Royal Automobile Club of Flanders
The club was founded in Ghent on February 24, 1899 as the Automobile Club des Flandres. It was one of the independent local branches of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium. The goals as described in the founding document were:
- Institution of automobile activities.
- Excursions.
- Encouraging road repair or construction
- Help with customs papers
- Defend common interests (taxes or other)
- Increase accessibility to and study of tourism, sports and automobile industry
- Presentations
- Establishment of library and reading room
The Automobile Club des Flandres was renamed after 25 years in 1924 to the Royale Automobile Club des Flandres or the "Royal Automobile Club of Flanders"[1] after endorsement by King Albert I.
The other local branches of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium that were inaugurated around the same time (like the ones in Brussels, Liege and Antwerp), have all been dissolved a long time ago.
Membership card from 1900:
The Club had a local division in Bruges starting in 1902, but that was abandoned.
The members of the Club were, due to the scarce distribution of expensive cars at the beginning of the 20th century, for the greater part people of nobility or industrial company owners. This of course changed during the history of the Club as car membership became more and more common.
Activities
Activities in the past included Concours d'Élegance, Standing and Rolling Kilometer, touristic drives and the organisation of local rallies.
One of the activities was a race in 1902 on the road to a castle in Varsenare. This race was re-enacted 120 years later with cars and motorbikes from that era [2]
Other activities were Rallye-Ballons, where cars were to follow air balloons and arrive first when the balloon landed[3]
The Grand Fête de l'Automobile was a yearly event to promote automobiles and driving skills in general. Several tests were done to assess the driving skills of the car drivers. Tests included balancing on scales and driving backwards through an obstacle course.
After World War I, activities took up slowly. Several touristic rallies were organised, but the Club was mostly known as being the official location to receive your Belgian international driving license.
Only from 1959 onwards, activities gradually increased again, with sportive events taking place like Slaloms, Spring Rally, Sprints, ...
From 1967 to 1976 the Standing and Rolling Kilometer was organised on the outskirts of Ghent. On the Kennedy Avenue, a part of the road was closed off for traffic. Participants could test the top speed of their cars. From the start of the event, a delegation of British drivers participated every year with their Bentleys, Jaguars or Aston Martins [4] Some cars that took part in the race:
- Napier Bentley
The event got more and more widely known, and participants came from all over Europe. Starting with normal cars, the participants came more and more with racing cars. In the final edition, Derek Bell came with his Le Mans car to Ghent. Although no accident happened, no permission was given to organise the event anymore in 1977.
The focus then shifted to the Sprint race of Zingem. From 1978 to 1992 a Sprint race was organised on a closed circuit loop on public roads in the town of Zingem.
Encouraging road repair or construction
In the years leading up to the World Exhibition in Ghent in 1913, the RACF pushed the local and national politicians to improve the roads to the fair grounds, because the neglected roads would leave a bad impression on the visitors.
After World War I, the Club pushed for road repairs to and from the battlefields in the region of Ypres, in order to get the local economy back on track.[5]
External link
References
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