XD60214 “THE HEROIC DAYS” EARLY AUTOMOBILE RACING DOCUMENTARY 1902-1914 SHELL OIL CO. FILM

Shell Films produced this black-and-white film, “The Heroic Days,” in 1951. It was made in association with the Petroleum Films Bureau. The film is subtitled “Part One of a History of Motor Racing,” and is largely composed of racing footage from 1902-1914, mostly of the Gordon Bennett Cups (created by New York Herald and International Herald Tribune owner James Gordon Bennett, Jr.) and the French Grands Prix (created by the Automobile Club du France, or ACF). Credits: Bill Mason, writer/director; Pat Holmes, editor; Edward Williams, music; Film Centre, London, production. Narrator uncredited.

Two men smoking pipes drive an open-top car down a dirt road (00:43). 1902 Sequence begins as cars race down tree-lined dirt roads in either the Paris-Vienna race or Gordon Bennett (00:59). Chevalier René de Knyff drives a Panhard in the race (01:56). Still of Bennett Cup winner Selwyn Edge (2:02). 1903 Irish closed-circuit Gordon Bennett sequence begins (02:13). Goggled men pilot racecars through a crowd of waving spectators at starting line (02:18). De Knyff and mechanic stop Panard for gas refueling (03:06). Camille Jenatzy driving a Mercedes (03:24). 1904 Gordon Bennett sequence begins in the Taunus mountains of Germany (04:02). Car starts as a man waves flag (04:06). Selwyn Edge’s Napier is refueled and tires cooled with buckets of water (04:13). Wolseley at starting flag (04:24). Crowded grandstands (04:38). Kaiser Wilhelm II in full military dress walks the course and greets people (04:50). Bicycles pacing racecars through city streets (05:26). Still of race winner Léon Théry of France (“Le Chronometer”), driving a Richard-Brasier (06:47). Still of Théry, with “1905” superimposed (06:53). 1906 Le Mans French Grand Prix sequence begins (06:58). An Italian Fiat and German Mercedes drive through the crowd (07:14). 14.5 liter engine Mercedes (07:25). Hotchkiss with wire wheels (07:29). A team rolls car off a scale at weigh-in (07:42). Albert Clément’s Clément-Bayard (07:51). Three Brasiers roll through the crowd (08:02). Man paints a white starting line on the track (08:14). Vincenzo Lancia in his Fiat at the start (08:22). A Renault at the start (08:28). Michelin tires advertisements line grandstand (08:39). A Hotchkiss with broken wheel tucked in dirt against an embankment wall (10:03). French drivers sit around a platter, drinking from bottles and snacking (10:37). Ferenc Szisz driving a Renault (11:15). A horse pulls a racecar onto the course (11:30). Clément and mechanic team changing tire on Renault (11:45). Elliott Shepard pilots his Hotchkiss across wooden planks (12:33). 1907 Kaiserpreis at Taunus sequence begins (13:50). Felice Nazzaro wins driving a Fiat 130 HP (14:38). Kaiser Wilhelm stands on awards platform with race winners (14:54). 1907 Dieppe French Grand Prix sequence begins (15:07). Gas canisters are filled (15:23). Lancia and team (15:49). Nazarro leaning against car (15:52). A Gobron-Brillié rounds a turn (17:06). A Renault misses a turn and tips over on embankment (17:45). A car spins out on a turn (19:02). 1908 French Grand Prix sequences begins with a cannon fired (19:32). Otto Salzer driving a Mercedes (19:42). A crew slowly pushes a car on the track (20:08). Montage of “heavy cars” failing to make turns, crashing into walls (20:17). Christian Lautenschlager and his Mercedes, victorious (21:10). Car taking a banked turn at Brooklands in Surrey, England (21:25). Percy Lambert in his Talbot (21:34). Cars racing on a “trotting track” in the United States (21:39). Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in Worcestershire (22:06). Montage of wrecks and wrecked cars (23:22). Louis Delâge in his voiturette (24:06). A Fiat in the 1911 French Grand Prix, the only car to complete the race (24:37). 1912 French Grand Prix sequence begins with stills of Fiat, Peugeot, and Sunbeam racers (24:40). George Boillot’s Peugeot cheered by crowd (25:49). Boillot in his Peugeot after winning the 1913 French Grand Prix (26:44). Delâge being congratulated by crowd (27:15). 1914 French Grand Prix sequence begins (27:26). A car loaded with mounted film cameras and operators (27:50). Racers navigate a hairpin turn (28:32). A crowd watches the race from farmland (30:46). Lautenschlager and his Mercedes winning (30:54). Pipe-smoking motorists return (30:59). Driver in an Itala on a track (31:04).