From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE RED FLAG : One of the most enduring myths of early motoring concerns the use of the "Red Flag". It's widely believed that up until the Emancipation Act of November 1896, it was necessary for a man with red flag to walk ahead of any motor vehicle on the roads of Britain and Ireland.
Indeed, the Locomotives Act of 1865 stated ". . . one of such persons, while any locomotive is in motion, shall precede such locomotive on foot by not less than 60 yards, and shall carry a red flag to warn riders and drivers of horses of the approach of such locomotives and shall signal the driver thereof when it shall be necessary to stop, and shall assist horses and carriages drawn by horses, passing the same".
In fact, this proviso was rescinded in the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act of 1878, after which it was still necessary for a man to walk ahead of any self-propelled vehicle, but the red flag was no longer required. This amendment also reduced the distance between man and vehicle from 60 yards to 20 yards.
The speed at which self-propelled vehicles could travel, however, remained unchanged at 14 mph, which was reduced by the local Government Board in Britain to 12 mph. In Ireland, with a somewhat better attitude towards the motor car, Sir Henry Robinson, vice-chairman of the Local Government Board in Ireland, and an enthusiastic motorist who took part in the Irish Automobile Tour of 1900, ensured that the higher limit was retained.
THE GORDON VERSUS BENNETT RACE: Such was the lack of knowledge among many ordinary Irish people of motor cars that all sorts of fanciful notions arose in the run-up to the Irish Gordon Bennett Race in 1903. Many believed the race was between two men - Gordon and Bennett, each with a team of six cars!
However, people were not slow to cash in on the visitors. In a 1974 RTÉ Radio programme, Mary Wright, from near Kilcullen, recalled the experience of an acquaintance, Father O'Farrell. It seems the priest "was on a visit to his home and took a walk with some friends. As they strolled along the racecourse the night before the race, a loud commotion could be heard from a nearby cottage. Thinking that somebody might be killed, Father O'Farrell knocked on the door which was opened by the woman of the house. The priest enquired: 'My good woman, are you in trouble?' 'Well,' she replied, 'it's like this, Father - I'm keeping a bit of a lodging house for this motor race, and I've one penny and one-and-a-halfpenny beds, and in the one-and-a-halfpenny beds they can lie on their back but on the one penny beds they have to lie on their side. So here's a fella and he only paid one penny and he's lying on his back, and, by God, I'll make him lie on his side!' "
In a "first" for motor sport, the Irish race was the first to be officially filmed, the famous Mutoscope and Biograph Company being appointed to undertake the task. Led by the great English pioneer cameraman, Cecil Hepworth, the film was processed beside the track the night after the race, and shown in cinemas in Dublin and Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown) on the next day to packed houses.