Motoring historian Bob Montgomery browses the archives
Remembering John Brown: Today's motorists may worry about restrictive legislation, endless road works and congestion. But John Brown of Longhurst near Belfast faced entirely different problems when he imported the first car into Ireland in 1896.
Brown was already well known to the Irish scientific community through his research into electric theory and electrochemistry and had been interested in acquiring some form of mechanical transport since 1894. His interest took him to France where the automobile was making rapid progress, to the home of a well-known motorist, M Doazan of St Omer, the proud possessor of a Serpollet steam car.
Having sampled the delights of travelling in the Serpollet, Brown and his new-found friend set out for the workshops of Panhard and Levassor in Paris, where Doazan intended to buy a new automobile of the petrol-engined variety. Brown, in turn, bought the Serpollet and imported it into Ireland on March 6th, 1896.
Coke-fired, steel-tyred and weighing 27 cwt, the Serpollet had a two-cylinder horizontal engine under the driver's seat - fine in cool weather but uncomfortable in warmer conditions!
Starting the Serpollet was the work of more than a few minutes. It involved connecting it to a stovepipe about 15 feet long. Once this was in place, the fire was started and in two to three hours steam was up. Once the engine was warmed and coupled up, a few strokes of a hand pump lever allowed the journey to begin.
Steering was of the imprecise tiller type and the engine was very quiet, although that hardly mattered in a vehicle of this weight running on steel wheels.
Not surprisingly, John Brown's Serpollet was something of a flop in Ireland because of the great difference in the quality of Irish roads compared with those in France. In one sense this should not have made a great difference as the Serpollet was limited by law to a top speed of 4 mph and, as well as its driver or tillerman, had to be accompanied by two other persons, one walking ahead with a red flag.
After importing the Serpollet, John Brown went on to become the founder of the Irish Roads Improvement Association. A far-seeing man indeed!
THE GORDON BENNET YEAR: 2003 is a year of anniversaries, but the most significant is the centenary of the Irish Gordon Bennett Race in Athy in 1903. The race has been commemorated annually by the members of the Irish Veteran & Vintage Car Club who are planning a very special celebration this year. Expect up to 250 magnificent old cars from far and near at the club's event in June.
The Irish Gordon Bennett Race was pivotal in the history of motorsport. It's no exaggeration to say that it was the true starting point of international motorsport, the modern Grand Prix series coming directly from the Irish race in 1903.
The race could not have been run without the enthusiastic assistance of the Irish Automobile Club. Two days later it organised a sprint event along the main road of Dublin's Phoenix Park - once again this was a very significant event marking the birth of Irish motorsport.
In the event, one of the drivers, Baron de Forrest, driving a Mors racing car, set a new world record for the flying kilometre at 85.9 mph, the fastest a man had then travelled in a car.