Determining the winner would be a matter of adding the sector times for each of competitors who finished the course, the winner being the man with the lowest aggregate time.
On Lap 1 the entrants would turn right before Kilcullen to complete the short loop. On Lap 2 they would go through Kilcullen and the long loop, Lap 3 would be the short loop again - you have the idea, except that Laps 6 and 7 would both be of the long loop.
Total race distance would be 328 miles, which was a long journey for a car of the time. Races then were as much about endurance as speed, and each car carried a chauffeur as well as a driver, he was a mechanic would a hop out of the car to deal with the numerous punctures and minor mechanical emergencies.
Driving For Germany
None of the German team's drivers were German, but all drove chain-drive 'Simplex' Mercedes. The company had not yet become Mercedes-Benz, and Mercedes was just a brand name of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft.
Sources quote differing power ratings for the cars, ranging from 60bhp to 90bhp. I believe the disrepancies arise because the standard Simplex of 1903 had a 9.2 litre 60bhp engine, but three 90bhp 12.7 litre machines were specially prepared by Mercedes for the race.
Those 90bhp cars were then destroyed in a factory fire along with 87 other vehicles. In consequence, Mercedes borrowed three privately owned Simplex cars, and the company's website simple says those vehicles were 'modified for the race in record time', but does not specifically state if the engines were upgraded.
Baron Pierre de Caters was a Belgian. An all-purpose wealthy adventurer, he was to become the first Belgian to fly an aircraft, in 1908.
Baron Camille Jenatzy was also Belgian, and a wild one by all accounts. In 1899 he was the first person to drive faster than a mile a minute, reaching 65 mph in an electric car.
Foxhall Keene was American, and another playboy. He was interested in many sports and was considered the top Polo player in the US. Polo had been introduced there by Gordon Bennett.
Driving For Britain
As a gesture to the (not yet independent) Irish, and possibly to ward off any Fenian intervention, the British team chose the colour 'shamrock green' for their shaft-drive Napier cars. The colour, renamed to 'British racing green', was adopted permanently.
Selwyn Edge was born in Australia, and was brought to England at the age of three. He had been disqualified from the 1900 race for not having British tyres, he broke down in 1901, and won in 1902, so this was his fourth Gordon Bennett adventure.
Charles Jarrott was a former racing cyclist. He entered the Berlin-Paris race of 1901 in a Panhard, coming tenth.
J.W.Stockswas another former racing cyclist. He was manager of the De Dion Bouton Company’s British branch.
Edge's Napier had a 13.72 litre engine rated at 80bhp, the other two drivers had 7.7 litre 45bhp engines.
Driving For France
Rene de Knyff
0 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete