July 1899 an most of the automobile clubs had received Gordon Bennet’s invitaion for the Cup races. Distributed by the french automobile clunb, the A.C.F. A very shor summary of what the race serie would involve. JGB also proposed initially NOT to use his name, but instead to name it Columbia Challenge Cup.
Text and photos with courtesy of hathitrust hathitrust.org, compiled by motorracingistory.com.
THE AUTOMOTOR AND HORSELESS VEHICLE JOURNAL – Vol. III, No. 34, July 15th, 1899
FOREIGN NOTES.
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MR. GORDON BENNETT, of the New York Herald, has offered to the Automobile Club of France a challenge cup to be open to the world, which the Club have unanimously accepted. The following are the donor’s suggested conditions for competing for the cup:
– The cup to be, in the first instance, in the keeping of the Automobile Club de France;
– any club in any country can issue a challenge for it in the name of one of its members; the cup to belong, for the time being, to the winning club, and in case of dissolution to be passed to the leading club in the country;
– the first contest for the cup to take place in France, afterwards in the country of the winning club;
– the name to be given to the race and the distance to be decided at a future meeting, Mr. Bennett, however, suggesting the „Columbia” as being a suitable title for the cup.
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In addition to the Columbia Challenge Cup, Mr. Bennett has promised a donation of 25,000 francs for prizes in the event of the Paris and St. Petersburg race being satisfactorily arranged to take place during the year 1900. There appears to be, therefore, still some prospect of this event coming off, and in the meantime MM. Thevin and Houry have been delegated to report on the route, a start being made for this purpose during the coming month.
The New York Automobile Club (instead of, as at first named, the Automobile Club of America) has now been definitely started. The programme is an ambitious one, and, like the Automobile Club of Great Britain, those responsible for its conduct are making it thoroughly understood that the organisation will have nothing what- ever to do with any commercial undertaking. It is supported by some of the very best people in the States, and one of the first actions of the Committee is to arrange an interchange of courtesies between the various automobile clubs of Europe. The temporary address of the Club is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
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THE New York Automobile Club (instead of, as at first named, the Automobile Club of America) has now been definitely started. The programme is an ambitious one, and, like the Automobile Club of Great Britain, those responsible for its conduct are making it thoroughly understood that the organisation will have nothing whatever to do with any commercial undertaking. It is supported by some of the very best people in the States, and one of the first actions of the Committee is to arrange an interchange of courtesies between the various automobile clubs of Europe. The temporary address of the Club is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
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