Motorsport Memorial -

Count Eliott Zborowski

Complete name: Count William Eliott Morris Zborowski de Montsaulvain

Birth date: 23.Jun.1856

Birth Place: unknown, Essex County, NJ, United States

Death date: 01.Apr.1903

Death Place: La Turbie, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, 06 , France

Nationality: United Kingdom

Gender: male

Age at death: 46

Event date: 01.Apr.1903

Series: hillclimb

Race: Course de Côte Nice-La Turbie

Event type: hillclimb - race

Country: France

Venue: La Turbie

Variant: 15.5-kilometer hillclimb (1901-1903)

Role: driver

Vehicle type: car

Vehicle sub-type: unknown

Vehicle brand/model: Mercedes 60Hp

Vehicle number: ??

Notes:
Count Eliott Zborowski was killed on Wednesday, 01 April 1903, when his Mercedes "Sixty" crashed during the Course de Côte Nice-La Turbie, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, southern France, a few minutes after the start of the 15-kilometer course known as La Corniche.

While approaching the first corner of the climb, a sharp angle too quickly, his car struck a small rock in the pathway causing a sudden swerve and turned over. The Count was dashed headlong against a stone wall, his head hit the wall beside the road and he died shortly after the accident.

It was said that Zborowski's gold cufflinks caught in the hand throttle and inadvertendly opened it as he was approaching the corner, causing the Mercedes to accelerate unexpectedly and crash. This has not yet been confirmed. Possibly the accident was caused by the variable inlet-valve-lift mechanism which was fitted to some of the earlier Mercedes 60Hp, including Count Zborowski's car, having a power-control on the steering-wheel.

Count Eliott Zborowski at the wheel of his Mercedes, Circuit des Ardennes, Bastogne, 31 July 1902.
Collection Jules Beau Circuit des Ardennes, Bastogne, public domain.

According to first press reports, his co-driver and friend Baron Hans Wilhelm van Pallandt who also was in the car, was also severely injured and possibly he died during the following night. But this information must be not true, he eventually recovered, survived the accident and later approached Mercedes for a chance to buy the car. The Baron de Pallange had been Zborowski's riding mechanic for the 1902 Paris to Vienna race, in which they finished fourth in a Mercedes 40Hp. The duo took another fourth place in the Circuit des Ardennes held near Bastogne, France, on 31 July 1902. After his fine showing in those races, Count Zborowski decided to buy one of the new more performant Mercedes "Sixty", as well as other whealty sportsmen did. According to contemporary press reports, it was said that there were a dozen of them in Nice for the Motor Week of 1903 which included La Turbie hillclimb.

Three years before Count Zborowski's fatal accident, Austrian driver Wilhelm Bauer was killed after crashing almost at the same spot on La Turbie hillclimb. On that notoriously dangerous corner, two plaques were placed, one for Bauer and one for Count Zborowski.

As a result of the death of Count Zborowski, the Prefect of Nice stopped the further use of the Nice-La Turbie course for racing and prohibited also the automobile race which was to take place in the following days on the Promenade des Anglais. No events were held at La Turbie hillclimb until 1909.

Count Eliott Zborowski, of Polish descent was born in the United States, in 1856. He was a keen horseman who had taken readily to the new sport of motoring and motor racing. He married Margaret Laura Carey, the daughter of an American millionaire, at the age of 20, living much of his life in England and becoming a naturalised Englishman. As well as an accomplished Mercedes driver, the Count was also a well-known steeple-chase rider, winning events at Punchestown and Fairyhouse. He also lived longtime in Ireland, being personally involved in the organisation of the Irish 1903 Gordon Bennett Race to be held on July 1903 in the 40-mile (64.370-kilometer) road course of Athy, Ireland. But sadly he died before seeing the results of his labours. The Mercedes team which was entered in the race, was destroyed in a disastrous fire which broke out at the Cannstatt factory in Germany, shortly before the event. The racing car production was stopped.

Count Eliott Zborowski's son, Count Louis Zborowski who followed in his father's wheeltracks becoming a professional racing driver, would also die in an accident that occurred during the 1924 Grand Prix of Italy at Monza. Sadly he lost his life at the wheel of a Mercedes, as did his father 21 years earlier. That day he was apparently wearing the same gold cufflinks of his father.

There is a "Eliott Place" in the Bronx, New York City, United States. Eliott Place is named after Count Eliott Zborowski de Montsaulvain, who purchased property from the Morris family in the 19th century and enhanced the grounds with elaborate landscaping.

The marble plaque erected in Count Eliott Zborowski's memory at the place of his accident along the course of La Turbie hillclimb, near Nice, France.
Note that the Count's first name written in the plaque is Elliott instead of Eliott.
Photo taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

Sources:

Book “Mercedes and Auto Racing in the Belle Epoque, 1895-1915” by Robert Dick, McFarland & Co., 2004, ISBN-10 0786418893.
Book "Albo della Gloria: Al Piloti Caduti in Tutto il Mondo al Loro Posto di Combattimento", by Emanuele Carli, Modena, Italy, 1972, page 6 [K1].
Magazine MotorSport, issue of January 1982, article "The Sixty Mercedes" by William Boddy, pages 39/40.
Newspaper Le Français (Paris, France), issue of Thursday, 02 April 1903, page 2, article "La catastrophe de Nice", retrieved by website https://www.retronews.fr/journal/le-francais-1900-1942/2 [number of deceased: two].
Newspaper The New York Times (New York City, NY, United States), issue of Thursday 02 April 1903, page 2, article "Count Zborowski Killed".
Newspaper The New York Times (New York City, NY, United States), issue of Friday 03 April 1903, page 5, article "No Automobile Races On The Nice-La Turbie Road."..
Website Automobile Racing Between The Wars, 1918-1939, by Chris Bloom, page http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/6884/countlouiszborowski.htm .
Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Speed's Ultimate Price: The Toll", page 26, posting by "ReWind", message http://forums.atlasf1.com/showthread.php?postid=1469366#post1469366 .
Website Hill Climb Winners 1897-1949, by Hans Etzrodt, page http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/hcwg.htm .
Website Geneanet, page https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&p=william+eliot+morris&n=zborowski .
Website The Irish Times, article Past Imperfect" by Bob Montgomery, page http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/motors/2005/0713/1120863789021.html .
Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1902.html .
Website New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, page http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=11619 .
Website Find-A-Grave: Count Eliott Zborowski.
E-mail by Rick Kelly, dated 09 June 2004, citing [K1].
E-mail by Jimmy Piget, dated 11 November 2004, citing Count Eliott Zborowski's death certificate.
E-mail by Jean-Louis Mathieu, dated 13 November 2004.
E-mail by David Paine, dated 26 May 2006.
E-mail by David Paine, dated 27 May 2006, citing New Jersey Historical Society [year of birth: 1855].
E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 01 July 2022.