The Gordon Bennett Cup winning 1902 Napier car
The last two years have seen a keen interest in the story of Formula One, especially in cinema with the documentaries Senna and 1: Life on the Limit (released last week) and Ron Howard's Rush. Our new Napier 1903 Cologne continues this exploration and celebration of the history of motor racing by paying tribute to the famous British race cars of the early 20th century.
The 1903 Napier in particular represents the pioneering era of continental road races and the Gordon Bennett Cup, as it remains one of Britain’s oldest surviving racing cars.
The Gordon Bennett International Cup for automobiles ran between 1900 and 1905 for teams of cars representing individual nations. The rules for the competition stipulated that each car had to be wholly constructed within the country of origin - hence Britain's disqualification for having to resort to emergency French tires. There was also a requirement that the winning nation should stage the following years’ event. Famously the races came to be the origins of traditional national racing colours.
In 1902, Britain’s Selwyn Francis Edge won the Cup with Napier, and the following year, when Britain played host, they painted their cars a striking dark green. Our distinctive cologne bottle recognises Napier’s influence upon the creation of the now iconic colour, British Racing Green.
The Gordon Bennett Race in 1903. S.F. Edge, Charles Jarrott and J.W. Stocks
For the race, Napier constructed and entered a small and light 50 horse power car. The race covered 350 miles from Paris to Innsbruck in conjunction with the Paris-Vienna race. There were 219 entries for Paris-Vienna but only six of the drivers were competing for the Gordon Bennett Trophy; three French and three British cars.
The race proved highly challenging for these early, primitive vehicles and all of Edge’s competitors were eliminated after a steep climb up the 2000 meter high Arlberg pass. All Edge found himself needing to do was finish the race in order to win the Gordon Bennett Trophy for England. He and the Napier car achieved the task, arriving at Innsbruck with an official time of 11 hours, 2 minutes, 52.6 seconds. He then continued on to Vienna, finishing 11th overall.
The year after in 1903, Edge finished 5th in the Gordon Bennett Napier car that fronts our cologne bottle.
The car was sold afterwards and re-bodied for road use. It went to America in the 1950s and became a part of the Harrah Collection. It has been part of the National Motor Museum’s Collection since 1987 whilst an older 1902 Gordon Bennett Napier also survives in private ownership, restored from original parts.
