From a competitor’s point of view, what I love most about this race is the way people drive. If, as most of us are, you are racing a car with skinny beaded edge tyres, an exceptionally high centre of gravity, brakes on the rear wheels alone as well as all the usual distractions of cars that are 100 or more years old (centre throttles, crash gearboxes, having to pump the fuel by hand etc.), you can’t be messing about out there – especially at Goodwood. And of all the races I’ve done, not just at the track but anywhere, the overall standard of driving is the highest.
If there’s a question I am asked more than any other when talking about this race, it’s ‘who the hell is or was S.F. Edge’. It seems the name of Selwyn Francis Edge is not quite as easily recalled as a Moss or a Clark. So briefly and for anyone still unenlightened; Edge was a pioneer in the early days of the car, although his career in the business lasted until they were a very mature product indeed.
An Australian by birth, Edge came to the UK aged three in 1871 and first made his name as a cyclist. He was instrumental in the establishment of Napier as Britain’s first truly successful racing marque, winning his class in the 1900 1,000-Mile Trial. He then won the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup race from Paris to Innsbruck, though it should be said largely by dint of being the only one of the six competitors to finish the race. But his achievement in setting a new 24 hour driving record of 66mph at the yet to be opened Brooklands in 1907 should be recognised as a quite extraordinary feat for the era. Indeed the record would stand for 18 years and when it finally fell, he took it back again aged 54 in a Spyker, averaging 74mph over two 12 hour sessions, night driving at Brooklands having been banned.
In business in addition to his interest in Napier, he was involved in selling De Dions and Gladiators and would eventually take over AC Cars. He retired from the industry when AC proved unable to weather the 1929 crash and went into liquidation. Edge died in Eastbourne in 1940.