July 18th


On this day in…

1883

140 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

109 years ago

Johann Puch (51), Slovene inventor and mechanic, died Read more…

1926

97 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

93 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

89 years ago

HM King George V opened the 2.13 mile Mersey (Queensway) tunnel Read more…

1936

87 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

84 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

82 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

79 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

75 years ago

Juan Manuel Fangio, made his Formula One debut finishing 12th at the Grand Prix de l’ACF in France Read more…

1950

73 years ago

Darlington Raceway officials officially titled the 500-mile Labor Day race as the “Southern Five-Hundred Read more…

1953

70 years ago

Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari 500 won the British Grand Prix, a Formula Two at Silverstone Circuit Read more…

1954

69 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

65 years ago

Henri Farman, pioneer racer, luxury automobile manufacturer, and airplane designer, died in Paris, France aged 84 Read more…

1958

65 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

64 years ago

Australian Jack Brabham in a Cooper-Climax T51 won the British Grand Prix at Aintree Read more…

1960

63 years ago

Donald Campbell took his new £1,000,000 Bluebird on its first test run Read more…

1965

58 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

58 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

54 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

53 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

53 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

52 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

52 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

48 years ago

Graham Hill, twice World Driving Champion, with BRM in 1962 and with Lotus in 1968, announced his retirement Read more…

1975

48 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

47 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

43 years ago

Chrysler Corporation Chairman Lee Iacocca announced the pending return of the Imperial marque Read more…

1981

42 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

30 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

25 years ago

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the construction of the Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky, US Read more…

1999

24 years ago

Ford recalled its top-selling Focus model because of an electrical problem Read more…

2002

21 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

18 years ago

The five millionth Ford Transit van rolled off the production line at Southampton’s Ford assembly plant Read more…

2010

13 years ago

The highest terminal velocity for a petrol-driven piston-engined motorcycle (Pro Stock) of 318 Read more…

365 Days Of Motoring

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