1904 Larchmont "Gold Cup"

Race by Rival Firms

Big Race by Rival Firms on June 20 and 21 at Larchmont Yacht Club

Gold Cup for Auto Boats

Preparations were practically completed yesterday for the $2,000 gold cup race between the fast auto boats entered by Smith & Mabley and Hollander & Tangeman respectively. Challenges by the two firms were made and accepted last Winter. Each side deposited $1,000, and with this sum a magnificent gold cup has been designed, which after the race will be made a perpetual trophy, open for competition only by amateur auto boat owners.

The first races for the trophy will be held on Monday and Tuesday, June 20 and 21 [NOTE: The races were postponed by one week to June 27-28 —LF], off the Larchmont Yacht Club. Slight details in plans may be made before that time, as it is not yet definitely decided whether to hold two races on the first day or only one. The first race, however, will be held on June 20, and a second may also be held on that day. If each boat wins one event, the third race will be held two days later. According to the present plan of holding but one race a day, the third race would come on Thursday, June 23.

A thirty mile course will be staked out for the competition. It is now being surveyed, but it has not been absolutely settled whether the course will be fifteen miles out and return, or a triangular course, with each turn ten miles.

The boat entered by Smith & Mabley has just been finished at their factory in this city, and will be quite similar to the two entered for the Harmsworth cup abroad in July. It is somewhat similar in design to the Vingt-et-Un, which made such a fast time last November on the Hudson near Peekskill. It is, however, a larger boat, both in length and horse power.

The Hollander & Tangeman boat will be known as Fiat III. It is about forty feet long and will be fitted with an Italian motor of 65 horse power. The boat is very similar to the Fiat II, which won in its class in the motor boat races last Monday at the Manhasset Yacht Club.

The cup for which the two boats will race is the handsomest as well as the most expensive trophy yet offered for auto boat races. It is of 18 karat gold and is twenty inches high.

No matter which boat wins in the coming races, neither firm will ever race for the trophy again. The cup will remain in the custody of the Larchmont Yacht Club, and certain conditions will be drawn up regarding the future competitions, but it is understood that the cup will always be available for racing when two or more boat owners apply for the privilege of competing for it.

There is a strong possibility that the trials of the two boats entered by Smith & Mabley for the Harmsworth cup will be held at the same time and over the same Larchmont yacht course. Arrangements are now being made by Mr. Mabley and the Automobile Club of America for the tests.

(Transcribed from the New York Times, June 3, 1904, p. 8. )

[Remember, this is not the APBA Gold Cup race plans. The APBA Gold Cup was contested at the site of the Columbia Yacht Club within days of this particular match race at the Larchmont Yacht Club. - GWC. ]

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page]