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1909 CHRISTIE RACER - the Barney Oldfield car

11/15/2011

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.

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.

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.

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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Identification system for Christie automobiles

11/7/2011

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Numerous articles have been written about Walter Christie's automobiles. The first and perhaps best was done in 1960 by Homan, Marvin, Helck and Peckham. Griff Borgeson wrote an unpublished (in the USA) Christie manuscript in about 1988. Borgeson made an attempt to number each Christie car starting with C1 and ending with C7. Unfortunately he created C3a & C3b and other confusing designations. Homan and Marvin identify various Christie models as the "Little 50", first V-4, streamlined 1910 car, etc.
I have decided to identify Christie cars by model year, as we do today. In years where more than one Christie model appeared, I decided to identify them, for example, as the 1906 Christie racer vs the 1906 Christie Touring Car. I feel this is the most logical approach. The car Christie raced in the 1907 French Grand Prix is therefore the 1907 Christie racer but often refered to as "the GP car". The 1909 Christie racer is often refered to as the "Barney Oldfield car" because Barney made the car famous while he owned it from 1912-1916.

I have identified the following Christie automobiles:

1903 Christie - the patent car.
1904 Christie
1905 Christie racer
1906 Christie racer
1906 Christie Touring Car
1906 Christie Runabout
1907 Christie racer - the GP car
1908 Christie Runabout
1909 Christie Taxi
1909 Christie racer - the Barney Oldfield car

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the second Christie automobile

11/7/2011

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    I believe that toward the end of 1903, Walter Christie built this, his second car. As you can see, this car bears little resemblence to the 1903 patent car. However, the front wheel drive transmission system was identical. Christie would stick with this overall layout for the next 5 years.
    The radiator is in the center of the car. It is a tube and fin type of radiator, but the air passes over it rather than through it.
    This car may have been put on display at the 1904 New York Auto Show while Christie headed for Ormond Beach in his 1903 car.

                                              1904 CHRISTIE

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the first known Christie automobile

11/7/2011

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In 1903 Walter Christie built two experimental cars. The first was directly based on his US Patent No. 761,657, which was filed Jan.18, 1904 and granted June 7. The main object of his invention was to secure the greatest simplicity of high-speed front wheel drive, combined with front wheel steering. His invention consisted of locating the engine between the driving wheels with it's crankshaft adapted to directly drive the front wheels. His patent included a novel transmission (with low and reverse gears) and 4 clutch mechanisms for throwing the motor out of and into direct drive with the wheels.
Ultimately, I think the novel transmission and clutch mechanisms may have been the Achilles heel of Christie's automobiles. His cars became reasonably good circle track race cars, but he was never successful in his efforts to build standard production models.

Below is a side view of Christie's first known car, with Walter at the wheel. Also shown is a drawing from the patent.

1903 CHRISTIE

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J. Walter Christie's front drive automobiles.

11/7/2011

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I have always had an interest in the history of auto racing. This blog is to be a historical and technical journal about Walter Christie's automobiles and the races Christie participated in from 1904-1910.

Walter Christie (based in NY city) tried to promote his patented front wheel drive automobiles from 1904 to 1910. He raced against legends like Barney Oldfield and Louis Chevrolet. He raced in two Vanderbilt Cup events as well as the 1907 French Grand Prix.
Christie never had much luck and the half dozen or so cars he built are not thought to exist.

The Christie shown below had front wheel drive & independent front suspension with a transverse 4 cylinder engine of 828cuin, putting out 80hp@1000rpm and 430ftlbs of torque.

This is the Christie 'Blue Flyer' at Ormond Beach, January 1905.