On This Day

A Fiat made its first competition appearance in the Turin-Pinerolo-Cuneo-Turin race.

The Thousand Mile Trial began, the most ambitious motoring event ever staged in Great Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria. Organised by the RAC, with aims of letting people up and down the country motor cars, and proving that these devices could travel great distances without breaking down too often. The event started in London with a static exhibition from 14th-21st April, and on this day sixty five vehicles started for Edinburgh via Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Carlisle on the outward leg and Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham on the way back, with static displays, hillclimbs and a speed contest in Welbeck Park en route. Continue Reading →

1000 Mile Trial of 1900

The Pennsylvania (US) General Assembly required all motor vehicles not registered with a city or municipality to register with a county official.

In a 200 hp Benz, Bob Burman, with a flying start, established a world record average speed of 141.72 mph (228.1 km/h) over a mile distance at Daytona Beach, Florida. This record stood until 1924.

Bob Burman - Benz - 1911

Dow Jones Services announced the pending introduction of a new car by the Chrysler Corporation, the DeSoto.

Almost exactly two years since the first Volvo car was produced, the company launched its second model, the 55 hp Volvo PV651 – PV stood for Private Vehicle while the number 651 indicated 6 cylinder, 5-seater, and was the first of the series.The new car had a stronger chassis to cope with the more powerful engine. The bodywork was manufactured in the traditional way, with a wooden frame covered with steel plates. Continue Reading →

Volvo PV651

Chet Gardner won the 150 mile AAA Pacific Coast Championship race on the 1 mile dirt Oakland Speedway, California, US.

The first Grand Prix where grid positions were decided by practice time rather than the established method of balloting was held at the Circuit de Monaco. Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari exchanged the lead many times during the race. Varzi won the race on the final lap when Nuvolari's car caught fire due to over-revving.

Lou Meyer won a 151 mile Stock Car race held on a 1.385 mile dirt road course in and around the Legion Ascot Speedway, California. Meyer averaged 51.33 mph in a Ford.

Legion Ascot Speedway

The Cork International Road Race held at Corrigrohane, the only important race to be run in Eire, was won by René Dreyfus in a Delahaye 145 at 92.5 mph.

The Vespa scooter was granted a patent for a "motorcycle of a rational complexity of organs and elements combined with a frame with mudguards and a casing covering the whole mechanical part", that started the line of iconic Vespa scooters into production, starting with the Vespa 98. The basic patented design allowed a series of features to be deployed on the spar-frame that would later allow quick development of new models. The original Vespa featured a rear pillion seat for a passenger, or optionally a storage compartment. Continue Reading →

Vespa 98

The 1,000,000th Packard was produced.

Johnnie Parsons won the 100 mile AAA Championship race on the 1 & 1/16 mile dirt Arlington Downs horse track. Even though he was not of legal age, having just turned 19 in March, Troy Ruttman made his AAA Championship debut by using an altered birth certificate.

Johnnie Parsons

The Abarth 1500 Biposto (Bertone) coupe, an experimental coupe designed by Franco Scaglione, who worked for Bertone at the time, was unveiled at the Turin Auto Show. It featured a futuristic design consisting of a central headlight, similar to the earlier Tucker Torpedo, and fins at the rear. Following the Turin Show, it was purchased by Packard and brought to Detroit, where it was used for design inspiration. Continue Reading →

Abarth 1500 Bertone coupe - 1952

The last Allstate automobile was produced. The Allstate was an American automobile offered for sale through the Allstate auto accessory chain of Sears, Roebuck during the 1952 and 1953 model years. The car was basically a Kaiser Henry J. Continue Reading →

Leyland Motors’ £18 million offer for Standard Triumph was accepted by the majority of the car company’s shareholder.

Ned Jarrett outran a pair of Pettys to win the Greenville 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina, US. Jarrett snagged the lead in the 140th lap and led the rest of the way in the 200-lap main event on the half-mile dirt track. Lee Petty finished second, five seconds behind the winner, with his son, Richard, in third. Continue Reading →

Ned Jarrett

Bruce McLaren driving a Cooper-Climax T55 won the Lavant Cup at Goodwood.

Bruce McLaren

Rex White drove the Louis Clements Chevy to his 4th win of the season in the rain shortened NASCAR GN race at Bowman-Gray Stadium, North Carolina, US. Rain stopped the race after 108 of the scheduled 200 laps had been run on the 1/4 mile paved oval. Jack Smith was 2nd.

During the 10th Glover Trophy, won by Graham Hill, held at the Goodwood race track, Stirling Moss suffered serious injury at the wheel of his Lotus Climax, cutting short his racing career. On emerging from a 38 day coma, Sir Stirling found he had partial paralysis of his left side. Although he made a full recovery, he felt his reactions were no longer fast enough for racing.

Stirling Moss - Goodwood - 1962

The 22nd Pau Grand Prix, a non-Championship race run to Formula One rules, over 100 laps of a street circuit in Pau, was won by Maurice Trintignant in a Lotus 18/21.

The Peugeot 204, known in development as Project B12, was launched in Paris, France. It used a front-wheel drive layout with a single overhead cam 1130 cc petrol engine (the maximum allowed for the 6CV 'car tax' class in France) and became the best-selling car in France from 1969 to 1971.

Peugeot 204

John Cannon drove actor Dan Blocker's Vinegaroon Special Genie-Olds to victory in the United States Road Racing Championship Sports Car race at Stardust International Raceway, Las Vegas, US. Pole sitter Jerry Grant just made the grid after Dan Gurney fixed an oil leak on the All-American Racers Lola-Gurney/Weslake/Ford. When the green fell on the 90 degree day, Grant and Charlie Hayes took off from the field. Continue Reading →

Mark Donohue drove Roger Penske's Lola-Chevy to an easy victory in the 180 mile United States Road Racing Championship Sports Car race on the 3 mile Stardust International Raceway, Nevada. Mechanical trouble sidelined Frank Matich, Jerry Titus and Bob Bondurant before the start. George Follmer jumped into the lead at the start with Donohue moving from row 2 into 2nd. Continue Reading →

Richard Petty benefited from Cale Yarborough's misfortune to win the NASCAR GN 'Virginia 500' at Martinsville Speedway, Virginia, US. Yarborough was 4.5 seconds ahead of Petty when he hit oil from "Big" John Sears blown engine and tapped the wall. Continue Reading →

Darel Dieringer and Richard Petty lead the charge in 1967 Virginia 500

Mario Andretti drove his Ford powered Brawner-Hawk to victory in the 150 mile USAC Championship race on the 1 mile paved Trenton Speedway, New Jersey, US. Andretti led every lap of the race and lost his only serious challenger when A.J. Continue Reading →

Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari finish 1-2 on Ducatis at Monza, Italy, to win the first F750 motorcycle race in Europe.

Gary Bettenhausen drove his Penske to victory in the 200 mile USAC Championship race on the 1.5 mile kidney shaped Trenton Speedway, New Jersey, US.

The third Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run, an unofficial, if not outlawed automobile race from New York City to Los Angeles started. It won by a Ferrari Dino.

Gordon Johncock won the USAC Trenton 200 in a Wildcat-DGS. This was the final USAC Championship victory for an Offenhauser based engine.

Open-wheel racing suffered a tragedy from which it never fully recovered when a chartered plane carrying eight United States Auto Club officials slammed into a ploughed field near the small community of Arlington, Indiana, US. The group was returning to Indianapolis from the Gabriel 200 USAC/Citicorp National Championship race in Trenton, New Jersey., when the 10-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain went down during a severe thunderstorm shortly before 10 p. Continue Reading →

The FIA ruled that the Lotus 88 "twin chassis" F1 car was illegal, though the rules did not exclude it. The 88 used an ingenious system of having a twin chassis, one inside the other. The inner chassis would hold the cockpit and would be independently sprung from the outer one, which was designed to take the pressures of the ground effects. Continue Reading →

Lotus 88 "twin chassis" F1 car - 1981

The Standard Oil Company of Indiana (US) was reorganised as the Amoco Corporation

Alec Ullman (82), organiser of the first Sebring (Florida) races in 19560 and the first United States Grand Prix in 1959, died in Southampton, New York, US.

Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the media reported that Chrysler had paid $25 million for Lamborghini, which at the time was experiencing financial difficulties. Lamborghini was established in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916-1993), a wealthy Italian industrialist who made his fortune building tractors and air-conditioning systems, among other ventures. Lamborghini owned a variety of sports cars, including Ferraris. Continue Reading →

Lamborghini 400GT (1964)

At the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Ayrton Senna in his McLaren won from his pole position in a time of 1:26:51. His rival, teammate, Alain Prost was second after starting next to him. Alessandro Nannini in the Benetton, had a great drive from 7th on the grid to finish 3rd, though one lap down from Senna and Prost. Continue Reading →

Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Imola, 1989

The Smithsonian Institution acquired a Miller 91 Packard Cable Special 1500-cc race car with the intention of displaying it. Harry Miller was the first man to concentrate exclusively on building race cars for sale. While the Duesenberg name dominated American racing in the early '20s, it was Harry Miller that carried race design into its next era. Continue Reading →

Miller 91 Packard Cable Special Car

Ronnie Bucknum (56), an American racecar driver, and the first person to drive a Honda-engined car in Formula One died. He participated in 11 F1 Grand Prix’s and drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1967–1970 seasons with 23 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1968–1970.

Ronnie Bucknum

Ray Bellm and Maurizio Sandro Salo lead a McLaren F1 sweep of the top five positions in the BPR Global GT Endurance Series sports car race on the Nurburgring in Germany. In 1997 this series became the FIA GT Championship.

Ford sold 18.5% of its shares of Hertz, which were offered for public sale on the New York Stock Exchange.

A Generation III Subaru Legacy set a new world speed record for mass-produced turbocharged station wagons (1600 cc-2000 cc class), clocking 270.532 km/h (168.101 mph) over one kilometer on Highway 10 in La Junta, Colorado, US. This record was previously set by a Generation II Subaru Legacy in 1993 at 249.981 km/h.

The 55th British Grand Prix was held at the Silverstone. The race held over 60 laps of the 5.1-kilometre circuit was won by David Coulthard in front of his home crowd driving a McLaren MP4/15. The win was Coulthard's and McLaren's first win of the season and the first race not won by eventual 2000 world champion Michael Schumacher.

A steamroller fell off a truck, crushing a bus 70 miles north of Ufa, Russia, killing 14 people.

A dozen Peugeot 203 vehicles (together with other Peugeot models - 204, 403, 404) set off in the "Peugeot 2006 Round Australia Rerun". The event was organised by Graham Wallis of the Peugeot Car Club of Victoria to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Ampol Round Australia Trial. It was won by Wilf Murrell and Allan Taylor in a Peugeot 403 sedan after covering 12,000 miles of rugged Australian roads and tracks.

Michael Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix driving a Ferrari 248 F1. It was Schumacher's seventh victory at the San Marino Grand Prix, and his fifth win at Imola in six years. It is also the last time to date that the San Marino Grand Prix has been held.

Start - 2006 San Marino Grand Prix

Franco Guzzi, who at various times had been Enzo Ferrari's secretary, ghost writer, press officer, and motor sport director, died in Modena, Italy, at the age of 80.