1909 Monaco Regatta
The Winning Motor Boats at Monaco
British and French champions made new world's records last month at the Monaco races. The former is a new 15-meter (49.2-foot) racer fitted with twin screws and two 12-cylinder Wolseley-Siddeley gasoline engines of 300 horsepower each, while the latter is the same Tellier hull that was used last year but which was fitted this time with four 4-cylinder 120-horsepower motors connected in pairs, driving twin screws also.
The results of most of the races were given in the April 17th issue of this journal, but it will perhaps be well to recapitulate here. These two boats and the American Standard were the only 15-meter craft. Our other boat, Dixie II, was only 12 meters (40 feet) in length and about one-third as powerful. The Standard was practically rebuilt at Monaco, and she did not race, while the Dixie II could do nothing in the Mediterranean.
The first race an which the American, French and English racers met was that for the Prize of Monte carlo, held on April 4th. The distance was 50 kilometers (31.07 miles), and the winner was the Wolseley-Siddeley II in 49 minutes and 4/5 second. The Panhard-Levassor finished but 13 4/5 seconds behind the Wolseley-Siddeley II, while the Dixie II averaged only 21.16 miles an hour.
The "Coupe des Nations" 100-kilometer (62.4-mile) race was won by the Wolseley-Siddeley in 1:35:9 3/5 at an average speed of 39.45 miles an hour. The best lap of the 16 was covered in 5:44 at a speed of 40.6 miles an hour. The Panhard dropped out with a broken connecting rod in the 13th round, and the Dixie II with a leaking water pump in the 14th. The English champion made the flying kilometer in 56 1/5 seconds, or at the rate of 39.77 miles an hour. The hydroplane Duc covered the same distance at a speed of 41.09 miles an hour.
(Transcribed from Scientific American, May 8, 1909, p. 352. )
[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page —LF]
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