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  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stan Reid View Post
    Perhaps the first motorsports fatality was on July 28 of 1852. The steamboat Henry Clay under Captain Thomas Collyer was racing the Armenia, another steamboat Captained by Isaac Smith, down the Hudson River out of Albany. An overheating boiler set the Henry Clay on fire. The boat was intentionally grounded and most aboard survived but 81 of the craft's passengers died either in the fire or from drowning.
    Not if you are counting the Rainhill Trials!
    Member of Parliament William Huskisson was run over by the Rocket & fatally injured during those Trials. Despite being rushed to hospital by Rocket he later died of his injuries. There is a trackside memorial at the site of the accident. His death is also widely acknowledged to be the first passenger railway fatality.

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  3. #12
    Senior Member Stan Reid's Avatar
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    He was killed at an event dedicated to opening the track, yes.
    Last edited by Stan Reid; 27th January 2016 at 03:56.
    This is my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking

  4. #13
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    I am not convinced it was the 'first' (haven't checked), but Auto Union had a ground effects racing car already around 1937-1938. Four decades before the famous Colin Chapman innovation!

  5. #14
    Senior Member Stan Reid's Avatar
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    I think the Opel RAK.1 car might have been the first racing car with a wing(s) in 1928.
    Last edited by Stan Reid; 20th April 2016 at 22:39.
    This is my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking

  6. #15
    Senior Member Stan Reid's Avatar
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    As far as I can find, the first driver who died as the result of an accident in an auto race may have been Emile Levassor who was seriously injured in a crash in the 1896 Paris-Marseille-Paris Race. He survived several months but did eventually die of his injuries.
    This is my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking

  7. #16
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    There was the race on the Narragansett Park horse race track in Cranston, Rhode Island, USA in September 1896. This is claimed as the first race on a track in the USA, and probably in the world.
    Last edited by D-Type; 30th January 2016 at 16:28.
    Duncan Rollo

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  9. #17
    Senior Member Stan Reid's Avatar
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    I believe the last new front engine car to appear for qualifying in the Indy 500 was the 1969 Jack Adams Airplanes Special. It was a front engine AWD turbine vehicle. Al Miller practiced in the car but it failed to qualify.
    This is my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking

  10. #18
    Senior Member Stan Reid's Avatar
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    The first and last auto race track with banking greater than 55 degrees was the Autodromo de Sitges-Terramar built in 1923 near Barcelona, Spain. The one and a quarter mile concrete kidney shaped quasi-oval had (has) 60 degree banked turns at each end! Does "terramar" mean terrifying in Spanish?
    Last edited by Stan Reid; 18th February 2016 at 23:15.
    This is my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking

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  12. #19
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    The Sitges track still exists. It is possible to walk all round it.

    I think this is the track where they got the geometry of the transitions from straights to bends wrong.
    Duncan Rollo

    The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know.

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  14. #20
    Senior Member Stan Reid's Avatar
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    This is what a 60 degree (at the top) banked turn looks like.racetracks_main.jpg
    Last edited by Stan Reid; 19th February 2016 at 03:25.
    This is my opinion and to the best of my knowledge, that is, if I'm not joking

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