Selwyn Edge - Motor Racing

Motor Racing

Recognizing the value of publicity gained from auto racing, which no other British marque did, Edge entered an 8 hp (6 kW) four-cylinder Napier in the Automobile Club's 1900 Thousand Miles (1600 km) Trial of the Automobile Club on behalf of Edward Kennard; driven by Edge, with Kennard along, on a circuit from Newbury to Edinburgh and back, she won her class, being one of only thirty-five finishers (of sixty-four starters) and one of just twelve to average the requisite 12 mph (19 km/h) in England and 10 mph (16 km/h) in Scotland. He did the same (with C. S. Rolls his riding mechanic) at the 837 mi (1350 km) Paris-Toulouse-Paris rally in June; the car would be eliminated due to ignition trouble.

In the 1901 Gordon Bennett Cup, Edge entered a special 17 liter Napier which he was only able to test en route because it had been completed on 25 May, only four days before the event. Montague Napier was the riding mechanic. The car was too powerful for the Dunlop tyres and fitting new French tyres led to disqualification, since they were not of the same national of origin. In the concurrent Paris-Bordeaux rally, it retired with clutch trouble.

For the 1902 Gordon Bennett, Edge's Napier was the sole British entrant; with his cousin, Cecil Edge, as riding mechanic, he won, at an average 31.8 mph (51.2 km/h) (though by default, since the French entrants all fell out). The preparation of the car was hurried with some parts being fitted on the train to Paris. Additionally the second gear had not been hardened properly so, on arriving in Paris, Edge got the gear out, contacted his friend Adolphe Clément (Adolphe Clément-Bayard), borrowed his factory, hardened the gear, reassembled everything, and went on to win the race.

At the 1903 Gordon Bennett, Edge had an 80 hp (60 kW) Napier, the Type K5, but was disqualified. Edge (with Arthur McDonald, manager of Napiers' Genoa factory, as riding mechanic) fared no better with the K5 in the 1904 Gordon Bennett in Germany.

In 1903 Edge's eye for publicity created a world first when, on October 2, Dorothy Levitt won her class at the Southport Speed Trials driving his 12 Hp Gladiator, shocking British society as she was the first woman, a working secretary, to compete in a 'motor race'.

... "Selwyn Edge, Director of the Napier Car Company and famous racing driver ... spotted Miss Dorothy Levitt amongst his staff, a beautiful secretary with long legs and eyes like pools. In a bid to promote his cars ... Edge decided that she should take part in a race, though first he had to teach her to drive. She surpassed his expectations by winning her class in the 1903 Southport Speed Trial, and proved such a good driver that she was taken on by De Dion for a major publicity stunt." Jean Francois Bouzanquet

In June, 1907 Edge broke the 24-hour distance record, driving a 60 hp (44.7 kW) Napier six, at the newly-opened Brooklands track, accompanied by riding-mechanic J. Blackburn. He covered 1,581 miles (2544 km), 1,310 yards at an average speed of 65.905 mph (106.06 km/h). This record stood for 18 years. In 1910 Edge was awarded the Dewar Trophy for his drive in top gear in a 60 hp (45 kW) Napier on the route London-Edinburgh-London.

In 1922 Edge returned to Brooklands in a Spyker setting a new "Double 12" world record covering 1,782 miles 1,066 yards (2,868 km 693 m) at an average speed of 74.27 mph (119.53 km/h) for the aggregate 24 hours.

His final contribution to motor racing was the inauguration of the Campbell Circuit at Brooklands in 1937.