From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
IRELAND'S PIONEER RACING DRIVER: In Ireland's long and varied motoring history few individuals are as fascinating as Leslie Porter, the first Irishman to race an automobile.
Leslie Vernon Porter was born at Curryfree, Co Derry in May 1881, the son of a Captain Surgeon in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Sadly, Leslie Porter's father was to die on the expedition to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum just four years later. As a young man Leslie moved to turn-of-the-century Belfast, where he was the co-founder, with George Coombe, of the Northern Motor Company in 1899, almost certainly the first motor company anywhere in Ireland. In the same year Leslie learned to drive on a Leon Bollée Tricar.
Before long, he was competing in motorcycle events, forming a firm friendship with another competitor, Willie Nixon, who was a near-neighbour of Leslie's in Belfast.
In March 1903 the Dublin-based Motor News magazine carried a report that the two would compete in the forthcoming Paris to Madrid motor race. Porter's preparations for the race were thorough, and included travelling to the Wolseley factory at Adderley Park, Birmingham, to supervise completion of the car which he was to drive. Allocated Number 243, Porter, with Nixon acting as his mécanicien or riding mechanic, set off on the race at 5.32am on Sunday, May 24th 1903.
The 1903 Paris to Madrid Race has passed into the annals of infamy because of the many accidents which occurred, so that by the time the cars arrived at Bordeaux the authorities had stepped in to bring the event to a halt. Research has indicated that 10 people were killed - drivers, mécaniciens and members of the public - who seemed to have no concept of the speed of the cars with often fatal results. Sadly, Willie Nixon dead, a wheel of the Wolseley collapsing and throwing the hapless mécanicien against the wall of a railway hut beside a level crossing. It was a sombre end to theadventure. and several years passed before Leslie Porter ventured into motor sport once more.
However, in 1908 Leslie Porter entered a Calthorpe in the Irish Automobile Club's Reliability Trial. Of the 70 cars which started, only 20 completed the Trial without penalty. One of these was the Calthorpe driven by Leslie Porter who won a gold medal for winning his class. His drive impressed many and as a result the Calthorpe Company invited Leslie to drive a 'factory' production car in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race. Having driven magnificently, Leslie Porter was placed fourth behind three 'racing' cars and some 25 minutes ahead of the fifth placed car - a remarkable achievement in a production car with few modifications. Further success followed in the Coupe des Voiturettes at Boulogne in 1909, and again in 1910, when Porter was part of the Calthorpe team which won the much-prized Regularity Cup.
1910 was the last year Leslie Porter competed in motor sport, instead turning his attention to his rapidly expanding garage business. In 1915, although now 34, he joined the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to France as part of No 45 Squadron flying Sopwith 11/2 Strutters.
Controversy surrounded his death, but research by the author has revealed that it is most likely that this pioneering racing driver was the final victim of the German air ace, Oswald Boelcke on October 22nd 1916.