No car-guy (or gal) trip to Indianapolis would be complete without a trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a tour of the Speedway Museum, so on Saturday (3/14) we made our way over to the track and spent a couple of hours pouring over the collection of vintage race cars, motorcycles, and memorabilia.
We were particularly interested in the evolution of the various suspension configurations used over the years....truly some engineering marvels. We studied the various axle, spring, shock, torsion bar, brake and steering layouts. From all indications, the "modern" wishbone front suspension came into play around 1963 with the Lotus entries. Even though the '63 race was won by a straight axle roadster, the rear engine Lotus set the tone for years to come.
One of the more interesting race cars (although not a "500" racer), was this 1903 Premier Special. Designed and built for the first Vanderbilt Cup Race, this car weighed in at a whopping 2500 pounds...300 pounds over the weight limit. Despite drilling 470 holes in the frame, the car was still 120 pounds over the limit....no doubt due in large amount to it's 923 cu. in. air cooled engine (7 in. bore...6 in. stroke!!). None the less, driver Carl Fisher drove the car to a top speed of 59.21 Mph on the one mile dirt track at the Indiana State Fairgrounds!
Although drag racer Dick Kraft's "The Bug" car is generally heralded as the precursor to the modern rail dragster, I think the 1903 Premier Special may be able to make that claim as well.
Check back soon for our report on the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.
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