The Gordon Bennett route takes in Counties Carlow, Kildare and Laois.
The 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup Race came to Ireland because of the remarkable victory by Selwyn F. Edge in the 1902 race. The rules required the winning country to stage the following year’s race and so unexpected was the British victory and so strong the establishment opposition to motoring in that country that there was little hope of the race being staged there.

Many thousands of visitors came by boat to ...