On this day in…
1883
139 years ago
John Squire and Francis Macerone of Paddington Wharf, England were issued a patent for their ‘Steam Carriage for Common Roads’ Read more…
1914
108 years ago
Johann Puch (51), Slovene inventor and mechanic, died Read more…
1926
96 years ago
Otto Merz, Rudolf Caracciola, and Willy Walb, all driving Mercedes-Benz K tourers, sweet the first three placs in the touring car race preceding the Grand Prix of Europe in San Sebastian, Spain in the first racing event for the new Daimler-Benz AG firm Read more…
1930
92 years ago
Rudolf Caracciola won the 300-mile Grand Prix of Ireland, and with that the “Irish Times Trophy”, driving an “SSK” at an average speed of 139 km/h Read more…
1934
88 years ago
HM King George V opened the 2 Read more…
1936
86 years ago
The first “Wienermobile”, an automobile shaped like a hot dog used to advertise Oscar Mayer products, created by Oscar’s nephew, Carl G Read more…
1939
83 years ago
Briton George Eyston, driving an aerodynamically closed 4.25-litre Bentley, established an unofficial hour record at Brooklands, covering 114.638 miles Read more…
1941
81 years ago
John Martin Schreiber (65), inventor of a passenger bus that could operate on either overhead electric wires or on motor fuel, died in Orange, New Jersey, US Read more…
1944
78 years ago
RAF bombing destroyed about 80 per cent of the buildings and more than 50 per cent of the machinery and equipment at the Sindelfingen Mercedes-Benz plant in Germany Read more…
1948
74 years ago
Juan Manuel Fangio, made his Formula One debut finishing 12th at the Grand Prix de l’ACF in France Read more…
1950
72 years ago
Darlington Raceway officials officially titled the 500-mile Labor Day race as the “Southern Five-Hundred Read more…
1953
69 years ago
Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari 500 won the British Grand Prix, a Formula Two at Silverstone Circuit Read more…
1954
68 years ago
Sir Ernest W Petter, who with his brother Percival W Petter in 1895 built the first internal combustion engined automobile in Great Britain, died in New Milton, England, aged 81 – their Yeovil, Somerset venture ended in 1898 after about a dozen varied vehicles had been produced Read more…
1958
64 years ago
Henri Farman, pioneer racer, luxury automobile manufacturer, and airplane designer, died in Paris, France aged 84 Read more…
1958
64 years ago
Lee Petty welcomed his son to the big leagues, knocking Richard Petty out of the way in his Cup debut to win at Canadian National Exposition Speedway in Toronto Read more…
1959
63 years ago
Australian Jack Brabham in a Cooper-Climax T51 won the British Grand Prix at Aintree Read more…
1960
62 years ago
Donald Campbell took his new £1,000,000 Bluebird on its first test run Read more…
1965
57 years ago
Gerhard Mitter drove a Porsche Bergspyder to victory in the up-to-2-liter class in a prototype race at Solitude in Germany Read more…
1965
57 years ago
Honda capitalised on their long hours of testing at Zandvoort when Ginther claimed a front-row space at the Dutch Grand Prix with Graham Hill and Jim Clark Read more…
1969
53 years ago
Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy drove an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond Read more…
1970
52 years ago
Jack Brabham in a Brabham-Ford held a substantial lead in the British Grand Prix until his car ran out of fuel at the last bend and Jochen Rindt went on to win the race for Lotus Read more…
1970
52 years ago
UK BBC Radio 1 DJ Kenny Everett was sacked after he joked on air that Mary Peyton, the wife of the conservative transport minister had ‘crammed a fiver into the examiner’s hand’, when taking her driving test Read more…
1971
51 years ago
Richard Petty drove a Plymouth to victory in the NASCAR Winston Cup race at Trenton Speedway in Trenton, New Jersey, US Read more…
1971
51 years ago
Mark Donohue drove his McLaren to victory in the 200 mile USAC Championship race on the 2 mile banked Michigan International Speedway Read more…
1975
47 years ago
Graham Hill, twice World Driving Champion, with BRM in 1962 and with Lotus in 1968, announced his retirement Read more…
1975
47 years ago
The ‘last’ Buick convertible, a LeSabre, was built at the Fairfax plant in Kansas, US – the marque would re-enter the open market with its Riviera convertible Read more…
1976
46 years ago
James Hunt was involved in a first corner crash at the British Grand Prix, at Brands Hatch, that brought out the red flags Read more…
1980
42 years ago
Chrysler Corporation Chairman Lee Iacocca announced the pending return of the Imperial marque Read more…
1981
41 years ago
John Watson won his first race for five years, and McLaren’s first since James Hunt’s victory at the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix at the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone Read more…
1993
29 years ago
Dale Earnhardt held off Rusty Wallace on the final lap to win the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Pocono International Raceway, Pennsylvania (US) Read more…
1998
24 years ago
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the construction of the Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky, US Read more…
1999
23 years ago
Ford recalled its top-selling Focus model because of an electrical problem Read more…
2002
20 years ago
NASCAR Busch Series Driver, Andy Kirkby (40) was killed in a motorcycle accident in his home town White House, Tennessee Read more…
2005
17 years ago
The five millionth Ford Transit van rolled off the production line at Southampton’s Ford assembly plant Read more…
2010
12 years ago
The highest terminal velocity for a petrol-driven piston-engined motorcycle (Pro Stock) of 318 Read more…
