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A Rip-Snorting Hellion From 1919
black mamba
Registered Users Posts: 8,321 Major grins
The year was 1918. The Great War had ended. Production companies in Europe needed a new direction if they were to survive in the new order of things. One such concern was Etablissments Ballot of Paris. This company had, in prewar times, produced engines for French automakers such as Delage. During the war, they had shifted production to aircraft engines and other war-oriented materials. A rapid change in their product line was an absolute necessity.
Having been a supplier to the auto industry before the war, the leaders of the company decided to fall back to familiar grounds. They knew that a successful venture into auto design and production was their best bet to make it. They figured ,also, that a race car was the best move to attract the attention they needed. They knew as well that they needed the right person to lead the venture.
Enter a gentleman by the name of Ernest Henry. Henry had been a designer for the French automaker Peugeot prior to the war. He had the credentials required to mount an attempt at this venture. Looking at the opportunities that would exist in Europe in the near future....as far as a suitable race venue to launch their racing plans....produced a big, fat zero. But the Indy 500 in America was scheduled to return in 1919. They selected that race as their target goal and got down to serious business.
Henry was able to garner the services of the celebrated race driver Rene Thomas....who had won at Indy in prewar times driving for Delage. The team was in place and Henry quickly designed a new engine to meet their needs. It was a straight-eight, dual-overhead cam engine with bucket cam followers. That engine design was to become a real classic.The chassis design they chose was very closely based on a 1914 Peugeot Voiturette. In great secrecy, they set about constructing four cars to make a run at the championship.
The car was a real runner. It qualified at Indy at over 104 MPH.....a good 5 MPH faster than any car had ever qualified there before. It was clearly the fastest car in the race. Poor preparation, however, can sink the best laid plans. They soon discovered that the final gear ratio they had selected for these cars was not appropriate for the Indy track. They had also not brought along any alternately geared rear ends. They tried to compensate for the problem by going to a smaller wheel but that plan didn't work. One of the cars fell out of the race on lap #44 with a busted wheel. The car you see here lasted until the 63rd lap when it too fell out with a busted wheel. The other two cars finished fairly well, one was 4th
and the other was 10th.
Having been a supplier to the auto industry before the war, the leaders of the company decided to fall back to familiar grounds. They knew that a successful venture into auto design and production was their best bet to make it. They figured ,also, that a race car was the best move to attract the attention they needed. They knew as well that they needed the right person to lead the venture.
Enter a gentleman by the name of Ernest Henry. Henry had been a designer for the French automaker Peugeot prior to the war. He had the credentials required to mount an attempt at this venture. Looking at the opportunities that would exist in Europe in the near future....as far as a suitable race venue to launch their racing plans....produced a big, fat zero. But the Indy 500 in America was scheduled to return in 1919. They selected that race as their target goal and got down to serious business.
Henry was able to garner the services of the celebrated race driver Rene Thomas....who had won at Indy in prewar times driving for Delage. The team was in place and Henry quickly designed a new engine to meet their needs. It was a straight-eight, dual-overhead cam engine with bucket cam followers. That engine design was to become a real classic.The chassis design they chose was very closely based on a 1914 Peugeot Voiturette. In great secrecy, they set about constructing four cars to make a run at the championship.
The car was a real runner. It qualified at Indy at over 104 MPH.....a good 5 MPH faster than any car had ever qualified there before. It was clearly the fastest car in the race. Poor preparation, however, can sink the best laid plans. They soon discovered that the final gear ratio they had selected for these cars was not appropriate for the Indy track. They had also not brought along any alternately geared rear ends. They tried to compensate for the problem by going to a smaller wheel but that plan didn't work. One of the cars fell out of the race on lap #44 with a busted wheel. The car you see here lasted until the 63rd lap when it too fell out with a busted wheel. The other two cars finished fairly well, one was 4th
and the other was 10th.
I always wanted to lie naked on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace. Cracker Barrel didn't take kindly to it.
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Comments
Jack
(My real name is John but Jack'll do)
I just hope these cars will be around 100 years from now. There's some really scary stuff going on around the world right now.
Tom
http://andeedesign.com/
I agree with you there, Andee. I'm into these old cars just as much as the newer ones....in fact, in many cases, they are a lot more interesting.
Tom
strange... kinda sorta. For out here. hehe.
Best laid plans. Outcome. Hmmm. Bringing that into today from yesterday.
Happens all the time and has been through the ages. So here we are we
with best laid plans. K... That game plan is still on.
is that it doesn't matter. Ideas move forward and what will be will be. Best
case rises to the top. Exceptions accounted for. How ever the dust settles proves out for what it is.
Glad you take the time to share the story Tom. Thats major with the shots.
Hey Michael,
I always enjoy your insightful remarks.
Funny, I hadn't used the defining term " rip snorting " myself in a long, long time. It is, however, perfectly applied to this genre of cars. They seem to " rip " and " snort " their way around. There's no smooth idling along for these beasts.....the racing breed....and they seem to revel in announcing their arrival by virtue of putting out a thunderous roar of mechanical sounds.
Take care my friend,
Tom
Nice shot..... How many car pictures do you have?????
Boy, Gary, I couldn't agree with you more. I'd bet that driving any of these old racers, at any kind of speed at all, was something way beyond
what we would term " exciting ".
You make a real good observation about the safety issue regarding the fuel tank. As far as I'm concerned, these things were not much more than rolling death traps. This car is a great example of the hazards the racers faced: no roll cage and NO SEAT BELTS....bye, bye birdy if you hit anything because you're going flying somewhere; look at that huge wind deflector right in front of the steering wheel....just waiting to slice the head off if the driver is catapulted forward. All in all, it took a lot of b***s and a strong belief in invincibility to race these things.
Considering all the years I've been shooting cars ( over 40 )....and lumping together all my prints, slides, and digital images....I'm sure they total to a good bit more than 50,000 images. I don't really know the actual count.
Tom
Throw a powerful engine in there, slap on some tires, jump in and let-er' rip ~ A daring time for sure!