On This Day

The Blanchard steam carriage was successfully tested in Springfield, Massachusetts by designer Thomas Blanchard.

The first car to be produced under the Mercedes name was taken for its inaugural drive in Cannstatt, Germany. The car was specially built for its buyer, Emil Jellinek, an entrepreneur with a passion for fast, flashy cars. Jellinek had commissioned the Mercedes car from the German company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft: it was lighter and sleeker than any car the company had made before, and Jellinek was confident that it would win races so handily that besotted buyers would snap it up. Continue Reading →

Emil Jellinek

Henry Ford and James Couzens established the Ford Manufacturing Company as a means of ousting Alexander Y. Malcomson from the Ford Motor Company.

The Hupp Motor Car Corporation acquired the American Gear Company of Jackson, Michigan, US converting the firm to the production of axles.

Enzo Ferrari made his racing debut driving a 3-litre CMN to third place in the first Parma-Berceto (Italy) race.

The first patent for a snowmobile was granted to Carl Eliason of Sayner, Wisconsin, US. His first working prototype had a front-mounted, liquid-cooled, 2.5-bhp Johnson outboard engine, slide-rail track guides, wooden cleats, rope-controlled steering skis, and running boards made out of two downhill skis. Continue Reading →

Eliason Snowmobiles

Tubeless tires were successfully tested by their developer, John B McGay of Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.

Umberto Maglioli won the final Carrera Panamerica road race through Mexico in a Ferrari.

Enzo Ferrari introduced the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. The car dominated its competitors, with variations winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, 1960, and 1961.

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa

Jim Paschall drove a Petty Engineering Plymouth to victory in the NASCAR Grand National race at Tar Heel Speedway in Randleman, North Carolina, USA.

William Clay Ford purchased the Detroit Lions professional American football team. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The team plays its home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit. Continue Reading →

John F Kennedy travelling in the presidential Lincoln Continental convertible was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was shot twice, and an hour after his death Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the crime. No serving US president has travelled in an open top car since. Continue Reading →

JFK assassination

The Saab 99 was premiered in Stockholm, Sweden. The first engine used in the original 99 was a four-cylinder in-line engine which was tilted at 45 degrees. The 1709 cc Triumph-sourced engine produced 87 PS (64 kW; 86 hp) at 5500 rpm. Continue Reading →

Ronnie Sox became the first person to run 140 mph (225.3 km/h) at the end of the 1/4-mile in an NHRA Pro Stock car when he ran 140.18 mph at Ontario, California, US.

Rock ’n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis was arrested for drink-driving after putting his Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow into a ditch near Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee (US).

Lee Iacocca, the CEO of the Chrysler Corporation, presided over the largest swearing-in ceremony for new U.S. citizens in American history. Continue Reading →

Lee Iacocca

Stan Fox won the last race ever held at the legendary Ascot Park dirt track, located near Gardena in Los Angeles, California. The track opened in 1957, as Los Angeles Speedway, on the site of a former city dump.With seating for only 7,500, Ascot Park was smaller than the other tracks of the area including the Ontario Motor Speedway (closed in 1980), and the Riverside International Raceway (closed in 1989). Continue Reading →

Ascot Park (Speedway)

Colin McRae became the first ever British driver to win a World Rally Championship title. With co-driver Derek Ringer, he won the Network Q RAC Rally ahead of chief rival and teammate Carlos Sainz, with new boy Richard Burns taking the third podium spot for a Subaru 1-2-3. By beating Sainz, McRae had done exactly what he needed to win the world title, following a season in which Sainz had started with much stronger results. Continue Reading →

Colin McRae celebrates his World Rally Championship - 1995

Longtime Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Bob Laycock Sr. died of natural causes at the age of 81.

The last MG RV8 was produced in Cowley, England. The MG RV8 was a hugely important step in the 1990s rebirth of its maker after more than a decade of saloon and hatchback-only production. Since Abingdon's closure in 1980, MG had been reserved for the Metro, Maestro and Montego - and although these cars were worthy, what enthusiasts really wanted was a new MG roadster. Continue Reading →

MG RV8

Ford joined the US Postal Service to celebrate the issue of a special stamp honouring the Ford Mustang. The first American “pony” car was chosen for the stamp, which depicts the original 1964½ Mustang, in public balloting as one of the most enduring U.S. symbols of the 20th century.

In a ceremony in Oxford, TV Inspector Morse’s classic red Jaguar was presented to James Went after he won it in a competition organised by Carlton Television and Woolworths. He was handed the keys by Colin Dexter, the creator of Morse. The 2.4-litre, four-door-saloon model, when first introduced in October 1959, had retailed at £1,534.

Inspector Morse

The Prost Grand Prix team were placed into receivership by a French court but vowed to fight on and make it to the grid for the opening race in 2002. Prost failed to secure funding to ease the team's spiralling debts, which were estimated at $30 million. Founder Alain Prost said: "I'm still very motivated and excited about this project." The team eventually folded on the eve of the 2002 season.

McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz set a new track record behind the wheel of an interim MP4/16 at the Circuit de Catalunya. The Austrian was a second quicker than team-mate David Coulthard in a MP4/17 and 1.2s faster than German Nick Heidfeld in a new Sauber C21.

British Formula 3000 driver Sam Haddock (23), announced his intention to raise £1.75 million to fund his F1 ambitions by selling shares in himself. Those who invested more than £10,000 were offered the chance to become founder members of Hancock VIP, a service allowing special access to the young driver and events organised around his schedule. The venture, like Haddock's own racing ambitions, never got off the ground.

Motor Trend magazine named the Honda Civic as 2006 Car of the Year.

Honda Civic brochure 2005

For a man whose career involves driving at high speed in one of the most dangerous sports, there was a certain irony that Mark Webber had to be airlifted to hospital after being knocked off his bike in a charity ride during the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge. Webber, who had trained with Lance Armstrong, was involved in a head-on collision with a four-wheel drive vehicle. He had to have a pin inserted in a broken leg.