The American Zephyr

The "American Zephyr" motorised bicycle gained early notoriety through its adoption by the rakish young men of New York high society in the 1860's. Although originally designed for "efficacious conveyance" through rough countryside, the Zephyr's stylish lines and raw power quickly saw it become the preferred mode of transport for eligible bachelors looking to project an attitude of youthful rebellion.

Motorised bicycling became something of a sport for these young bucks, with illegal races regularly held on the deserted streets of Manhattan in the small hours after midnight. The New York Times was to write with dismay of "the interrupted sleep experienced by residents of Broadway as boorish young men engage in noisy transits of the thoroughfare astride these mechanical contraptions". So great did the nuisance become that the newly-formed New York Police Department was forced to introduce a late-night police patrol.

Initially the patrolmen were mounted upon horses, but the noise of the bicycles proved too much for the poor beasts, often startling them into panicked bolting. Embarassed by the poor press its products were receiving, the Davis & Harleyson company donated three Zephyr-model bicycles to the Department in an attempt to level the playing-field.

This development saw the birth of what was to become known as a "Police Chase"; ever-after a staple of the more action-oriented cinematographs. The chases and subsequent arrests saw a number of the heirs of prominent New York families brought before the Courts for "the reckless endangerment of life and property through the inprudent operation of a vehicle". With a handful of embarassing convictions, the fad for illegal street racing died away amongst the idle rich, but the Zephyr's rebellious image was cemented in place and an American icon was born.

The interested reader is invited to view further photographic images of the Zephyr here.

The "Endurance"

In 1877 the tracked vehicle "Endurance" was to carry its designer and driver Cyril Neveu to victory in the first of the famed Paris-Dakar Rally Races.

Although it proved a cumbersome and uncomfortable drive on the roads of France, falling far behind the other competitors, the Endurance was to come into her own on arrival in Algiers with the commencement of the gruelling desert stages of the seven thousand mile trek.

Neveu's vehicle, designed especially for the shifting sands and merciless heat of the Libyan Desert, was to prove itself remarkably reliable, arriving at the finishing line in the Senegalese capital a full two days before any of the other racers.

Neveu's victory was celebrated throughout France, hailed as a triumph of superior French engineering. The Dakar Rally was to become a keenly-contested arena in which nations would finance entries in attempts to demonstrate the might and ingenuity of their industrial bases. Much to Imperial, Prussian and American chagrin, the French were to prove the masters of desert vehicle design over and over again, winning the Dakar Rally no less than nineteen times in the next twenty years.

Further images of the "Endurance" are available here for the interested reader.

Racing Skiff "Rampant"

The London to Paris Air Race has been held annually since 1836 and is the longest-running flying contest in the world. Although the event has enjoyed a lower public profile since Transatlantic flight ushered in the modern era of competition for the Americas Cup, the London-Paris Race remains one of the most sought-after prizes in aeronautics.

Captain Lewis Galloway is, without doubt, the Race's most famous champion. Winner on no less than seven occasions, he still holds the record for consecutive wins with five in a row - all of them in his world-famous racing skiff "Rampant". That his final victory in 1874 was posthumous, his flaming craft plunging across the finish line beneath the Arc de Triomphe only seconds before erupting in an enormous fireball, only adds poignancy to his legend.

Further photographic images of this famous aeronaut's racing machine, many of them in colour, can be viewed here.