From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE RED DEVIL: The career of the great Belgian racing driver, Camille Jenatzy, whose famous victory in the 1903 Irish Gordon Bennett Race is commemorated this weekend, has been described as a "crimson thread that runs through the early history of motor sport". A small, impressive wild figure with thin lips and a Roman nose, his red hair and demonic beard were at least partly responsible for his nickname, Le Diable Rouge (The Red Devil), but there was much more to this extraordinary figure whose date with destiny was to occur on Irish roads.
Born in 1868 at Brussels, where his father had established the first rubber factory in Belgium, Jenatzy grew up with the Vélocipède or "Boneshaker" bicycle. As soon as he was old enough, Camille took part in the new craze of cycle racing, and his name became widely known. Having obtained a degree in civil engineering, he soon found the family business did not hold his interest and in 1897, he headed for Paris, determined to be part of the exciting new motor industry centred there.
Believing electric cars to be the future, he established the General Transport Company to manufacture electric carriages. In 1898 he won a hill climb event in one of his electric vehicles. Soon afterwards, the magazine, La France Automobile, organised a competition in an attempt to set new records for the flying kilometre. Jenatzy entered but did not start and the event was won by Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat driving an electric car built by Jenatzy's great rival, Jeantaud.
There then followed a series of challenge matches between the Count and Jenatzy amid great public interest. Eventually, Jenatzy built La Jamais Contente, probably the first car designed for outright speed, and on April 29th, 1899 it became the first in the world to exceed 100 kph when it achieved a speed of 105 kph (65.8 mph).
Success brought fame, but Jenatzy had realised the practical limitations of electric power and now turned his attention to petrol cars. He drove a Mors in the three biggest races of 1899 and a Bolide in the first Gordon Bennett Race held in 1900. In 1902 he drove a Mercedes for the first time - the make with which he name would be forever associated - in the Circuit des Ardennes. At the beginning of the second lap (this was the world's first closed-circuit race), he had the worst crash of his spectacular career. The car was destroyed, and few of the onlookers believed that any man could survive, but Jenatzy was spotted, his face covered in blood, being driven away in another car. "Surely," they said, "This man must have a pact with the devil". Thereafter, he was invariably known as The Red Devil.
In 1903, Jenatzy was employed by the Mercedes works team and took part in the ill-fated Paris to Madrid Race before coming to Ireland where he scored his greatest triumph in the Gordon Bennett Race. His distinguished career continued, mostly on Mercedes cars, until 1910, when he retired.
Through the latter part of his career, Jenatzy had been convinced that he would meet his death in a Mercedes, and it was a prophesy that was to be fulfilled in an unexpected manner.
In October 1913, Jenatzy took part in a wild boar hunt organised in the Ardennes by his friend Madoux, director of the daily newspaper l'Etoile Belge. As darkness fell, the impetuous Jenatzy broke cover without awaiting the signal marking the end of the hunt. In the half-light, Madoux mistook Jenatzy for an animal and shot him. Badly wounded and having amongst his injuries a severed artery, Jenatzy survived the accident by only a few minutes, dying as he was being driven for help in his own Mercedes touring car.
Thus perished one of the greatest of the drivers of the heroic age of motor racing, whose name remains forever associated with his great victory in the Irish Gordon Bennett Race.