Vintage Photos Of Motorsport Events Make You Wonder How Anyone Survived

This image shows two men piloting a “steam quadricycle” built by Count de Dion and Georges Bouton in a race from Neuilly, France to Versailles. Folks have flooded to watch it pass because this was easily the most technologically advanced machinery they’d ever seen — which seems absolutely wild to us looking back from the 21st century.

While I generally hesitate to include images of wrecks that were fatal, I think this image shows just how dangerous racing can be. This is the overturned car of Marcel Renault, one of three brothers who developed the Renault motor company. While his car looks relatively intact, Renault was killed in this accident during the Paris-Madrid race.

Here we see an Ariel car laden with passengers as it navigates the Devil’s Elbow bend during the Scottish Trials. Devil’s Elbow is the nickname for a double bend located at 1,950 feet of elevation. Definitely do not tip over.

Early motorsport was defined by absolutely absurd cross-continental hauls. Here, we see a three-wheeled Contal laden with equipment to take on the 9,317-mile Peking-to-Paris race. Only five cars entered the challenge, which launched from the French embassy in what is now Beijing and finished in Paris, France. There were no rules; you just had to make it to Paris, at which point you’d earn a grand prize of a magnum of Mumm champagne.

Sort of! Here’s that very same three-wheeled Contal being hauled through horrifyingly muddy streets by a bunch of pedestrians.

We tend to associate banked oval race tracks with America, but Brooklands proved that England had that dog in ‘em, too.

There were no barriers or fences lining the high banks at Brooklands. If your car washed up too high, you’d just kinda... launch over the edge.

For some godforsaken reason, this hill is called Rest and Be Thankful Hill. I will not be restful or thankful with a tight 180 like that — one lined with spectators.

In Europe, there wasn’t really a reason to erect any viewing structures for fans, since race tracks often doubled as city streets. In America, we tended to stick our race tracks out in the boonies, which meant ultra-safe structures like this wooden disaster needed to be constructed for fans to get a glimpse of the Vanderbilt Cup.

These gentlemen are about to try setting a new speed record at Brooklands with a propeller car, which really mostly looks like a wooden horse-drawn carriage that had a fat motor and a plane propeller smacked in it.

Race tracks walling off pit road is a pretty new invention. For a long time, crews worked on a hot race track with literally no protection from oncoming traffic. You just had to hope everyone stuck to their normal racing line.

For some reason, early motorsport really loved making drivers race with passengers. In the two-wheeled realm, that usually meant strapping a sidecar onto a bike, while car racing involved riding mechanics. A lot of these folks died for no good reason other than the fact that regulations said they should be there.

Here we see a completely German invention, motorcycle skiing. That involves a motorcyclist pulling a skier along behind him to help the skier reach high speed. I’m sure the fumes on that bad boy were great.

Ah, pedestrian safety! Back in the day, some ropes, snow fencing, or a random assortment of boards served to protect viewers from the hot track.

I wonder why!

What could go wrong?

The Isle of Man is home to one of the most terrifying, dangerous race tracks in the world; as you can see, it was just a set of public roads that ran right in front of houses and businesses.

Did you know that the first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was actually a hot air balloon race? It’s not clear where this particular image was taken, but it’s the first time I’ve seen the balloons lined up for staging, and it looks absolutely ridiculous.

Before we discovered the glory of the Bonneville Salt Flats, folks looking to set speed records generally competed on sandy beaches. Shown here is Saltburn Sands in Yorkshire, England.

We just need a big ol’ puddle and a will to simply send it.