Of all the early great racing drivers, perhaps none is more fascinating than the Belgian, Camille Jenatzy. Born in Brussels in 1868, his father had established the first rubber factory in Belgium and the young Jenatzy developed a passion for cycle racing.
Having obtained a degree in civil engineering, after a spell in the family business, he headed to Paris, determined to be part of the new and exciting motor industry based there.
Jenatzy believed electric cars to be the future of motoring and began their manufacture. Success came quickly, but it was his contest with Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat which really brought him to public attention. Using specially constructed electric vehicles the pair exchanged speed records over the flying kilometre, finally culminating in Jenatzy becoming the first driver to travel at more than 100 kph - a feat he achieved driving his bullet-shaped La Jamis Contente on April 1st 1899.
He next turned his attention to the great city-to-city races then being staged and soon gained a reputation as a spectacular and fearless driver. He contested the 1900 Gordon Bennett Race but became hopelessly lost and was forced to retire.
In 1902 he first raced a Mercedes, the make with which his name was to become forever linked. However, his first Mercedes drive - in the Circuit des Ardennes - brought about his worst crash and a new nickname that he would retain throughout his career.
At the start of the second lap Jenatzy crashed into a ditch. The car was wrecked with the engine and part of the frame upside down on one side of the road, and the back axle and rear wheels several hundred yards away on the other.
Few believed that any man could survive such a shunt, but then, to the amazement of the onlookers, Jenatzy was spotted, face covered in blood, been driven back to the control in another car.
"Surely," they said, "this man must have a pact with the devil." Be this true or not, from that time onwards, Jenatzy was known as "The Red Devil".
For the 1903 season, Jenatzy drove for Mercedes and took part in the ill-fated Paris to Madrid Race on one of the new "90" cars. By the time the cars reached Angoulême he was third and looked a likely winner. But then at Petignac Hill, he pulled up with a misfire, caused by a fly in the carburettor.
He came to Ireland for the Irish Gordon Bennett Race at the height of his powers and was seen as a potential winner who could be relied upon to drive in a spectacular fashion. The fly, incidently, came too, in a small bottle, Jenatzy relating how it brought his race to an end to anyone who would listen.