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1906 VANDERBILT CUP - PART 4

11/21/2011

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The American Elimination Trial had 15 entries. Each was assigned a car number representing their starting position. There could have been 18 entries, but the Stanley and Wayne racers pulled out even before being given starting numbers. George Robertson was injured in a practice crash in his 80hp Apperson and couldn't make the race.  The big Maxwell effort never made it to the starting line.  Also, the rather mysterious B-L-M was a  no-show.  They repeated that performance in 1908. 
The image below gives a feel for what it must have been like to race on the public roads in 1906.  The Frayer-Miller team is shown practicing.

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Walter Christie's car was rated at about 50hp with a 5 3/8" bore x 7" stroke (635cuin).  He had two forward speeds.  By comparison, Tracy's Locomobile, the favorite to win, had 110hp with a bore of 7 1/4" x 6" stroke (991cuin).  He had 3 forward speeds.

The Haynes, Oldsmobile and Matheson entries were based on their passenger cars, as was Christie.  The Oldmobile may have had even less power than the Christie.  The Haynes car had 60hp and its great reliability gave it a 3rd place finish.  The Matheson car also had 60hp but the engine had a single overhead cam with overhead valves, very advanced for 1906.  See photo below (courtesy the Old Motor).

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The Pope Toledo was another typical 4 cylinder racer with a claimed 120hp at 1200rpm and 1193 cuin.  Thomas claimed 115hp for each of their 3 cars. Their engines displaced 817cuin. 

The Frayer-Millers were the largest air-cooled auto engines yet produced at 991cuin.  They intended to show the world that their system of engine cooling was the best so far devised.  Lee Frayer was the chief designer, a graduate of Ohio State University with a Mechanical Engineering degree.  He also drove one of the cars in the race.  He brought along a 16 year old boy named Edd to be his riding mechanic.  A few years later Edd was better known as Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Ace of Aces, future President of Eastern Airlines and future owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.


                    A Frayer-Miller engine is shown below.

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1909 CHRISTIE TAXI

11/18/2011

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In 1909 Walter Christie unveiled his last two automobile projects, the Racer previously mentioned and a Taxi.  The Taxi was of course front wheel drive, but it had many changes from Christie's 1904 direct drive patent.  So many changes that Christie was granted a new patent for the Taxi.  The patent drawing below shows a very modern transverse, four cylinder engine, with a separate transmission and conventional differential unit.  Christie used his normal coil spring independent front suspension.  Long drive axles took the power to Christie's patented demountable rim wheels.  If constant velocity u-joints had been available back then, he might have had a winner.  It took another 50years for the Austin MINI to appear and really begin the modern change to front wheel drive automobiles.
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The above photo of the Taxi body was discovered by Lee Stohr at the NAHC in the Detroit Public Library.
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1906 VANDERBILT CUP - PART 3

11/17/2011

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Walter Christie had wrecked his best race car in practice, one week before the American Elimination Trials, the qualifying event for the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup race.  Apparently back in the factory sat a beautiful, brand new Christie Touring car.

                                 1906 Christie Touring Car

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_With no time to spare, off came the plush seats, hood and headlights.  Christie somehow even found time to pull the special rear brakes off the wrecked racer and put them on his new touring car/racer.  His big problem was horsepower: he now had only 50 and to be competitive one had to have at least a 100hp. 

   Walter Christie preparing to start the American Elimination Trial

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He had quite a few other problems as well.  Many American manufacturers were very serious about getting into the Vanderbilt Cup race. 

Maxwell leased 5 acres of land a quarter mile from the start/finish line. A portable garage was erected containing a machine shop, storage for their racer and sleeping and dining rooms for the employees.  For the management and guests, a nearby house was also leased. 

Both Thomas and Frayer-Miller arrived with full 3 car, factory supported teams. Locomobile had a car for Joe Tracy, who had finished 3rd in last years race.  Locomobile also had a spare car for Tracy.  There were also a Haynes, Pope/Toledo, Oldsmobile and Matheson.  Several other manufacturers didn't make the start, including Stanley, B-L-M and Wayne.  George Robertson in an Apperson crashed heavily in practice and was another  DNS.

Walter Christie was a clever inventor and owner of his own machine shop in NY.  But just to finish in the top five and qualify for the Cup race would be a monumental task. 


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1906 VANDERBILT CUP RACE - Part One

11/16/2011

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_(previously published on The Old Motor): Walter Christie is shown below getting ready to practice for the Vanderbilt Cup American Elimination trial which was held on September 22,1906.  To qualify for entry into the Vanderbilt Cup race, American manufacturers had to compete in a 10 lap Elimination Trial.  Only the top 5 cars would be able to start the Cup race on Oct.6.  Christie would face 11 other cars in the Trial.
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_ Walter Chrisitie had good reason to feel confident going into the Trial.  His new front drive, V4 engine racer claimed 100hp from 1260cuin.  In April on the beach in Altlantic City, NJ. Christie set an American record for gasoline cars of 102.3mph.  May 25 at Empire City, NY. Christie ran the mile track in 53seconds, equaling Barney Oldfields AAA track record set in Dec.1904.  Walter Christie had been racing for two years, and he had steadily developed his car until it probably could match the best in the world for a single lap or two.  His reliability was always questionable, however. 

The 1906 Christie V4 was built up from the chassis of his 1905 racer.  Christie improved the cooling system with a large header tank over top of the radiator.  He also added a second set of contracting-band rear brake shoes, operated by hand lever. This was in addition to his foot brake which operated the original set of brakes.  Christie also added his patented detachable rims just for the Vanderbilt race.    He was about to show the world that his front wheel drive cars were ready to be taken seriously.

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1909 CHRISTIE RACER - the Barney Oldfield car

11/15/2011

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Walter Christie built one last race car in 1909, and it was his best.  The car was a masterpiece of clever packaging, with many examples of one part serving more than one function.  For example, the engine block formed part of the chassis frame rails. 
The engine was  a V4 configuration, with his usual large displacement of 20.2 liters. In case you don't have your calculator handy, that would be 1237 cubic inches! 

Christie had apparently learned that the GP car was carrying too much weight on the front wheels, so he shifted more to the rear with an extreme rearward inclination of the cylinders.  This also gave the car a very low hood height, especially when compared to other inline 4 cylinder racers of the period.  Christie finally gave up on atmospheric inlet valves, and used a SOHC with 2 large valves per cylinder. Ball bearings were used throughout the engine.  Multiplate disc clutches replaced his old cone clutches.
Christie remained faithful to his patented system of direct front wheel drive with independent front suspension.
Walter Christie beat Barney Oldfield and others with his new car at Gross Pointe, Michigan in August of 1909.  However, Walter gave up on his automobile business in early 1910. The car apparently sat idle until Barney Oldfield bought it in 1912.  Barney would use the car for 4 years for some legitimate track record breaking exhibitions and match racing with Lincoln Beachey's airplane. The car was a real money maker for Barney.  Amazingly, the old Christie survived World War I and was raced by Lou Disbrow until 1919.  It was unfortunately scrapped in Chicago that year.
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1907 CHRISTIE RACER (GRAND PRIX)

11/14/2011

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The 1907 Christie racer was a completely new design by Walter Christie.  No parts were used from his previous racer. He had his sights set on the 1907 French Grand Prix.  Christie patented his front drive system in France as well as USA and he may have thought a race would be a good promotion opportunity.  After poor showings in 2 Vanderbilt Cup events, it is amazing that Christie felt he could take on the best European racers.  However, Christie did a lot of private testing before the race, and he claimed to have reached speeds of 120mph.  Unfortunately he had engine and/or clutch problems in the race and dropped out on lap 4.
This GP Christie had a bore & stroke of 7 1/4" each. Christie still used 8 atmospheric inlet valves per cylinder but he did move the mechanically opened exhaust valve to an overhead position.  The car was claimed to weigh under 1800lbs when most of his competitors were at the 2200lb limit.


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REPLICAS

11/14/2011

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_I stumbled upon this amazing company called PUR SANG in Argentina that makes incredible Bugatti Replica's that are so good Jay Leno gave them his stamp of approval.  I thought it was worth sharing.  I find Jay Leno's views on the touchy subject of replicas to be very interesting.  Click here to see some photo's and Jay's thoughts about Replicas.
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OTHER CARS OF THE ERA

11/11/2011

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Although this will be a journal about Christie automobile history,  I will sometimes mention other cars Christie may have competed against in the pre-1910 period. 
The cars listed below exist today. I would be grateful if anyone can add to the list, especially of cars that still remain from the 1904-1909 era.  Interesting re-creations are welcome too.
  • 1904 Peerless Green Dragon / Don Meyer?
  • 1904 Packard Gray Wolf / Ted Davis
  • 1905 Darracq 200hp / Mark Walker, UK
  • 1905 White 'Whistling Billy V'  / Dr. Robert R. Dyke, UK
  • 1906 Stanley 'Vanderbilt' Racers / Buck Boudeman (builder)
  • 1911? FIAT S76 / Duncan Pittaway
  • 1917 Miller 'Golden Sub'  / Buck Boudeman
When a famous race car is known to have been scrapped or is never likely to be seen again, I personally would enjoy seeing a properly done Re-Creation or Replica.

Let's take a look at Dr. Dykes 1905 White 'Whistling Billy' re-creation.  This steamer terrorized all the gasoline-engined racers in the summer of 1905.  Even Louis Chevrolet and the great Barney Oldfield were beaten by this car.  You can find more on the web site, Steam Car.Net.

From the site: "This is a faithful rebuild of the car from the photographs, made easier by the statement by the White Sewing Machine Company that their racing car was made almost entirely from standard parts.  The engine is from a 1907 20hp tourer that was written off in London in 1908. It has the required high pressure piston valve and the original car's water pumps, oiler, pedals, instruments and other parts. The flywheel has been lightened. The steam pressure will be 600 to 800psi (plus a bit!) with a temperature of 750 deg F. The top speed should be near 100mph."


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1906 VANDERBILT CUP - Part Two

11/10/2011

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Today at the OLD MOTOR web site, David Greenlees has kindly posted a story I submitted about Walter Christie's 1906 Vanderbilt Cup adventures.  If you haven't bookmarked that site yet, you should.  Click on the link to the right and check it out. 

The car shown at the Old Motor site is the 1906 Christie racer. 
Walter Christie is setting out for a final test run, probably the week of Sept 10, 1906. The American Elimination Trial is only a week and a half away. 
Unfortunately, things soon began to go wrong.  On Saturday, September 16, Walter had just replaced a broken front axle and was heading out for an early morning test.  He had not noticed that his steering gear had been damaged by the axle failure.  As he accelerated down East Williston road, he only went 100yards before the car veered into a gully and collided with a telegraph pole.


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Walter and his mechanic were unhurt, however his best racer could not be repaired for the following Saturday's Elimination Trial.  Like any true racer, Walter immediately began converting one of his production touring cars  for the Trial.  He would now be facing full factory race teams, in some cases 3 car efforts, with only half the horsepower of his race car.  The odds were against him even qualifying for the Vanderbilt Cup.
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1905 Christie 'Blue Flyer'

11/9/2011

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Walter Christie's 1903 & 1904 cars seem to have disappeared from public records by late 1904.  However, Walter unveiled his latest model at the Ormond Beach races in January, 1905.  See photo below. Scientific American magazine wrote an article about the car dated January 28. This article includes invaluable technical detail, including some dimensions as well as a cross-section drawing of the front drive mechanism. 

The 1905 Christie was raced all throughout the year, wrapping up the season at the Vanderbilt Cup race in October.  As usual, Walter did most of the driving.

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The car was extensively modified for the big July 4 races at Morris Park, NY.  Christie attached what was probably his 1903 engine/drive axles to the rear of the 1905 racer.  See photo below.  Now he had 4 wheel drive and more power.  He was competitive, but Webb Jay's specially-built White steam racer was untouchable on short dirt track events that summer.
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After blowing up the rear engine in September, Christie prepared the car for the October Vanderbilt Cup races.  Walter is shown below preparing to give George Robertson some front wheel drive lessons.  Apparently to no avail, as George blew 3 tires and barely completed half distance in the American Elimination Trial.  Walter took the wheel for the main Vanderbilt Cup event.
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    Lee Stohr (b.1957: Delaware, USA) is an American race car designer and owner of STOHR DESIGN

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