At the weekend a friend and I headed to see some of the vintage cars taking part in the Gordon Bennett Rally. The Rally is organised by the Irish Veteran and Vintage Car Club every year. They select 3 separate routes for the cars to take and it is run over the weekend. There can be up to a hundred cars taking part and the participants come from far and near, this year two cars came from Australia. James Gordon Bennett (1841-1918) born from an Irish Mother and Scottish father and who owned the New York Herald Tribune. To promote the Tribune he sponsored many different sporting and expedition events such as a balloon and airplane race and a yacht race which eventually became The Americas Cup Yacht Race. In 1900 he sponsored the first international motor racing event held on a closed circuit The Gordon Bennett Cup Race. The fourth race was held in Ireland and these races paved the way for Grand Prix racing. Today the event is primarily a tourist event held every June bank holiday in the midlands. We headed to Burtown House to catch some of the cars. When we got there many of the cars had gone but we saw quite a few. Burtown House itself is also very nice with a cafe, gallery and lovely gardens, well worth a visit when in the area.
