Looking back at local auto racing

[nikonbob]

This car is on display at the local airport. Sad there are no more race tracks here. Curt, yea that Curt, and I had a look at it today. Both of us were wondering how anyone could race and not have any brakes on the car. OTH it could well have had brakes but we just could not see them. One thing for sure, you needed big ones and I don't mean brakes to race back them.

Bob

[daveh]

Was there propshaft braking perhaps?

Interesting, thanks for putting them up Bob.


addendum: I've found a bit more on this car at: hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/

[nikonbob]

Dave

Could be or they just did not put them on the restoration. Thanks for the very good link.

Bob

[photax]

Bob, thanks for showing this unique historic monster ! The drivers must have been really fearless. Are there seriously no brakes on that car ? I`ve seen a french early 1920 racecar at a museum with 20 litre engine and top speed far beyond 200 km/h. If you consider that there had been no safety-systems. As I see at the information board in your second picture, you are measuring speed in km/h and I alway thought Canada is using mph. Another corrected misunderstanding

MIK

[nikonbob]

MIK

I could not see any but they may have left them off the restoration car or as Dave was wonder it may have had a brake on the drive line. Yea we have been on the metric system for about 40 years now. I still check fuel economy by miles per gallon not liters per 100 kms.

Bob

[daveh]

Metric v imperial: Britain is somewhat mixed up here.

One question for any of you Canadians: are you on proper 20 fluid ounce pints or the 16 fluid ounces as used in the USA?

Several years ago my father went into a hardware store to buy some screws. He wanted twelve but was told with metrication that they were now sold in tens. "Okay, then, I'll have ten. How much is that?" The shop assistant looked at the box and replied "eighty two pence a dozen".

[Deleted]

My late uncle, Boyd Cornell, at the wheel of a Model T racer, 1940. My late uncle Vance is standing by the car with his back to the camera. Obviously their racers isn't as "purty" as the one shown above. I suspect most of them didn't look that good after a day on a muddy track.

W.

[Deleted]

Followup: My Uncle Clark driving and Uncle Boyd standing--about 1940. The boy standing in front of the car is my cousin Roger. Below is a photo of Roger, in a car he built himself--definately not a Model T-- winning the Canadian-American Racing Association Challenge Cup in 1966.

[Deleted]

Last but not least, my Uncle Clark racing on a half-mile dirt track in 1953 in 1936 Ford sedan. My dad shot the photo with a Speed Graphic using the vertical focal plane shutter which makes the car appear to be leaning forward,

[daveh]

Wayne, wonderful. Thanks.

[nikonbob]

Wayne

That is a pretty rich family history with racing, especially dirt track. Thanks for sharing those interesting family photos.

Dave

Couldn't tell you about the pints but I suppose it boils down to where the product is supplied from. I remember buying house paint and it came in 4.5 liter cans and now it comes in something like 3.75 liter cans which is the American gallon as opposed to the Imperial gallon. It can get confusing.

Bob

[olroy2044]

What an interesting thread! Thanks to everyone for posting these photos! As I write this, I can hear the sprint cars running at Chico Speedway which is only about 2 miles from my house as the crow flies.





Why am I at the computer instead of at the races!? Roy

[mickeyobe]

Sept 9, 2010 16:04:41 GMT -5 daveh said:

Metric v imperial: Britain is somewhat mixed up here.

One question for any of you Canadians: are you on proper 20 fluid ounce pints or the 16 fluid ounces as used in the USA?

Several years ago my father went into a hardware store to buy some screws. He wanted twelve but was told with metrication that they were now sold in tens. "Okay, then, I'll have ten. How much is that?" The shop assistant looked at the box and replied "eighty two pence a dozen".

We are entirely on metric now but most butcher and grocery shops will measure out in pounds which I always ask for.

We used to be imperial. And I still have to try to translate in my head from celsius to imperial to visualize a measurement of any kind. That's why I am so often befuddled. I am getting pretty good with lengths now as long as accuracy is not essential.

Our paint used to come in imperial gallons. Everything became smaller when we went metric - except the prices.

Reluctantly I admit that celsius which is based on 10 has advantages.

Mickey

[daveh]

Britain sells most things on the metric system. Much seems to be sold in prepacked packs (if that makes sense) and so one is spared asking for 225 grams rather than half a pound. Shop keepers are meant to sell in decimal rather than avoirdupois (lovely word that) but many still dispense in "real money".

There was a time, around the changeover, when roofing boards were being sold in metric widths and imperial lengths (or was it the other way round?) My father found this out when he was doing a flat roof on a small extension: each board had to be cut down to fit the joists.

The only trouble with the decimal system is that it is only divisible by two and five. The duodecimal system would have a better bet. Base 12 has so many more possibilities than base 10.