Horses vs. Horsepower: Watch Historic Rides Race Each Other
June 16, 2016 - An
annual race pits cars against animals—and motorized technology doesn't always win. The "Race of the Century" event, held at the Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts, features motorized vehicles dating to the early 1900s and even an 1867 Concord stagecoach. Cars from the foundation's collection, such as the 1904 Franklin Type A Roadster, the 1914 Stutz Bearcat, the 1906 Stanley Steamer Model F touring car, and 1930s sprint cars, are restored and compete against horses and a stagecoach. Members from a local Ford Model T club even bring their cars out to compete in the event, which shows how transportation technology worked and evolved, much to the delight of spectators and history buffs.
Read
"A Bicycling Suffragist vs. an Antique Car? Watch This Wacky Race."More Classic Car photos from National Geographic YourShot.
KEN MILES OFF-CAMERA:
History is important. And we get hundred-year-old vehicles out and running. You know, we feel that they educational aspect of someone being able to see these cars in motion is well beyond what someone would learn simply by watching the cars in a museum.
HUNTER CHANEY SOT: “Welcome to Race of the Century!”
[Piano music plays]
HUNTER CHANEY, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, COLLINGS FOUNDATION:
This event, Race of the Century, we’re highlighting the chronological advancements of transportation technologies from the mid-1800s up to the 1930s through a series of competing races.
BRUCE HARRISON, COLLINGS FOUNDATION VOLUNTEER:
I get to help tell a great story that is America. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot more work than you would expect compared to what we drive today. Your hands are constantly busy. You’re either breaking with a hand lever on the outside. You’re pumping fuel pressure. You’re shifting. So you’re very busy inside the car.
ROB COLLINGS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COLLINGS FOUNDATION:
You’re dealing with a lot of vehicles here that are over a hundred years old and quite temperamental. They were temperamental a hundred years ago and they haven’t gotten any better over time. So [it] really gives you an appreciation of what a challenge it was.
I get a chance to a race a 1904 Franklin against a stagecoach and this woman on a bicycle. Driving the Franklin is a bit embarrassing. It’s really slow. It’s only got about seven horsepower. But it’s illustrative because you can see how effective the horse & stagecoach was for a very long time.
KEN MILES, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, COLLINGS FOUNDATION:
This is a 1906 Stanley Steamer Model F. It’s a twenty-horsepower boiler. This is one of the first hybrid cars. It doesn’t use much gas. It uses steam power.
The Stanley Steamer can take anywhere between 45 minutes and 3 hours to get it ready to function for the day.
BRUCE HARRISON, COLLINGS FOUNDATION VOLUNTEER:
You really have to be a craftsman when you’re working on these old cars because you can’t just run to the local auto-parts store to pick up a gasket or a piece of equipment. You have to be able to craft and make some of these pieces so it’s very challenging to work on these cars.
KEN MILES, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, COLLINGS FOUNDATION:
My favorite part is when I go home at night and I still have my eyebrows and all the arm hair, because there are days where the steam up process has become difficult and where I’ve lost eyebrows and singed hairs on my arms.
ROB COLLINGS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COLLINGS FOUNDATION:
History’s critical for all of us to grasp. By seeing this competition, people can see firsthand how the car frankly was a joke in the beginning, and how it evolved so quickly into something we take for granted today.
HUNTER CHANEY, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, COLLINGS FOUNDATION:
We went from a horse to a flying machine to human on the moon within a span of a hundred years. It’s this sort of revelation, this unique inspiration as far as discovery, that I really enjoy.
