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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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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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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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    Lee Stohr (b.1957: Delaware, USA) is an American race car designer and owner of STOHR DESIGN

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