From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
GRAND PRIX GIRL: When the Royal Irish Automobile Club staged its series of three Irish International Grand Prix in the years between 1929 and 1931, the club overcame many formidable obstacles. However in 1930, it wisely gave way when faced with a particularly determined female.
The lady in question was the beautiful Charlotte, wife of the most famous racing driver of the day, Rudi Caracciola, works-driver for the Mercedes team. The couple had flown in a private plane to Ireland where Rudi was to drive a big Mercedes SSK in the Éireann Cup Race, which formed part of the Irish International Grand Prix. Charlotte, or Charly as she liked to be known, always accompanied her husband Rudi to race meetings and, like other wives of a later era, assisted by undertaking timekeeping duties for her husband's team. While not uncommon, the ban on women in the pit area at the Irish Grand Prix was something neither she nor Rudi had anticipated. Representations were made to the organisers without success and there it looked as if the matter would rest. Except that officialdom had not anticipated the ingenuity of this determined lady.
On race day, Charly came to the pit area dressed in men's clothing. As always, she was the centre of attention, and was photographed with her famous husband, and she went wherever she wanted in the supposedly male-only pit area. In the circumstances, officialdom did the only thing it could. It gave in, and in the face of being made to look foolish, immediately ended its ban on women in the pit area. With this minor, but important matter settled, Rudi could concentrate on his forthcoming race, which he did to fine effect, scoring a famous victory in the Irish Grand Prix.
As things turned out, he was only to race on one other occasion in Ireland, at the Ards Tourist Trophy Races. The beautiful and determined Charly died in an avalanche while skiing at Arosa in 1934.
NOTHING NEW ABOUT DUBLIN TRAFFIC: Strange as it may seem, Dublin's traffic problems have been occupying the minds of planners for far longer than one might imagine; since the 1920s, in fact.
In 1927 serious consideration was given to the construction of a vast new underground car-park and bus station together with a new bridge over the River Liffey. The underground facilities were proposed for a site of several acres alongside the Custom House, roughly where the most westerly buildings of today's Financial Services Centre are located.
The main exit of the underground facility would have linked up with a new road travelling across a proposed bridge situated exactly where the Matt Talbot Bridge is today. The underground area would have extended under part of what is now the site of the bus station at Busaras.
Apart from placing a city centre bus station underground, the main attraction of the proposal was the provision of an east circular road that was intended to divert traffic away from College Green, which was then the congestion centre of Dublin and was the source of very significant delays and danger to pedestrians.
Supporters of the scheme included Senator Oliver St John Gogarty, himself a keen Rolls Royce enthusiast and Alderman Alfred "Alfie" Byrne. Despite enthusiastic words of support from many quarters, when it came to government money to put the proposal into action, none was forthcoming and this interesting proposal simply faded away.