Selwyn Francis Edge was an Australian businessman and racing car driver. He was born in Concord township,[1] near Sydney, on 29 March 1868. He died 12 February 1940 in Eastbourne, Sussex, England.[2]
At age three,[1] he was taken to London where in his teens he grew famous as a bicycle racer. He worked as manager of the Dunlop offices in London and in 1896 bought his first car, a De Dion-Bouton.
In 1899, he went into partnership with pioneering motorist Charles Jarrott and Herbert Duncan to found De Dion-Bouton British and Colonial Ltd as importers of cars. He had become friends with Montague Napier (of Napier & Son), another keen cyclist, and in 1898 asked Napier to carry out some improvements to his Panhard. In 1899, along with Harvey du Cros, Edge formed the Motor Vehicle Company Ltd to sell these improved cars, made by Napiers (Edge paid ₤400, selling at ₤500),[3] as well as Gladiators and Clemént-Panhards.[1]
Recognizing the value of publicity gained from auto racing, which no other British marque did,[1] Edge entered an 8 hp (6 kW) four-cylinder Napier in the Automobile Club's 1900 Thousand Miles (1600 km) Trial of the Automobile Club on behalf of Edward Kennard; driven by Edge, with Kennard along, on a circuit from Newbury to Edinburgh and back, she won her class, being one of only thirty-five finishers (of sixty-four starters)[4] and one of just twelve to average the requisite 12 mph (19 km/h) in England and 10 mph (16 km/h) in Scotland.[5] He did the same (with C. S. Rolls his riding mechanic) at the 837 mi (1350 km) Paris-Toulouse-Paris rally in June; the car would be eliminated due to ignition trouble.[5]
In the 1901 Gordon Bennett Cup, Edge entered a special 17 liter Napier and was only able to test en route (she was completed 25 May, only four days before the event), Montague Napier serving as his riding mechanic; she overpowered her Dunlops, and fitting new (French) rubber led to disqualification, since they were not of the same nation of origin.[6] In the concurrent Paris-Bordeaux rally, she retired with clutch trouble.[7] For the 1902 Gordon Bennett, Edge's Napier was the sole British entrant; with his cousin, Cecil Edge, as riding mechanic, he won, at an average 31.8 mph (51.2 km/h) (though by default, since the French entrants all fell out).[7]
At the 1903 Gordon Bennett, Edge had an 80 hp (60 kW) Napier, the Type K5, but was disqualified.[7] Edge (with Arthur McDonald, manager of Napiers' Genoa factory, as riding mechanic) fared no better with the K5 in the 1904 Gordon Bennett in Germany. He also was interested in motor boat racing and entered the 1903 Harmsworth trophy race held on the River Lee, Queenstown, Ireland, in a boat called Napier I, steered by Mr. Campbell Muir, which won.
Edge broke the 24-hour distance record, driving a 60 hp (44.7 kW) Napier six, at the newly-opened Brooklands track in June, 1907. He covered 1,581 miles (2544 km) at an average 65.905 mph (106.06 km/h). This record stood for 18 years.[7] In 1910 Edge was awarded the Dewar Trophy for his drive in top gear in a 60 hp (45 kW) Napier on the route London-Edinburgh-London. [8]
He sold his company, S.F. Edge Ltd, to Napier in 1912, for ₤120,000.[1] The sale included an agreement not to be involved in motor manufacturing for seven years. During this period he devoted himself to farming. From 1910 until at least 1922 he resided at Gallops Homestead, Ditchling, Sussex.[9] In 1917 he was appointed controller of the agricultural machinery department of the Ministry of Munitions.[10]
In 1922 Edge returned to Brooklands in a Spyker setting a new "Double 12" world record covering 1,782 miles 1,066 yards (2,868 km 693 m) at an average speed of 74.27 mph (119.53 km/h) for the aggregate 24 hours.[11]
When the embargo on motor manufacturing expired in 1919 he started to build up a shareholding in AC Cars, gaining full control in 1922. Edge purchased the firm outright for ₤135,000 in 1927.[12] When AC collapsed in 1929,[1] Edge sold his interest in the company. He made one final contribution to motor racing, inaugurating the Campbell Circuit at Brooklands in 1937,[1] but took no further business interest in the motor industry. He died in 1940.
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Wise, David B., "Edge: Progenitor of the six-cylinder engine", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis Publishing Ltd, 1974), Volume 5, p.589.
- ^ Obituary, The Manchester Guardian, 13 February 1940, Page 3.
- ^ Hull, Peter G. "Napier: The Stradivarius of the Road", in Northey (1974), Volume 13, p.1485.
- ^ Hull (1974), p. 1483.
- ^ a b Hull (1974), p. 1486.
- ^ Hull (1974), pp. 1486–7.
- ^ a b c d Hull (1974), p. 1487.
- ^ Motor Sport, January 1952, p.21.
- ^ Kelly's Directory, 1911, Westmeston, West Sussex; The Manchester Guardian, 8 September 1921, p.5; The Manchester Guardian, 8 April 1922, p.9.
- ^ Obituary, The Manchester Guardian, February 13, 1940, Page 3.
- ^ See: The Manchester Guardian, 21 July 1922, Page 7.
- ^ See: The Manchester Guardian, 17 March 1927, Page 11.
Books
- My motoring reminiscences, Selwyn Francis Edge, Foulis, 1934.
External links
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