Royal Automobile Club

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The traditional club badge of the British Royal Automobile Club

The Royal Automobile Club (RAC) is a British club with headquarters in London , which dates back to 1897 and continues to this day. The association and its members focus on different aspects of the automobile , today especially the automobile as a cultural asset and motorsport with historical vehicles. It is the UK's oldest and most influential motorists' organization . In its original form in Germany it can best be compared with the General German Automobile Club (ADAC) .

history

A 1901 Mors 10 hp Tonneau owned by the British Royal Automobile Club at the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
A lockable RAC emergency cell in the typical Royal Blue in a transport museum , can only be opened by RAC members with a uniform key
The glass facade of the RAC control center on the M6 motorway

The Royal Automobile Club dates back to 1897. The industrial and automobile pioneer Frederick Richard Simms first founded the British Motor Car Club and the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland . In 1907, King Edward VII "ennobled" the club by decree , which was henceforth called the Royal Automobile Club . The RAC is therefore subject to the special regulations of the Royal Charter .

The founders' aim was to promote motoring in Great Britain and the position of the automobile in British society . The club emphatically represented the rights and interests of British motorists, for example with its advocacy of the abolition of the “ Red Flag Act ” and other obstructive speed restrictions , such as the previously neglected limit of 14 miles per hour outside built-up areas, which was in effect until 1903. Furthermore, the club hired for a unification of traffic signs and expansion of roads, but also the introduction of licenses to increase traffic safety .

In the beginning the club was an elite association mostly made up of members of the British upper class in the sense of a gentlemen's club . Its members often had close contacts right up to the top levels of politics , business and science . The later counterpart mainly for the British middle class and subsequently also the working class was the Automobile Association (AA); its membership quickly exceeded that of the RAC , but the AA never achieved the social, scientific or political significance of the RAC .

So who was RAC instrumental in around 1906 a formula for abstract determination of the engine power of reciprocating - internal combustion engines to develop and establish especially as RAC Horsepower became known; it formed the basis for motor vehicle taxation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the successor states from 1910 to 1947 . Furthermore, the Royal Automobile Club and its predecessors took care of quality control of auto repair shops from the beginning of motorization ; qualified workshops received an explicit recommendation from the club. At times, the association cooperated with the Motor Union to ensure a nationwide network of workshops. Another important field of activity for the Royal Automobile Club was the maintenance of an extensive network of emergency telephones and motorized roadside assistance . Initially they used uniformly motorcycles of the brand Matchless with sidecar . Around the 1930s they were posted at public telephone booths so that they could be reached, from 1957 they were equipped with radio. At times the club had so many employees that it had its own union, the Staff Association for Royal Automobile Club Employees .

The club acted as a motorsport organizer early on, for example in 1900 with the 1000 Mile Trial and with the RAC Tourist Trophy from 1905, the oldest continuously held automobile race . The club organized numerous British automobile grands prix , including the first pre-war Brooklands GP in 1926 and the first post-war GP at Silverstone in 1948.

Since 1911 the club has been located in representative buildings at 89-91 Pall Mall in the posh London borough of Mayfair , which were previously part of the British War Office . Before that, the club used outbuildings at 4 Whitehall Court in the government district of Westminster and from 1902 at 119 Piccadilly .

Right from the start, the association and its forerunners enjoyed a high reputation at home and abroad and were considered a neutral, objective authority on both sides of the Atlantic for assessing all automotive engineering issues. As initiated by the distinguished automobile dealers Fred Bennett, then a representative of Cadillac in the UK and continental Europe , with journalists a large-scale elaborate comparison of the single cylinder - Cadillac with any competitors; the test, which attracted great public attention for days, was carried out by the specialist magazine "The Motor" under the strict supervision and according to the specifications of the RAC . Further orders for expert reports and certifications followed.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the club alongside was US American Automobile Association (AAA) instrumental in that in Nassau on the Bahamas numerous high-profile racing events could be organized.

In 1999 there were extensive structural changes: The entire service area with breakdown assistance and insurance was spun off into a legally independent company , RAC Limited , based in Walsall in the West Midlands and an area of ​​activity that, in addition to Great Britain, also includes the Republic of Ireland . As early as 1978, it had obtained extensive legal independence as RAC Motoring Services Limited . To future professional motorsports events in the United Kingdom to organize a new one was an institution founded, the Motor Sports Association (MSA); Events from the field of historic motorsport remained at the RAC . To this day, the association also owns a selection of vehicles that are significant in terms of automotive history.

Despite the name Gentlemen's Club , women have long been able to become regular members, even if they are clearly in the minority in numbers. The RAC does not publicly disclose membership numbers or details of membership conditions. For 2009, the regular annual membership fee is said to have been  £ 1,125 and the regular joining fee to £ 1,600, with younger members eligible for substantial discounts.

To current events, the club will continue over the MSA influence and as a member of the International Federation de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Foundation RAC Foundation .

Similar old automobile clubs exist or existed in Italy with the Automobile Club d'Italia , the Imperial Automobile Club in Germany, in Belgium the Royal Automobile Club de Belgique , the Austrian Automobile Club and the Automobile Club of Canada .

The RAC today

The prestigious front of the London RAC Clubhouse on Pall Mall

The Royal Automobile Club is now one of London's finest clubs; it is organized as an association and requires personal membership, although guests are permitted depending on the occasion. To this day, club life is characterized by a tradition spanning more than a hundred years, two special club houses as well as luxury and an extensive range of services. Members have free access to the clubhouses on Pall Mall in London and in Woodcote Park in the County of Surrey . The focus of club life is on contact with other club members, an extensive program of events and a wide range of sports and other activities. Advance reservations may be required and a dress code must be observed. Membership in the RAC grants reciprocal access to over sixty clubs worldwide. In keeping with tradition, automobile events and new launches continue to take place on both club grounds all year round. The RAC also continues to award traditional trophies and awards . Occasionally in the club rooms also are supercars , high quality vintage cars or Formula 1 - racing cars on display.

In the main building in London, the RAC is gradually building up a comprehensive archive of automotive history based on the extensive library . The club supports activities by women in motorsport, book publications with an automotive connection and - in collaboration with the Royal College of Art  (RCA) - young automobile designers . The club's chairman in 2016 is Tom Purvis.

The RAC clubhouse on Pall Mall in London

The billiard room in the London RAC Clubhouse, 2010

The main building of the RAC is located in central London in the posh district of Mayfair near St. James's Park and the historic government district. It includes event halls, salons , upscale, all-day dining with several restaurants, lounges and bars, as well as various sports facilities including a stylish swimming pool with marble columns . In addition to a fitness studio, there are squash courts, a billiard room , a Turkish bath and relaxation rooms . 106 beds are available for external members. The furnishing of the rooms is partly opulent, partly in the Art Deco style ; You can also see a collection of paintings from different eras.

In the immediate vicinity of the RAC there are still other gentlemen's clubs on Pall Mall , such as the Army and Navy Club ("The Rag") , The Athenaeum , the Oxford and Cambridge Club , the Reform Club and the Travelers Club , until 1941 as well the Carlton Club .

The RAC clubhouse in Woodcote Park

The second clubhouse is located on Wilmerhatch Lane in Epsom Downs in the county of Surrey in the south of London in the midst of 142  hectares of parkland. The club grounds there include two 18-hole golf courses and many other sports facilities, a billiards room, upscale gastronomy with several restaurants, lounges and bars as well as event halls and salons. The separate sports complex Cedars offers a swimming pool, squash and tennis courts , rooms for relaxation and a gym. There are 22 country-style bedrooms available for overnight stays.

Major motorsport events of the RAC

A Jaguar D-Type in front of the main entrance of the London RAC Clubhouse on the occasion of the Jaguar Heritage Racing

Based on the original event in 1900, the RAC is now organizing the 1000 Mile Trial again , now for historic automobiles; In 2015, the club received the Rally of the Year award for the second time in a row at the International Historic Motoring Awards . Another traditional event is the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run for vehicles built before 1905.

Until 1997, the Royal Automobile Club hosted the Rally Great Britain for decades under the name RAC Rally , for many years with the status of a run of the World Rally Championship . For decades the Royal Automobile Club hosted the RAC Tourist Trophy for sports cars ; it served from 1906 as the successor to the Gordon Bennett Cup , took place on changing racetracks and had the status of a race for the World Sports Car Championship for many years .

In the early days of motorsport, the Royal Automobile Club also hosted the Speed ​​Trials , multi-day high-speed and record-breaking drives on the Pendine Sands , a kilometer-long stretch of beach on the Welsh coast. In the aftermath of the colonial era, the twelve races of the South African Grand Prix ran until 1966 under the official name of the International RAC Grand Prix of South Africa .

Selection of people related to the RAC

Julian Orde, the popular RAC Secretary General at the time, in Vanity Fair magazine in 1911

Organizations that emerged from the UK RAC

The representative headquarters of the RAC in Ireland in 1908

When it was founded, the Royal Automobile Club was primarily active in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but also had contacts in the individual colonies and later with the member states of the Commonwealth . Sub-organizations of the British RAC already existed in several British colonies during the colonial period .

When the colonies gradually gained their independence, numerous legally and organizationally independent Royal Automobile Clubs emerged . The most important to this day is the Royal Automobile Club of Australia (Raca) with its sub-organizations Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) , Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania (RACT) , Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) and Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia .

Also known are the Royal Automobile Club of Egypt , which was founded in Egypt in 1924 , but which no longer exists under this name today, and the Jordanian Royal Automobile Club of Jordan . The South African Royal Automobile Club of South Africa also existed in the 1930s .

Completely independent, but based on the model of the British club, the Belgian Royal Automobile Club of Belgium and the Swedish Kungliga Automobilklubben (KAK) , which sometimes also appears as the Royal Automobile Club of Sweden , emerged.

Publications of the RAC

For several years, the British RAC and its predecessor associations regularly published their own printed yearbook, the Royal Automobile Club Yearbook . It dealt with a wide variety of automotive topics and has been published at least since 1904, even during the war years from 1914 to 1917. Today, the yearbooks are important sources on mainly British automotive history.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Club, the Royal Automobile Club published a book in 1947 entitled The Jubilee Book of the Royal Automobile Club, 1897-1947 . Other well-known publications of the club were the handbook Royal Automobile Club Guide and Handbook from the 1930s and 1940s and the travel guide series Royal Automobile Club: Going Places , Royal Automobile Club: Touring Department Trips and Royal Automobile Club Tours in… . In addition, the club published the Camping and Caravaning Guide and Atlas of Europe , various city maps and, in the 1990s, the RAC Motoring Atlas: Great Britain & Ireland .

literature

  • Piers Brendon: The Motoring Century: The Story of the Royal Automobile Club . Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom 1997, ISBN 978-0-747-53034-3 (English).
  • James J. Flink: The Automobile Age . MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States / London, United Kingdom 1990, ISBN 978-0-262-56055-9 (English).
  • Carlton Reid: Roads Were Not Built for Cars: How cyclists were the first to push for good roads & became the pioneers of motoring . Island Press, Washington, DC, United States 2015. ISBN 978-1-61091-689-9 (English).
  • The Royal Automobile Club (Ed.): The Jubilee Book of the Royal Automobile Club, 1897-1947 . Self-published, London 1947 (English).

Web links

Commons : Royal Automobile Club  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : RAC  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Angelo Van Bogart, Brian Earnest: Cadillac, 100 Years of Innovation . Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin, United States 2003, ISBN 978-0-87349-690-2 , page 28 (English).
  2. ↑ Terry O'Neil: Motor Racing at Nassau in the 1950s & 1960s . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester, United Kingdom 2008, ISBN 978-1-84584-198-0 , page 5 (English).
  3. ↑ Background information on the past and present of the RAC on the web portal royalautomobileclub.co.uk , accessed on August 4, 2016 (English).
  4. ↑ a b c Overview of the RAC clubhouses on the web portal royalautomobileclub.co.uk , accessed on August 4, 2016 (English).
  5. ↑ Janet Foster, Julia Sheppard: British Archives: A Guide to Archive Resources in the UK . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, United Kingdom 2016, ISBN 978-1-349-65230-3 , page 426 (English).
  6. ↑ Overview of the RAC motorsport events on the web portal royalautomobileclub.co.uk , accessed on August 4, 2016 (English).
  7. ↑ Alaa Al Aswany: The Automobile Club of Egypt . Canongate Books, Edinburgh, United Kingdom 2016. ISBN 978-0-85786-219-8 (English).

Remarks

  1. ↑ In some years the spelling was differently Royal Automobile Club Year Book .