MOTOR RACING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1636, 8 July 1903, Page 27

MOTOR RACING

THE GORDON BENNETT RAGE. WON BY A GERMAN COMPETITOR. LONDON, July 2. For tho Gordon Bennett motor-car race twelve competitors started. The weather was glorious. Crowds of sightsee.* b camped all night along the line of route, paying huge prices for tents. Edge, on a Napier machine, led for the first two rounds. The speed was terrific. A later report shows that a German competitor is leading, with a French* man next, accidents having stopped thf Englishman who first led. LONDON, July 3. The distance traversed in the GordonBennett motor-car race was 3731 miles. The maximum speed attained was 80 miles an hour. Mr S. F. Edge Cast year’s winner) was compelled to stop to repair a tire. Mr Jarrott’s car snapped in halves, owing to defective steering gear. Tha driver’s collar-bone was broken. Five of the twelve competitors finished. Jenatzy, a German, with a Mercedes car, came in first, covering the distance in ten hours fifteen minutes, beating Rene De Knyff (France) on a Panhard car, by ten and a half minutes. The latter lost time through taking a wrong turning. M. Henri Farman (France), who also drove a Panhard car, was a minute and a half behind Knyff, and Gabriel was fourth. [The race took place over a speciallysqlected course in the province of Leinster, Ireland. In order to legalise the race, a special Bill had to be passed by the Imperial Parliament The road selected is one of the finest in Europe. In view of the great financial benefits to be derived from the influx of thousands of visitors from Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, and America, large sums'were expended by the Irish County Councils in having the road put in a suitable condition. The fact that no accidents are recorded in a race through such a thickly populated country speaks very highly of the patrolling precautions taken by the Roya] Irish Constabulary, and is in marked contrast to the recent devastating race from Paris to Madrid—summarily stopped by the Governments of both countries—in which ten persons were killed before a third of the distance had been covered.}