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Description: | This rally was organized by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the passing of the 'Locomotives on the highways Act' of 1896.
170 cars set out in fog from Whitehall at 9.30am to travel the 95 mile route. Petrol, steam and electric cars entered. The first halt was at Egham at 11.30am, followed by lunch in Winchester. The weather had improved by the time the first car arrived in Winchester at 1.26pm, which was a French manufactured car owned by a Mr Toovey and known as "Bumper". 100 cars stopped for lunch here, some drivers just having a snack but about 80 went to the George Hotel for a proper sit-down meal. Most of the assembled cars were of foreign manufacture, and they formed 3 long rows under the gaze of King Alfred's statue.
They had entered the town via the Worthy Road and North Walls and resumed their journey at 3.10pm by way of the High Street and Southgate Street, which still remained open for ordinary traffic. There was another brief stop at Bishops Waltham before they arrived at Cosham where as many cars as possible were halted so that they could take part in a procession led by a mounted policeman, to Portsmouth Town Hall where the drivers were received by the Mayor, Major Dupree.
Cars began arriving in Southsea by about 6pm and by 8pm over 100 had arrived. There was an evening dinner for the drivers hosted by the Hon J Scott Montagu.
Stagglers continued to arrive in Winchester until 9pm.
Of the 174 cars that started from Whitehall, 135 completed the rally, 39 did not for various reasons including breaking the rules, and many had not intended to go all the way to Southsea. 41 made the journey non-stop, with another 5 only having 1 stop not caused by breakdown. The journey took an average of 6 hours 48 mins, with an average speed of 14 miles an hour and a cost of 6s 3d.
St John's Rooms are in the upper background.
Copy photograph.
Reference:
Hampshire Chronicle, 23rd November, 1901.p. 6 | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Hampshire Library and Information Service - Hampshire County Council | Subjects: | car rally motor Automobile Club of Great Britain horse Winchester costume cart Broadway crowd bicycle | Temporal: | start=1901-11-01; end=1901-11-30; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | Copied by: Brimfield, J | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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