👋 Hey followers! In late 1902, Belfast friends Leslie Porter and Willie Nixon, rivals on the cycling circuit, traded two wheels for four, embracing the new world of motorsport. With no Irish or British races and the Gordon Bennett Cup limited to national teams, they looked abroad, entering the Paris–Madrid race of May 1903 in a 50 hp Wolseley.
In the race, Leslie Porter etched his name as Ireland’s first international motor racing driver, but the triumph was shadowed by tragedy, as his mechanic, Willie Nixon, became Ireland’s first motorsport fatality.
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Belfast car dealer Vernon Leslie Lushington Porter was born in May 12th 1881 on Ballywooly Farm at Curryfree, County Londonderry/ Derry. At just 18 years old, in 1899, Porter co-founded the Northern Motor Company with his friend George Coombe, widely regarded as one of the very first motor companies in Ireland.
1903 PARIS-MADRID RACE
In late 1902, Leslie Porter and Willie Nixon, eager to embrace the emerging world of motorsport, found no races in Ireland or Britain, and with the Gordon Bennett Cup restricted to national teams, they looked abroad, entering the Paris–Madrid race in May 1903.
THE RACE
The three-day 1903 Paris–Madrid, VIII Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France, was billed as a celebration of motor racing’s first decade but became a byword for danger and was dubbed by the press ‘The Race to Death’. With almost no safety measures for drivers or the crowds, it was a reckless spectacle: across 784 miles of rutted, unmade roads at speeds approaching 80 miles per hour from Versailles to Bordeaux, then Bordeaux to Vittoria, and finally Vittoria to Madrid.
THE ACCIDENT
A race official failed to flag warning of a rail crossing ahead, and at full speed the Porter–Nixon Wolseley swerved toward a field but slammed into the wall of gatekeeper Monsieur Chaligny’s farmhouse. A wooden wheel collapsed, the car flipped, and Porter was thrown clear. Willie Nixon was trapped beneath the burning car and died in the flames.
Although early newspaper reports claimed he had died, Porter, suffering only minor injuries, was taken to Bonneval Hospital.
CALLED OFF
When the 114 remaining competitors reached the small village of Quatre Pavillons, near Bordeaux, on the orders of the Ministry of the Interior the race was halted. The decision came in response to the appalling toll of the first stage alone, ten dead, including drivers, riding mechanics and spectators.
WILLIE NIXON
William John Nixon of Cavehill Road, Belfast, was buried on May 28th 1903 in Cimetière St. Sauveur, Bonneval. In 1909, racing driver and author Charles Jarrott commissioned a memorial for Nixon’s grave and placed an iron cross at the gatekeeper’s cottage.
MOTORSPORT CAREER
Leslie Porter returned to motorsport in 1908, entering a Calthorpe in the Irish Automobile Club’s Reliability Trial and winning his class. His performance earned him a factory drive in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, where he finished fourth in a production car, 25 minutes ahead of the next competitor.
WAR SERVICE
On 22 October 1916, leading a mission behind enemy lines, his aircraft failed to return. Initially listed as missing, his family learned through diplomatic channels that he had died two days later. Research by Bob Montgomery indicates Porter was likely the final victim of German air ace Oswald Boelcke.
Ireland’s First International Racing Driver Vernon Leslie Lushington Porter (1881 – 1916)
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Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
Alain Denizet website – May 1903: Paris-Madrid race, one dead at Bonneva
iMuseum
Ireland’s Pioneer Racing Driver – Irish Times – Bob Montgomery
Magnolia Box
Media Storehouse
Motor Racing History Website
Motorsport Memorial Website
News Letter
Observe the Sons of Ulster: Paris-Madrid 1903 – Racing Daydreams Motorsport History for the Curious
Pre War Car website
Scientific American Website – The Paris-Madrid Automobile Race
Ten Years of Motors and Motor Racing – (1906) Charles Jarrott
The War Dead of North Down & Ards
Veloce Today – Worlds Oldest Race Driver
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Vernon Leslie Lushington Porter (1881 – 1916) garage owner, Ireland’s first International racing driver and later a World War I aviator.