(Motor Racing, Grand Prix Sunbeams.) An early 20th Century p...

Hammer

£1,300

(Motor Racing, Grand Prix Sunbeams.) An early 20th Century photograph album containing 50+ mounted photographs in total of Grand Prix motor racing and motor cars c.1913-1914, mainly Isle of Man RAC Tourist Trophy, 10th/11th June 1914, predominantly the Sunbeam grand prix motor racing team, small number of images signed by drivers, with some further mounted postcards, small number of these also driver signed, and some other related ephemera including two original Sunbeam pit armbands, comprising 1914 Isle of Man TT armband, red silk with black printed lettering "Tourist Trophy. - 15. Sunbeam II. Depot Attendant", approx. size 10.5 x 25.5cm, and armband for 1914 French Grand Prix, held Lyon, 4th July, pale violet and white fabric with red lettering "Grand Prix de L'A.C.F. 1914 Sunbeam", approx. 11.5cm x 16cm, both mounted to a card leaf of the album, evidently having belonged to the compiler of the album with pencil caption beside "my pit brassards", certainly very rare and quite possibly the only surviving examples from the penultimate and last Grand Prix races before WW1 overtook Europe in August 1914. Approx. 35 images of 1914 Isle of Man TT include the Sunbeam team and all four Sunbeam grand prix cars assembled in front of Fort Anne Hotel, Douglas, IoM, the cars with number plates MN 523 to MN 526, each with drivers and riding mechanics sat within posing, MN 523, No.4, Kenelm Lee Guinness (1887-1937), MN 524, No.21, Algernon Lee Guinness (1883-1954), MN 526, No.15, Dario Resta (1882-1924), and MN 525, no number, L.G. Hornsted (1883-1957), several others standing behind cars posing including Louis Coatalen (1879-1962), the energetic and ambitious Breton who was engaged by Sunbeam as chief engineer in 1909 and transformed the Wolverhampton firm to become the foremost British exponents of motor racing internationally at the highest echelons, image approx. 10.5 x 15cm, several other images similar of Sunbeam cars and drivers in front of Fort Anne Hotel including L.G. Hornsted posing in MN 525, signed by him in pencil to lower left of image, small portrait photos A. Lee Guinness and K. Lee Guinness etc, images on the course including A. Lee Guinness and riding mechanic in Sunbeam MN 524, No.21 with Dunlop advertising banner and spectators in background; No.12, Leon Molon (1881-1952) in his Minerva; No.19, Christian Riecken (1880-1950) in his Minerva; No.18, Otto Goebel? in his Adler; No.20, Sam Wright in his Humber; No.4, K. Lee Guinness in his Sunbeam; two images of an upturned crashed car, No.6, John Hancock's Vauxhall; No.4 K. Lee Guinness in his Sunbeam entering pits enclosure; No.13, W.G. Tuck in his Humber; No.20, Sam Wright in his Humber; No.13, W.G. Tuck in his Humber; No.10, Sir Alfred Rawlinson (1867-1934) in his Rawlinson Hudson; K. Lee Guinness in his No.4 Sunbeam posing, and in following image on track entering a corner; W.O. Bentley (1888-1971), later founder of Bentley, in his DFP; No.9, Rene Berger in his SAVA; No.23, Josef Rutsch in his Adler; No.15, Dario Resta in his Sunbeam MN 526; No.14, Frank Clement (1886-1970), in his Straker-Squire; image depicting No.17, William Watson in his Vauxhall, on straight being pursued by the fourth Sunbeam car without a race number, driven by L.G. Hornsted, this image with pencil note to card mount beside "Hornsted & self chasing Watson - Vauxhall", evidently the compiler of the album being L.G. Hornsted's riding mechanic, possibly CD Day? ('Motorsport' May 2006 issue "Array of Sunbeams" article states "A spare car with the same body and bolster fuel tank as the other 1914 cars, as it might have had to be nominated for the race, was taken to the IoM. Two months before, one of the cars was sent to Brooklands for tests, driven by LG Hornsted and CD Day, Sunbeam’s subsequent production manager."); plus image of racing cars on ferry with one car about to be unloaded, presumably Douglas IoM, these images of IoM TT mainly approx. 8 x 13cm; 13 photographs of luxury/racing cars of the period, some with the compiler of the album seated, including series of 4 images of a Darracq c.1910, number plate BHH1, three of which with the compiler of the album posing seated within, pencil note to card leaf of album "Self & the 20 Darracq", each image approx. 10 x 16cm, another image with pencil caption above "Algy & Bill in 1913 GP Sunbeam after conversion", depicting Algernon Lee Guinness and 1 other in Sunbeam car, approx. 8.5 x 13.5cm, 8 other images various cars of the period, one with pencil caption beside "Father's 25 Darracq", others captioned "Metallurgique", "Charles Cotton", "100 x 160 Brooklands", etc; 8 contemporary postcards of grand prix motor racing, including one depicting K. Lee Guinness and signed by him in black ink "Kenelm", the image of him in his Sunbeam at the Circuit de Picardie, Grand Prix de l'A.C.F. 1913, another of Dario Resta in his sunbeam at same Grand Prix, signed in pencil "Yours Dario Resta" (slightly faint), plus postcard Caillois in his Sunbeam French Grand Prix 1913, 3 postcards 1908 French Grand Prix, two colour art postcards motor racing of the period; 3 other photographs motor racing of the period, appears to be the 1913 French Grand Prix, Circuit de Picardie, Amiens, 12th July, as one image showing the No.19 Sunbeam car crashed at foot of short steep hill in a river, with a group of spectators and people surrounding the car and nearby - Kenelm Lee Guinness drove the No.19 Sunbeam car in this race and is stated as having retired after 15 laps, having crashed into a river, a spectator was killed in this accident, the two other images, presumably the same Grand Prix, of Dario Resta in his Sunbeam, and cars and mechanics working in pit enclosure, all approx. 9 x 13.5cm; the motor racing material in album preceded by 76 further contemporary photographs of Ceylon and many of the corresponding sea voyage, mounted folding menu of SS Warwickshire, September 27th, 1912, containing several pencil signatures, several of photos of people on board the ship playing family games on deck, posing etc. Oblong contemporary cloth album, approx 25 x 30cm. Louis Coatalen's oustanding light car designs and other technological innovations made Sunbeam highly competitive during this period, even against the large Grand Prix cars of the period with engines three and five times the capacity of the Sunbeam. Wins included the legendary success at the 1912 Coupe de l’Auto to winning the 1914 and 1922 Tourist Trophy and 1923 and 1924 Grand Prix. Coatalen designed the 1914 Isle of Man TT cars with four-cylinder 3.2-litre twin-cam 16-valve engines, with which Kenelm Lee Guinness was to win that two-day 600-mile race over the punishing Manx mountain course, involving driving for 10hr 37min 49sec. Dario Resta’s car broke a big-end bolt on the first lap and Algy Guinness’s Sunbeam, after being in a secure second place on day two, retired when a propellor-shaft joint seized. But KLG had vanquished two sleeve-valve Minervas and three other cars, out of 22 starters, to win at 56.44mph. His fastest lap was 59.3mph, an indication of how difficult was the IoM course. (In the 1922 TT over the same course Jean Chassagne in an eight-cylinder Sunbeam averaged 55.78mph in the now one-day race, but in rain.) The fourth unnumbered Sunbeam car MN 525 driven by LG Hornsted must have also participated in the race, as evidenced by the photograph in the album of it in action chasing down the Vauxhall of WJ Watson. All four Sunbeams were driven from Wolverhampton to the Fort Ann hotel in the IoM. They wore number plates MN 523 to MN 526, these apparently being trade plates, indicating that Coatalen disdained paying tax on cars intended to uphold British prestige. The three main Sunbeam cars that competed in the 1914 IoM TT (MN 523, 524 & 526, race numbers 4 for KLG, 15 for Resta and 21 for Sir Algernon), are miraculously all still intact (see Motorsport Magazine online article May 2006, 88, Array of Sunbeams). Sunbeam were a leading producer of Aero engines during WW1, and in 1920 Sunbeam joined with Clément-Talbot and Darracq to form STD Motors Limited. Sunbeam became heavily involved in land speed record attempts including the successful 1000HP car of 1927 and the failed 'Silver Bullet' of 1930. Louis Coatalen designed the engines for the first car to exceed 150 miles per hour and the first car to exceed 200 miles an hour, the 1000 horsepower Sunbeam driven by Henry Segrave. All four of the Sunbeam drivers at the 1914 Iom TT (KL Guinness, AL Guinness, Dario Resta, LG Hornsted), were at various points Land Speed Record Holders. A rare and fascinating album of photographs and ephemera of early motor racing pioneers