Oldsmobile Reliability Run passes through Kilcullen

This report about an Oldsmobile Reliability Run passing through Kilcullen in 1904 is a reflection of an initiative which had begun only a few years previously in America, writes Brian Byrne.

The new automobile industry was trying hard to show that their products could withstand long journeys over roads which were still relics from the horse and wagon age.

Participation in races was one way, but under greater pressure than normal use, only small proportions of cars that started actually reached the finishing lines. And because of often-fatal accidents, racing on open roads was very quickly becoming unpopular, and was banned in England, for instance ... the reason that in 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup Race which was supposed to be run in England had been transferred to Ireland.

In 1901, American carmaker Ransom E Olds had one of his testers drive his latest Curved Dash Oldsmobile from Detroit to the New York Motor Show. The 820 miles were covered, in very poor road conditions, in nine days. The publicity value almost doubled the number of Oldsmobile cars sold the following year.

1904 Oldsmobile Curved Dash.

Similar Reliability Runs became very popular. The one through Kilcullen reported on above was a 3,000-mile journey by two Oldsmobiles starting in London, driving from Dublin to Waterford and then to Cork, and returning to England to complete their trip back to London through the West and Midlands of England.

As reported, the local part of the drive took in part of the Gordon Bennett course which had hosted top racing drivers of Europe the year before.

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My Tesla drive in the Indo

Following the chat last week with Shane Beatty on KFM (from 24' in) about my recent drive of a Tesla electric car from Austria to Dublin, with colleague motoring journalist Trish Whelan, I've had a lot of interested comment locally, writes Brian Byrne.

Well, if you didn't hear it, my piece in yesterday's Irish Independent on the trip gives a full account of the ability of an electric car to make the long journeys.

And if you missed that, you can read the piece online here.

The Diary's electric road trip

If you noticed your editor wasn't much visible in Kilcullen during the week, it was because I was on a very interesting road trip, writes Brian Byrne.

The Tesla Motors company had invited myself and fellow motoring journalist Trish Whelan to Alpbach in Austria to experience driving their Models S and X in snow, to show off the AWD capability of their cars.

And then to drive a Model S all the way back to Dublin, to show that an electric car can do the long distance travel thing just as easily as a standard car with a petrol or diesel engine.

It can. Leaving Alpbach late on Tuesday afternoon, we arrived back in Dublin at lunchtime on Friday, a total distance of more than 1,900km of which 1,750km was actual driving.

Under the sea on the Eurotunnel.

The rest was crossing the English Channel by EuroTunnel, and the Irish Sea courtesy of Stena Line.

Charging during lunch stop at Nancy, France.

On the trip we recharged from Tesla supercharger stations at Nancy and Reims in France, and Warwick in England. The car was also charged during hotel overnights in Zurich, Calais, and Holyhead (that last in the very unusual Chateau Rhianfa on Anglesey).

Overnight charging at the Chateau Rhianfa on Anglesey.

It was long driving each day, far more than anyone on holidays would sensibly do, and in a variety of conditions which included torrential rain. But it showed very much to me that electricity can be just as convenient a power source for a car as any other 'fuel'.

Heading for the Vosges area of France.

Oldest and newest on the historic road from London to Holyhead.

Both of us will be writing in detail of the experience in our respective motoring outlets, including our own 'Irish Car+Travel' magazine (the current Car Guide 2018 issue is in the shops at the moment).

But given the number of electric cars already in Kilcullen, as evidenced in a recent 'Bridge Magazine' article, I thought the Diary's readers might be interested.