Friday Mystery Foto #46 Solved: Victor Hemery in the #18 Darracq
Did you identify the Victor Hemery photo from the now out of print book, 'Victor Hemery, pionnier Sarhois des courses automobiles' By Jean-Yves Lassaux
Identify;
- The Car and Driver
The 80hp #18 Darracq with Victor Hemery at the wheel. The woman in the passenger seat is Marie Louise Laurent. It is unknown what her relationship to Hemery is.
- Date
The caption for the photo states 'October, 1905'
- The race where this photo was taken
The photo was taken while Hemery was on Long Island for the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race.
- Outcome of the race
Hemery won the 283 mile-long Vanderbilt Cup race in 1905 with a time of 4:38:08 at an average speed of 61.49mph.
There is a 'bonus' mystery photo submitted by Art Kleiner below for this week. Unfortunately nobody commented on the photo, which is most likely looking north under the Newbridge Road Bridge.
Comments (3)
Congrats to Steve Tremulis, Bob Barauskas, and Steve Lucas for identifying Hemery and his Darracq.
Greg O.
The mystery photo was taken from the now out of print book, 'Victor Hemery, pionnier Sarhois des courses automobiles' By Jean-Yves Lassaux.
It is written in French, so you might want to brush up on your French lessons.
Close up
Additional Photos
Another interesting October, 1905 photograph from the book is this group photo of many of the European Vanderbilt Cup drivers returning back home from the U.S. aboard the 'Savoie' passenger ship.
BONUS Mystery Foto
Art Kleiner has submitted this August 22, 1908, Lazarnick photo from 'The Patriot' newspaper, although we have not been able to confirm this location. While the location may seem obvious, there are some questions about what is seen in the photo.
What are your thoughts about the location of this photo?
Comments
That would be Victor Hémery, probably in August, 1905 when he drove a Darracq to victory in Circuit des Ardennes at Bastogne, Belgium. That October, he won the Vanderbilt Cup at Long Island, New York, beating Felice Nazzaro, Louis Chevrolet, and Ferenc Szisz. On 30 December 1905 Hémery set a land speed record of 109.65 mph (176.46 km/h) in Arles, France, driving a Darracq.
Victor Hemery’s 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race winning car was one of two Darracqs in a field of 19 machines. At 80 horsepower, the Darracqs had the lowest power of all the European cars entered in the race. Only three American entries had less power.
Hemery and his teammate Louis Wagner were entered in the only two cars in the race using wire spoke wheels and Dunlop tires. They were also among only four cars to utilize drive shafts to deliver power to the wheels. The rest used chain drive except the American Christie and the White steamer which used direct drive to the front wheels.
Known as a fierce competitor, Hemery was one of the most highly regarded drivers in the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race. Only weeks before the race, he won the prestigious Belgian Circuit des Ardennes in the 80-hp Darracq.
The Darracq’s wheel base was 106 inches or nearly 9 feet. The wheels were 53 inches apart from one end of the axle to the other. The nose of the car was square and the machine sported a barrel-style gas tank behind the its seats.
The Darracqs had four cylinder engines with 6 inches of both stroke and bore. That meant the engine had a total displacement of 678.6 cubic inches. By comparison, the Locomobile, which had the largest engine in the race, checked in at 1,077.6 cubic inches.
The Darracqs had a four speed transmission with a reverse gear. The smaller engine and wire spoke wheels accounted for both of the team cars being the lightest race entries with Hemery’s weighing 2,060 pounds.
After the leader Vincenzo Lancia’s Fiat collided three laps from the end of the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race, Hemery took the lead and won averaging 61.5 mph.
That’s Victor Hemery driving the 85HP Darracq racer. Although Hemery won the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup that year on October 14th., I think the mystery photo was taken on August 7, 1905 in Belgium where he also won the Circuit Des Ardennes race using the same car.
I would like to comment on the bridge photo, but specifically on the car, which seems to a 1908 Locomobile model 40 4p roadster, as shown in the advertisement (sorry about the quality, but this is the best I have). There is this other photo of Riker testing the LIMP in 1908 in a Locomobile model 40, which has been taken in front view, but it’s my impression that we see the same car. So I wonder if there are any other images of Riker in his Locomobile during this test to confirm it’s the same car.
Regarding the bonus mystery photo, I believe that we are looking north of the Newbridge Rd. bridge and in the background is the Newbridge Hotel. I wonder if prior to the bridge being taken down motorist heading south would slow down as they approached the railroad tracks.
I am a grand son,age 82, of Victor Hémery, am very happy to see that my grand father still triggers interest in the US . It is the first time I see a picture of Hémery at the wheel of his car with a woman who, obviously is not his wife. I lived and worked 34 years in the US and met in 1980 with Briggs Cunningham who had a car museom in Newport Beach, Ca , had met Hémery in the 50s and gave me a book about early races in Alerica.