Like Old Race Cars?

[Steve_S]

Steve, That's a great picture! Wouldn't that be great hanging in the den!

Next best thing, I turned it black and white and use it as my computer desktop background. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[coldplugs]

John, is that video still available somewhere? Or is it from your personal collection?

I was about to offer you a copy via a PM but it occurred to me that I should check YouTube. If you query Napier and/or Brooklands you'll find all sorts of things.

This one is better than what I have. Many are very short and not too good, but there are a few gems in there.

 

[Bugeye58]

Here are a couple from McKinleyville, courtesy of Doug.
Jeff

 

[Bugeye58]

And an old poster from Waterford Hills.
Jeff

 

[PAUL161]

John, is that video still available somewhere? Or is it from your personal collection?

I was about to offer you a copy via a PM but it occurred to me that I should check YouTube. If you query Napier and/or Brooklands you'll find all sorts of things.

This one is better than what I have. Many are very short and not too good, but there are a few gems in there.

Thanks a bunch John! Great site!

I just put the site in my favorites list.

Steve, It's amazing how changing a photo to B&L will give it a totally different perspective. It seems to put it more in the period of time it's displaying. Cool!

 

[budk1953]

I remember going to the Alycon in Pitman, NJ as a kid.
Here's a link to some NJ racetracks
NJ tracks

 

[PAUL161]

I remember going to the Alycon in Pitman, NJ as a kid.
Here's a link to some NJ racetracks
NJ tracks

Thanks for posting the NJ sites. Wall stadium, I remember it well as a kid in the early 50s. Parker Bohn, Gill Hearne and others, bring back many fond memories. We lived up there when I was a kid and we went to a lot of races. Strange as it may seem, Gill Hearne and I worked together in heavy construction, while still in our younger years before moving south. It's a shame that they never listed the old Atco Speedway, near Atco, NJ. To get your prize money after the races, you had to stop by and go in the bar on the entrance road. Some took a long time to come out.

 

[Twosheds]

The Napier-Railton has long been a favorite of mine. Understandable since it's aero-engined and I'm an Aviation Middle-aged...uh, Fellow. I would love to see and hear it run at full chat! Must have been a handful to drive, though.

Now that you reminded me of the car, I'm going to look for the movie in which it starred, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman.

I also think it must have been cool to drive it to test aircraft-stopping parachutes! Probably the only car they could get that had the required mass and speed to give the parachutes a real test.

 

[Simon TR4a]

I think Frank Lockhart was well known for his attempts on the Land Speed record. I didn't Google him but I think he was killed in a supercharged Miller; died very young IIRC.

 

[budk1953]

Here's another link to some old tracks
Memories

Check out the homepage when your done

 

[Twosheds]

Sort of along the lines of closed tracks is Cumberland, Maryland Airport; however, the story of auto competition there isn't over.

Cumberland Airport hosted SCCA racing for one weekend per year starting in 1953. Many famous drivers and cars appeared there. Racing ceased at the airport in 1970. The airport has remained open to aviation. SCCA racing in this area found a home only at Summit Point, West Virginia, as Marlboro closed about 1970 also. Cumberland and Summit Point both had races in 1970.

In 2000, competitive driving returned to Cumberland Airport in the form of autocross. National Road Motorsports has been running a series of six events per year. The taxiways and ramps allow a wide-open course layout that is reminiscent of the old road racing course, although on a different part of the airport. Not much in the way of British car participation, although Alex and Linda Redding are usually there in her Black Tulip MGB/GT. Lots of Pork Chops, Corvettes (Dr. Mike McCagh's Farm Use '58 is fun to watch) and Cobra kits come out to play.

Maybe some day wheel-to-wheel racing will return to Cumberland Airport. In the meantime, there's autocross.

So I guess this is a case of a closed track that has re-opened.

Check out the Photo Archives year by year from '53 to '70: https://www.nationalroadrally.com/photo/

There is a photo from '63 that shows John Luke and his wife, Peggy, changing a tire on a TR3. Luke was the first driver my brother crewed for.

 

[Brooklands]

I think Frank Lockhart was well known for his attempts on the Land Speed record. I didn't Google him but I think he was killed in a supercharged Miller; died very young IIRC.

Actually Frank Lockhart has been a topic on discussion on the Racing History forum at Yahoo.

Author Tom Saal posted: According to the late Myron Stevens who built the
body for the car and told the late Ernie Holden who
told me 20+ years ago, the fatal Lockhart beach car
crash happened when a tire blew, an untested off-brand
that Lockhart used because they paid him to run them.

Author Gordon White posted: My aerodynamic friends have postulated that the Lockhart car, wheel pants included, had the aerodynamic center ahead of the center of gravity and that once off-line the car was unstable. You can see this in any vehicle on which the front is higher than the rear. Look for example at my Kurtis midget: the tail is higher than the nose and the car wants to weathercock into the apparent wind, keeping it straight.
Look at a highboy '32 roadster, with that large hood and virtually no body aft of the rear wheels. When it gets even slightly off-line the wind grabs the front end and it spins. You can see this going on at Bonneville every year.

And yes, he died soon after his 25th birthday when attempting a Land Speed Record at Daytona Beach in 1928.

 

[PAUL161]

I think Frank Lockhart was well known for his attempts on the Land Speed record. I didn't Google him but I think he was killed in a supercharged Miller; died very young IIRC.

Frank Lockhart in his younger years.

And just before his death at Daytona.

Simon, Frank Lockhart was killed at Daytona in 1928 driving his new record setter, the Lockhart Stutz Blackhawk. He designed the car and reached a speed of 225 MPH on the beach at Daytona. (Remember, this is 1928)! On a return run and running about 225 MPH they think a tire hit a rut in the sand, the car went out of control throwing him from the car and killing him instantly. Here's a small photo of him in the car at Daytona and a model of the car showing a better view of it's lines. The last photo is the car after the fatal crash.

Frank Lockhart was one of the best race car drivers and designers ever known. I believe he was inducted into the hall of fame in 1990. If that's the case, it took a long time for them to recognize this racing genius.