed the start/finish line. Harvick called it a "chicken move" and Jeff Gordon said "I could not believe it when I saw it" and called his passing under the yellow "unheard of. Continue Reading →

Robby Gordon-2003 Dodge Save-Mart 350

Five days after his 22nd birthday, Russian footballer Lenar Gilmullin died following a motorcycle accudent.

A bra and a pair of knickers were blamed for a flood and road collapse in County Durham. Northumbrian Water said the underwear was flushed down a toilet and caused a blockage in a sewage pipe in Middleton-St-George, near Darlington. Heavy rain, together with a build up of grease and fat, caused the pipe to burst and the road above to collapse. Continue Reading →

Bonhams auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex made over £6.1 million, making it the most successful in the festival’s history. The ‘star’ car was a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider, which fetched an incredible £1.4 million. The Alfa, equipped with a supercharged 2.3-litre, 8-cylinder engine, is capable of 115 mph.

1932 Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider

Tesla Motors delivered its first all electric sedan, the Model S, from its plant in Fremont, California.

Tesla Model S

Phil Billingham, Shannon Currie, Duncan Mackenzie, and Gerry Mulligan drove to 18 countries in 24 hours. They visited Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, and Holland.