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Gordon Bennett Motor Race 1903
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Leinster Leader, Saturday 18 April 1903 – Page 7.
THE GORDON-BENNETT RACE.
To the Editor of the “Leinster Leader.”
Dear Sir,-Having just returned from a run around the Gordon-Bennett
Cup course in company with Messrs. S. F. Edge and C. Jarrott, two of the
competitors in the international race, I thought it might interest your
readers to learn that these gentlemen expressed themselves as being very
pleased with the course generally.
Of course, much remains to be done in order to render the roads perfect for racing at the speeds which will be attained by the competitors in this great race, but I have no doubt that the improvements required will be completed in good time, when the course will prove as nearly an ideal one as it is possible to procure. One thing struck me very forcibly with regard to the course, as offering serious obstruction and danger to competitors, and that is the number of animals met straying about the roads. We met many goats, donkeys, pigs, etc., and quantities of geese and other fowl. Everyone who has travelled much by road knows the contrariness of the browsing donkey, and roadside goat or pig; and the danger from loose animals to the speedy motorist can be more readily imagined than described.
Perhaps this letter may serve as a note of warning to the local
authorities along the route of the race, and cause them to
see that the course is absolutely cleared of all stray animals
before the contest takes place, and that the owners of the animals be
compelled to keep them under proper control, and somewhere else than
on the public road. –
Yours sincerely
J. C. PERCY.
Dublin, 14th April, 1903.