FEATURE
Bringing the Gordon Bennett Napier cars together is always a highlight of the London to Brighton Run .
and it formed the basis of a national racing colours system that allocated red to Italy , blue to France and white or silver to Germany . You can often spot these country-specific colours still underpinning the sponsorship on today ’ s racing cars .
So much for the plans ; unfortunately , it didn ’ t turn out to be Napier ’ s day , despite entering three cars to its latest racing design . Selwyn Edge was the only team driver to finish , in a bigger , 80-horsepower Napier , but when onlookers threw buckets of water over his smoking tyres , his last place was disqualified for receiving outside assistance ! The winner was Camille Jenatzy ’ s 60hp Mercedes .
One of the 7.7-litre Napiers had been campaigned in the race by Charles Jarrott , and although it crashed and rolled over after its steering broke , the car somehow managed to avoid the scrapheap . Indeed , you can wave and cheer it along its way on the Veteran Car Run this year , with a brave Doug Hill of the National Motor Museum in firm control of its threespeed gearbox … and its exhilarating 80mph potential !
In fact the car , this ancient British racing survivor , will be getting a very special send-off in the dawn light of the start . Joining it is the country ’ s oldest racewinner of all , the 1902 Napier 30hp , owned for many years by Argentinian collector Daniel Sielecki . And accompanying it is the Napier 100hp driven in the 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup race by wealthy industrialist Mark Mayhew , a charismatic machine now owned by the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands .
Nine years ago , this incredible , green-painted threesome all took part on the Run together ; for 2022 , all three are entered once again , and it ’ s hoped they will all provide a crowd-pleasing spectacle . The 1903 45hp car went through a succession of custodians , and numerous demonstrations of its plucky capabilities , until in 1951 its then-owner sold it to a collector in the USA and the car left its home country despite furious protests from within the veteran car community .
Happily , a £ 150,000 National Heritage Memorial Fund grant and a fundraising drive organised by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu brought this unique piece of British motoring heritage back home in 2013 . It is on permanent display in the National Motor Museum . But there it is mostly static , motionless , silent , while on the 2022 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run it will be running in fine , rowdy fettle for everyone to enjoy .
A venerable hot-rod , a British Racing Green pioneer , and the starting point for a motor sport industry that ’ s made the UK a world-leader . Time for those two words again , then : Gordon Bennett ! -
34 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run