From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
When F1 came to Cork: The 1938 Cork Grand Prix has the distinction of being the only occasion on which cars of the then current Grand Prix formula raced in Ireland. Races had been held on the very fast Carrigrohane Circuit in 1936 and 1937 but the Irish Motor Racing Club and the Cork and District Motor Club joined forces to promote the 1938 race and attracted generous financial support from Joe McGrath of the Irish Hospitals Trust.
Efforts were made to attract entries from all the top Continental teams. As things turned out, only the French Delahaye and Bugatti "works" teams came. Alfa Romeo intended to be there, but its star driver, Nuvolari, sustained serious burns at the preceding race at Pau and was unfit. The German teams were busy developing new cars and didn't need an extra race in Ireland.
Despite this disappointment, Bugatti used the Cork race to make a half-hearted return to Grand Prix racing with a new straight-eight 3-litre car to be driven by Jean Pierre Wimille, while "Bira" was entered in the 2.9 Maserati which went on to finish a fine second.
Winner was René Dreyfus driving one of the two 4,500 cc Delahaye cars entered - surely one of the ugliest racing cars ever. It may have been ugly, but it was clocked at 145 mph over a kilometre on the Carrigrohane Straight on its way to what turned out to be a very easy victory. Interestingly, the new Bugatti was even faster at 147.25 mph but its driver, Wimille, showed no desire to find its limits and dropped back until he eventually retired with "piston problems" after 22 laps.
The first, and only, Cork Grand Prix was a success in terms of organisation and drivers were very impressed with the fast Carrigrohane Circuit. However, the withdrawal of Joe McGrath's support for the proposed 1939 race left the organising clubs unable to find the support needed for a race of this calibre.
This was a great pity, for in 1939 there were "factory-teams" from Mercedes, Auto-Union, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Bugatti, Delahaye and Talbot which would certainly have attended what would surely have become a classic Irish race.
Ireland's First Motorist: For many years, Dr John Colohan was widely accepted as Ireland's first motorist. Technically, that is probably correct in that it is likely he was the first Irishman to drive a car, which he claimed to have done on the Continent, probably around 1892.
In November 1896, upon the repeal of the Light Locomotives Bill, he imported a 4 ½ bhp Benz Comfortable into Ireland.
The doctor was something of a self-publicist, and down the years his claim to be the first motorist in Ireland was generally accepted.
However, that distinction belongs to John Shaw Brown, whose early motoring exploits were detailed in this column several weeks ago.
Brown imported a Serpollet steam car into Ireland in March 1896, well in advance of Colohan. Claims of motoring primacy are often made for two other claimants, Sir Horace Plunkett and Sir William GD Goff, a Waterford businessman.
Neither claim stands up to scrutiny, although Goff was a pioneer motorist who played a leading role as chairman of the Irish Automobile Club in most early motoring developments in Ireland.
Colohan was involved in many aspects of early motoring in Ireland, including one well-publicised escapade in June 1899. He made a wager of £50 with Mr Harry Vernon that he could drive from Dublin to Galway inside 12 hours. The route was subsequently changed to one from Blackrock, where the good doctor lived, to Kilbeggan and back, a total of 130 miles.
Colohan won his wager, completing the distance inside 11 hours despite, he claimed, losing over 30 minutes after taking a wrong turning. The journey was completed at an average speed of just over 11 mph, and just inside the 12 mph speed limit then in force.