Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gayle Ralph, waves off the Pioneer Run
CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF THE ROYAL IRISH AUTOMOBILE CLUB
On 13 June this year, two key dates in Irish automotive history were celebrated when a remarkable selection of pioneering motor cars and motorcycles dating from the dawn of motoring up to 1918 took part in the RIAC Pioneer Run.
The run took place on the precise 120th anniversary of the 1906 Irish Reliability Trial, traversing the route of the Dublin to Dundalk leg of that historic event as part of Irish Motoring Week, marking the 125th anniversary of the Royal Irish Automobile Club( RIAC).
Ireland’ s first motorist was Dr. John Colohan of Blackrock, Dublin, who imported a 4hp Benz in 1896. A few years later a cluster of enthusiasts, motivated by Motor News founder and Irish Cyclist editor RJ Mecredy, formed what was originally called‘ The Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, Irish Branch’ in 1901. The new club’ s first meeting took place on 12 March of that year in the Metropole Hotel on Sackville Street- now O’ Connell Street- in Dublin.
Set up to promote‘ interests of automobilism’, the organisation went on to adopt the simpler title of the Irish Automobile Club. It was subsequently awarded the‘ Royal’ prefix, in recognition of the humanitarian work carried out by Club members during the Great War. Many Irish servicemen, returning injured from the Front, were transported to convalescent homes on members’ vehicles, converted into ambulances for this purpose.
In 1903 the Club was the organiser of one of the great spectacles of early motoring, the Gordon Bennett Race. The first international motor race held in Ireland took place on 2 July on a circuit of closed roads in Leinster. The participants covered a total of 327.5 miles, and the race was won for Germany by Belgian driver Camille Jenatzy on a 60hp Mercedes Simplex.
In 1906 the Club combined two Georgian terrace properties in Dublin, 33 and 34 Dawson Street, to
40 The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run