Tudor United SportsCar Championship: Porsche 911 RSR at Road America

Tudor United SportsCar Championship, round 7 at Elkhart Lake/USA
Earl Bamber plants Porsche 911 RSR on pole at Road America
Stuttgart. After notching up victories at Watkins Glen and Bowmanville, the Porsche 911 RSR was again the fastest GT vehicle in qualifying on the storied Road America race circuit. At the wheel of the 470 hp winning racer from Weissach, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, Porsche works driver Earl Bamber (New Zealand) clinched pole position for the seventh round of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship on Sunday. For the Le Mans winner, who contests the GTLM class sharing the cockpit of the 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche North America works squad with his teammate Jörg Bergmeister (Germany), this was his first ever GT qualifying session as a Porsche works driver. His top time was the fastest GTLM lap ever driven at Road America and handed Porsche the third pole position of the season. 

At the wheel of the 911 RSR campaigned by the Falken Tire customer team, Porsche factory pilot Wolf Henzler (Germany), who won the Watkins Glen round with Bryan Sellers (USA), posted the seventh quickest time. With the second 911 RSR run by Porsche North America, Patrick Pilet (France) managed just one timed lap on the 6.514-kilometre race track in Elkhart Lake in the US state of Wisconsin before he was sidelined with power loss. Together with Le Mans winner Nick Tandy (Great Britain), he secured victory recently at the Canadian round in Bowmanville. 

Pole position also went to Porsche in the GTD class: Patrick Lindsey (USA) from Park Place Motorsports posted the top qualifying time in the Porsche 911 GT America which he shares with his compatriot Spencer Pumpelly.

Quotes after the qualifying
Marco Ujhasi, Overall Project Manager GT Works Motorsport: “Well, this is definitely a perfect starting position for the race. Earl’s lap was simply sensational. Testing on this demanding circuit has paid off. Thanks as well to our partner Michelin. Together, everything came together perfectly for this qualifying and Earl put the icing on the cake.”
Earl Bamber (Porsche 911 RSR #912): “Everything worked just right in this qualifying. The team put a great car on the track for me. Quite frankly I was rather nervous before my first ever qualifying session as a Porsche works driver. But my fastest lap was perfect. The race tomorrow will definitely be exciting because our rivals are right behind us. But we’ll do our utmost to continue the winning streak for Porsche.”

The race on Sunday takes off at 14.05 hrs local time (21.05 hrs CEST) and runs over 2:40 hours. It will be broadcast on the Internet under www.imsa.com.


Qualifying result
GTLM class
1. Bamber/Bergmeister (NZ/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:02.384 minutes
2. Magnussen/Garcia (DK/E), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.224 seconds
3. Kaffer/Fisichella (D/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, + 0.363
4. Edwards/Luhr (USA/D), BMW Z4 GTE, + 0.973
5. Gavin/Milner (GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 1.363
6. Auberlen/Werner (USA/D), BMW Z4 GTE, + 1.388
7. Henzler/Sellers (D/USA), Porsche 911 RSR, + 1.506
8. Pilet/Tandy (F/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, + 9.921

GTD class
1. Lindsey/Pumpelly (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT America, 2:09.370 minutes
2. Keating/Bleekemolen (USA/NL), Dodge Viper SRT, + 0.118 seconds
3. Nielsen/Wittmer (DK/CDN), Aston Martin Vantage, + 0.577

Why WWI is an important episode in the history of the automobile in America

Hi folks -- it is WWI centennial time, and it is propitious to reexamine this period with the lens of automobile history in America. I almost totally neglected this topic in my The Automobile and American Life, with the exception of my discussion of women and the automobile. That was a huge oversight! Recently I have been reading up on this era, looking particularly at some secondary sources that do examine the topic as well as specific artless included in the New York Times.
Here are some reasons why one should not neglect the era when doing auto history:

1) the establishment of standards, which accelerated during the war and continued afterwords. From 200 tire sizes the standards movement pushed manufacturers to use only 32.
2) the rise of the S.A.E. in terms of importance, transitioning from a fringe group to one central to understanding the technology of the automobile in America.
3) the explosion in the manufacture of trucks, the recognition of their importance in the movement of freight, and the beginning of the decline of railroads, particularly for short hauls.
4) the linkage between automobile engine technology and aviation engine design, as exemplified by the Liberty engine project.
5) the beginnings of Du Pont family influence on General Motors, and initial reorganization efforts. 6) increased capitalization throughout the entire industry.
7) a gasoline shortage, real or imagined, and a voluntary Sunday driving abstinence day.  An emphasis on fuel economy led to carburetor improvements.
8) More and more interest and demand for closed cars. We tend to see this as a trend that occurred beginning in the early 1920s. Not true -- this is a main topic going back to 1917.

Tesla S Hacked!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0d1932a-3b05-11e5-8613-07d16aad2152.html#ixzz3i4YTS0WH


For more on auto theft and hacking into cars, see my recent book, Stealing Cars.

Call for Papers: Automotive History Conference, April 14-16, 2016 Cleveland, Ohio

CALL FOR PAPERS

                            AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY CONFERENCE

The Society of Automotive Historians is seeking proposals for papers to be presented at its Eleventh Biennial Automotive History Conference to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, from April 14 through 16, 2016.  The conference will take place at the Cleveland Airport Marriott Hotel, 4277 West 150^th Street, where a block of guest rooms has been reserved.  

The conference theme is “Automotive History: Beginnings and New Beginnings” and will focus on the first steps of the nascent motor industry and the later worldwide assimilation of the motor vehicle as a national icon seen in contrast to the revolutionary events of the early twenty-first century.  Cleveland has been chosen as conference venue because of its important position in the development of the American industry.  It was the home of early producers such as Winton, White, Peerless and Stearns and now boasts an important collection of turn-of-the century cars as well as an archive of related documents at the Crawford Auto Museum at the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Papers may address the beginnings of the automotive industry, the role of independent foundries, machine shops and carriage builders enabling the rapid growth of thinly-financed manufacturers followed by the early consolidation of the industry into a small number of major producers and their efforts to secure control of equipment suppliers and set up financial subsidiaries to facilitate sales.  The rise of national industries offering vehicles designed, built and sold to reflect local preferences was a parallel development.  Over the past quarter century these former certainties have been overturned.  The industry, until recently believed to be entering a phase of business consolidation, has expanded to embrace many new producers, a process that could only have been made possible through innovations in production technology and international trade agreements.  Meanwhile the automobile itself has become a standardized product, some would say ‘mature’, wherever it is produced or sold.  

It is our intention to examine the history of the motor vehicle throughout its brief but turbulent period of growth and with reference to its future prospects.  Proposals for papers on automotive subjects unrelated to the conference theme will also be considered.  Following the presentations we will tour some of the surviving sites of Cleveland automotive history and conclude with a visit to the Crawford Auto Museum where the curator, Derek Moore, will accompany us.

Two keynote speakers will share their understanding of these trends.  James Rubenstein, Professor of Geography at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where he lectures on the Geography of the Auto Industry and serves as an industry consultant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.  His ground-breaking book, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry, was among the first to explore the impact of recent trends.

Our second keynote speaker will be Bernard J. Golias, automotive historian and longtime Cleveland resident.  He is co-author of Famous But Forgotten, the definitive history of the Winton Motor Carriage Company and its successors, and will speak about the beginnings of the industry in Cleveland at the time when it was thought that this city might become the home of the American industry.

Following the conference, a certain number of the conference papers will be selected for publication in Automotive History Review, the journal of the Society.

The Society of Automotive Historians is a unique interdisciplinary organization devoted to all aspects of automotive history – engineering, design, economics, the lives of automotive pioneers and innovators, the history of motorsport competition, the integration of motor vehicles into modern life and the culture of cars.  In its publications and conferences, historians of technology, business historians and social historians interact to share their knowledge and perspectives.         

Proposals should include the title of the submission, names and affiliations of presenters, chairs, participants, etc., together with addresses, phone/fax numbers, email addresses of contact personnel, proposed format (paper, panel, workshop, etc.) and a one-page abstract describing the content of the presentation.  Proposals must be received by October 31, 2015; notification of preliminary acceptance is anticipated by November 30.  Proposals should be submitted by email to Arthur W. Jones, Conference Chair, nomecos@verizon.net.

Background to "Boss" Kettering's Invention of the Self-Starter

A Hutchinson fracture of the radial styloid, also referred to as a “chauffer’s fracture” or “backfire fracture,” happened to individuals struck  by the hand crank when the engine suddenly backfired during starting.

In 1908, Byron Carter, founder of the Cartercar, came across a stalled motorist on Belle Isle in the middle of the Detroit River. He gallantly offered to crank the car for the stranded driver. When she forgot to retard the spark, the crank kicked back. Carter’s jaw wended up being broken. Complications developed and Carter later died of pneumonia. When Cadillac chief Henry Leland heard the news, he was distraught. Byron Carter was a friend; the car that kicked back was a Cadillac. “The Cadillac car will kill no more men if we can help it,” he told his staff. Leland’s engineers were able to build an electric self-starter but not one small enough to be practical. Antique Automobile, volume 78,January/February 2014, p.96.

A History of Research and Development at General Motors Tech Center, Warren, MI

Hi folks -- I am very interested in finding out more about what was done historically at GM's R&D facility between 1956 and 1990. What main lines of research and development were connected there over the long haul? What were the major accomplishments? What were some of the projects that did not pan out? How was R&D organized, and how did that organization change over time. Who were the leaders at the laboratory and what was their impact? I am starting to collect material and would appreciate any leads on this topic.