START YOUR ENGINES!
The first of the three Great Savannah Races was held in 1908 and pitted the world’s best drivers in the world’s best automobiles racing against each other for the championship of the Automobile Club of America. The race course on Savannah’s streets started inland at midtown but included a riverside stretch along Isle of Hope’s Bluff Drive, then known as River Road. The race preparations and racing were captured on Real Photograph Postcards of the day.
Isle of Hope Causeway During The Great Savannah Races
The racers in the 1908 Great Savannah Race made 16 laps of the 25 mile course. The Isle of Hope causeway led the racers to Bluff Drive before they headed back into Savannah, only to turn and come back again and again….
Banked Curve On Bluff Drive During The Great Savannah Races
The 1908 Great Savannah Race course had 32 “scientifically constructed curves,” this one along Bluff Drive. The banked curves helped the racers maintain maximum speed and avoid a trip in the river!
Great Savannah Race Mile Marker 8
This stretch of the 1908 American Grand Prize Race had automobile racers dodging trees and a telephone pole. A little farther along Bluff Drive, you can still see the 8 mile marker for the original race course.
Great Savannah Race Serpentine Curve On Isle of Hope
During the 1908 Great Savannah Race, all was not straightaways across open fields. At Isle of Hope, drivers had to navigate a winding course lined by massive oak trees. This image of the race course was taken by well known Savannah photographer George Foltz.
Convicts Grading A Curve On La Roche
A massive amount of work on the race course was done before race day in 1908. Some roads were widened, some were banked, some roads were constructed from scratch. Four miles of new flat, straight road were constructed on Norwood and Ferguson Avenues. Most of the work was done with convict labor. Here convicts prepare La Roche Avenue for the racers while a guard oversees their work.
Grand Prize Automobile Course Approaching Isle of Hope
Before the Great Savannah Races, ordinary automobiles were allowed to drive over the race course. Here along Bluff Drive, a regular roadster creeps along the course heading toward the hard left turn at La Roche Avenue. At this speed, there is no danger of overturning.