International Engine Rules

I file this item (Indianapolis Star, September 27, 1908) under "Grand Prize" because it is most pertient to the Automobile Club of America's (ACA) role in the early days of the sport. The ACA and its rival American Automobile Association (AAA) spent much of 1907 and 1908 taking shots at each other over who was the dominate sanctioning body in America - and, in turn, the appropriate group to represent the United States and its manufacturers at the international governing body meetings hosted by the Automobile Club of France (ACF). The ACF recognized the older ACA who failed to represent America at the infamous Ostend Conference of 1907.
 
The essence of the issue was that at Ostend the European-based automobile clubs agreed to set rules regulations - for the first time - based on engine cylinder capacity. Previously everyone had to adhere to a maximum weight restriction which obliquely regulated the size of engines and how beefed-up a car's frame and suspension had to be to support it. The American manufacturers felt caught off guard and did not want to conform to the new rules and if the Vanderbilt Cup adhered to them would not participate. This update on the situation suggests that the primary players were considering a 130 cubic millimeter limitation.
 
This article discusses how American manufacturers could be brought into the fold looking forward into 1909 and beyond. Obviously the principal of assessing engines by cylinder capacity was embraced - and in a matter of months, not years.