On This Day

Isaac Babbitt (62), the inventor in 1839 of the anti-friction metal that bears his name and is essential in modern breaking bearing technology, died.

The Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company was organised.

Marcel Renault, age 31, died without regaining consciousness, 48 hours after crashing on the opening day of the Paris to Madrid race. After another deadly crash, the race was cancelled at the end of the first leg from Paris to Bordeaux, and the era of city-to-city races came to an end. The Paris Races were started in 1897 as a way for manufacturers to show off their cars. Continue Reading →

Marcel Renault

Vauxhall Bridge, a steel arched bridge for road and foot traffic, crossing the River Thames in a north-west south-east orientation, between Lambeth Bridge and Grosvenor Bridge, in central London was opened by the Prince of Wales.

Vauxhall Bridge, London

The world's first 24-hour race, the Endurance Derby staged at the Point Breeze dirt track in Philadelphia, L US concluded with winners J L Brown an Robert Maynes-who covered 791 miles in their Autocar at an average speed of just under 33 mph.

Cyril Snipe of England with co-driver Pedrini in a SCAT became the first non-Italian winners of the Targa Florio. They completed the 965 kilometre course around the island of Sicily in 24 hours 37 minutes 39 seconds. Snipe defeated a field of 26 cars, including Lancia, Isotta-Fraschini, Fiat and Alfa. Continue Reading →

Snipe in his SCAT at the 1912 Targa Florio

The first 24 Hours of Le Mans, organised by the Automobile Club de L’Ouest, began. The race traditionally starts at 4 p.m. Continue Reading →

24 Hours of Le Mans - 1923

Henry Ford and his son Edsel drove the 15 millionth Model T Ford out of their factory, marking the famous automobile’s official last day of production. More than any other vehicle, the relatively affordable and efficient Model T was responsible for accelerating the automobile’s introduction into American society during the first quarter of the 20th century. Introduced in October 1908, the Model T—also known as the “Tin Lizzie”—weighed some 1,200 pounds, with a 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine. Continue Reading →

This picture shows Henry Fords first car he made called "The Quadricycle" with his fifteenth million Model T manufactured in his company.

Three spectators died and many more were injured at the Lückendorf hillclimb, Germany when Ernst Mahla's Bugatti left the road.

The Ford Rotunda designed by Albert Kahn opened at the Chicago Century of Progress exposition.

The 3,000,000th Ford V-8 was produced.

The Battle of the Overpass took place in which labor organizers clashed with Ford Motor Company security guards at the River Rouge Plant complex in Dearborn, Metro-Detroit, Michigan. The United Auto Workers had planned a leaflet campaign entitled, "Unionism, Not Fordism", at the pedestrian overpass over Miller Road at Gate 4 of the River Rouge Plant complex. Demanding an $8 (equivalent to $132 today) six-hour day for workers, in contrast to the $6 (equivalent to $99 today) eight-hour day then in place, the campaign was planned for shift change time, with an expected 9,000 workers both entering and leaving the plant. Continue Reading →

UAW leaders Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen following the Battle of the Overpass at the Ford Rouge Plant.

Adolf Hitler laid the cornerstone for the Volkswagen factory in Fallersleben, Germany. He gave a speech, in which he named the car Kraft durch Freude-Wagen ("Strength Through Joy Car", usually abbreviated to KdF-Wagen). The name refers to Kraft durch Freude ('Strength Through Joy'), the official leisure organization of the Third Reich. Continue Reading →

Hitler's KDF 'people's car' project

Edsel Ford, president (49) of the Ford Motor Company, died. He worked closely with his father, as sole heir to the business, but was keen to develop cars more exciting than the Model T ("Tin Lizzie"), in line with his personal tastes. Even as president, he had trouble persuading the older man to allow any departure from this formula. Continue Reading →

Edsel Ford

UK government announced an end to petrol rationing.

Stirling Moss led every lap in driving his Vanwall to victory in the 75 lap Dutch Grand Prix on the 2.6 mile Zandvoort circuit. Moss crossed the line 47. Continue Reading →

Jaguar Cars Ltd acquired the Daimler Motor Company Ltd of Coventry, England.

Karl Friedrich Rapp (80), the founder and owner of the Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH in Munich, died. In time this company became BMW AG. He is acknowledged by BMW AG as an indirect founder of the company.

Karl Friedrich Rapp

Graham Hill driving a BRM P57 won the Monaco Grand Prix

Lotus driver Graham Hill, who started from pole position, won the Monaco Grand Prix. Richard Attwood, driving for BRM, gained second place and recorded the fastest lap, while Lucien Bianchi finished in third position in a Cooper, in what was to be these drivers' only podium finishes. Johnny Servoz-Gavin took the lead from Hill at the start, while Bruce McLaren took out the other Lotus of Jackie Oliver at the chicane on the first lap. Continue Reading →

Monaco Grand Prix - 1968

Paul Hawkins (31) was killed when his Lola T70 crashed during the Tourist Trophy race at Oulton Park, England.

The Mercedes-Benz ESF-03, the first of five special cars to accent safety features, was unveiled to the public.

At the Santa Pod Raceway Whitsun Holiday Weekend Big Go, Allan Herridge in 'Stardust' ran the first funny car six with a 6.87second pass.

In the midst of an energy crisis, and as an infield of hippies stormed the track, Johnny Rutherford came from the 25th starting position, deepest in the field since 1933, to record his first victory in the Indianapolis 500. During the month, as a gesture to the energy crisis, time trials were trimmed from four days down to two, and several days of practice were either reduced by several hours or eliminated outright. The race was also scheduled on Sunday for the first time, thereby ending the "never-on-a-Sunday" policy that had dated to 1911. Continue Reading →

Johnny Rutherford - 1974

In the Monaco Grand Prix, Lotus driver, Ronnie Peterson set the fastest lap of the race, coming from his third place starting position to win in a time of 1:58:03. Jody Scheckter in his Tyrrell was 28 seconds back after starting fifth. JP Jarier was third with his Shadow, he started sixth. Continue Reading →

Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz models were introduced.

A J Foyt made it to his 30th Indianapolis 500 as he got his sluggish Indy-car to start. Following the race, he announced that he would retire from auto racing after the 1987 Indy race. And he did.

Dave Darland won the Hulman Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Buddy Lazier won the Indianapolis 500 at an average speed of 147.956 mph.

Jimmy Vasser won the inaugural CART US 500 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, US.

The 13 mile long M2 Hills Motorway (also known as the Hills M2 Motorway, M2 Motorway or simply M2), a motorway in north-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which utilises electronic tolling, opened to traffic. It forms part of Sydney Metroad 2 and the 110 km Sydney Orbital Motorway network. West of Pennant Hills Road, the M2 forms part of the National Highway.

M2 Hills Motorway, Australia

Vittorio Brambilla (63), a Formula One driver from Italy who raced for the March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo teams,died. The Italian F3 Champion of 1972 moved through F2 into F1 in 1974. His moment came in Austria when he scored the March factory teamís first-ever championship Grand Prix win in pouring rain at the Osterreichring. Continue Reading →

Vittorio Brambilla

Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire, England the first purpose built race track in the UK since Brooklands, was opened by the Queen. It has 13 configurations of track, which can be used for anything from touring cars to motorcycles to rally cars. Rockingham Motor Speedway was constructed on a British Steel works brown field site as a banked oval with the intention of bringing the American oval racing across the Atlantic for the first time. Continue Reading →

Rockingham Motor Speedway

14 died in the I-40 Bridge disaster on Interstate 40, near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, US when a barge collided with a bridge support, causing a 580-foot section of the bridge to plunge into the Arkansas River.

I-40 Bridge diaster

Helio Castroneves won the 86th Indianapolis 500, becoming the first driver to win back-to-back Indy 500’s since Al Unser in 1970 and 1971. Castroneves was the first driver to win the “500” in each of his first two starts.

David Coulthard sat on pole and held off Michael Schumacher to win the Monaco Grand Prix in a time of 1:45:39, only 1.05 seconds in front of Schumacher. Ralf Schumacher was third in the Williams after starting second. Continue Reading →

Marcos Engineering Ltd ("Marcos") announced the new 5.7 litre V8 Marcos TSO roadcar, capable of 185 mph. It featured a Chevrolet V8 engine in either 350 bhp (260 kW) or 400 bhp (300 kW) versions. Continue Reading →

Marcos TSO

The £75,000 mid-engined Noble M14 was unveiled at the Birmingham Motor Show in the West Midlands. It had 400 bhp (298 kW; 406 PS) at 6,100 rpm from a highly modified version of Ford's 3.0 litre (2,968 cc) V6 using a six-speed manual transmission and twin turbochargers. Continue Reading →

Noble M14

A crashed fuel tanker leaked patrol onto a roadway in Tega, Benin, which exploded as local people tried to collect it, killing between 54 and 75.

American actress, model and pop singer Lindsay Lohan lost control of her car and ran the vehicle up a curb. Beverly Hills police also found a "usable" amount of cocaine in her car and the police lab detected cocaine in her blood. After receiving treatment for minor injuries, Lohan was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. Continue Reading →

Lindsay Lohan

Israel's trailblazing electric car company Better Place announced that it was shutting down, less than six years after unveiling an ambitious plan that promised to revolutionize the auto industry by reducing the world's dependency on oil. On July 10 an Israeli court allowed a consortium of Better Place car owners and entrepreneurs to purchase the company’s assets for under $12 million.

China's government announced plans to take 6 million older, polluting vehicles off the road in 2014 in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities.