On this day in…
1860
164 years ago
Driving a three-wheeled steam carriage, the Earl of Caithness, accompanied by his wife and the Reverend William Ross, set out on a 146-mile journey over the mountainous terrain from Inverness to Barrogill Castle (now the Castle of Mey), near Thurso, Scotland Read more…
1900
124 years ago
The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company was established in Akron, Ohio, US Read more…
1917
107 years ago
The original General Motors Company founded as a New Jersey firm in 1908 was legally dissolved after all of its stock had been acquired by the newly formed General Motors Corporation Read more…
1924
100 years ago
Alfa Romeo, appearing in its first major race outside of Italy, became the first marque to win its initial grand prix event as Giuseppe Campari won the French Grand Prix in Lyon Read more…
1926
98 years ago
Milan switched to driving on the right, the last Italian town to do so Read more…
1926
98 years ago
London’s first set of traffic lights, a manually operated set of red, amber and green lights came into operation at the junction of St James and Piccadilly Read more…
1939
85 years ago
Brooklands race circuit in Surrey, England hosted its final race, thereby ending the track’s 32-year history Read more…
1941
83 years ago
Although the United States had not yet entered World War II at this time, petrol rationing began in parts of the eastern United States Read more…
1952
72 years ago
The 18-lap German Grand Prix at Nürburgring was won by Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari after he started from pole position Read more…
1955
69 years ago
The Automobile Association of America abolished its Contest Board, leaving United States car racing without a governing body Read more…
1958
66 years ago
British racing driver, Peter Collins (26), the ‘Gay Cavalier’, died in the German Grand Prix at Nurbringring Read more…
1960
64 years ago
Lee Petty and his sons, Richard and Maurice, raced against each other for the first and only time, at Birmingham, Alabama’s, Dixie Speedway Read more…
1961
63 years ago
The very first production Renault 4, the world’s first car with hermetically sealed cooling-system, was built Read more…
1964
60 years ago
Racer Carel de Beaufort (30) died three days after his Porsche had crashed at the Nurburgring circuit during a practice run for the German Grand Prix Read more…
1970
54 years ago
Miriam Hargrave of Wakefield passed the Department of Transport’s Test of Competence to drive at the then record 40th attempt, after 212 lessons Read more…
1974
50 years ago
1975
49 years ago
David Pearson drove a Wood Brothers Mercury to a dominant victory in the Purolator 500 at Pocono Raceway, leading 107 of the 200 laps Read more…
1993
31 years ago
E-ZPass, the electronic toll-collection system used on most toll bridges and roads in the north-eastern US, was first deployed on the New York Thruway at the Spring Valley toll plaza Read more…
1996
28 years ago
Dale Jarrett passed Ernie Irvan with seven laps to go and wins the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Speedway (US) Read more…
1997
27 years ago
History was made in the Trans-Am series when Tommy Kendall drove his Mustang to victory at Watkins Glen, New York Read more…
2003
21 years ago
Contested over 67 laps, the German Grand Prix was won by Juan Pablo Montoya driving for the Williams team after starting from pole position Read more…
2007
17 years ago
Carmaker DaimlerChrysler completed a deal to sell a majority stake (80%) of its ailing US Chrysler division to the private equity company Cerberus Capital Management for 7 Read more…
2008
16 years ago
Contested over 70 laps, the Hungarian Grand Prix was won by Heikki Kovalainen for the McLaren team, from a second position start Read more…
