Leslie Porter – Ireland’s First International Racing Driver | Season 5 – Episode 64
Wheels Aug 12, 2025
In late 1902, Belfast friends Leslie Porter and Willie Nixon, rivals on the cycling circuit, traded two wheels for four, embracing the new world of motorsport. With no Irish or British races and the Gordon Bennett Cup limited to national teams, they looked abroad, entering the Paris–Madrid race of May 1903 in a 50 hp Wolseley. In the race, Leslie Porter etched his name as Ireland’s first international motor racing driver, but the triumph was shadowed by tragedy, as his mechanic, Willie Nixon, became Ireland’s first motorsport fatality.Please FOLLOW & SUBSCRIBE — your support helps us keep the stories of Irish transport history alive.
THE CAR DEALER
Belfast car dealer Vernon Leslie Lushington Porter was born in May 12th 1881 on Ballywooly Farm at Curryfree, County Londonderry/ Derry. At just 18 years old, in 1899, Porter co-founded the Northern Motor Company with his friend George Coombe. Their business, located at No. 5 Montgomery Street, Belfast, County Antrim, is widely regarded as one of the very first motor companies in Ireland.
The Belfast Newsletter reported at the time their trade was thriving. In an effort to persuade horse owners to embrace the new age of motoring, they noted: “The courteous head of the establishment, Mr. Leslie Porter, a motor expert, has had considerable experience with all kinds of horseless vehicles, and is, in addition, an electrical and mechanical engineer. One great advantage which the Northern Motor Company provide is that they will lend a motor car to any owner of horses for the purpose of enabling the animals to become accustomed to the machines.”
According to motoring historian Bob Montgomery writing in the Irish Times, Leslie learned to drive on a Leon Bollée Tricar in 1899. He soon competed in race events and formed a close friendship with fellow racer Willie Nixon from Cavehill, Belfast.
1903 PARIS-MADRID RACE
In late 1902, Leslie Porter and Willie Nixon, eager to embrace the emerging world of motorsport, found no races in Ireland or Britain, and with the Gordon Bennett Cup restricted to national teams, they looked abroad—entering the Paris–Madrid race in May 1903.
The next challenge for Porter and Nixon was securing a suitable race car. An agreement was reached with C.E. Allan of Stormont Castle, Belfast, managing director of the Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd. shipyard. and a customer of the Northern Motor Company. Allan would order a 50 hp Wolseley from the Adderley Park factory in Birmingham for them to race in the Paris–Madrid event, on the understanding that he would take possession of the car once rebuilt after the race.
GETTING TO THE RACE
Porter and Nixon travelled to the Wolseley works at Birmingham to oversee the completion of their racing car, allocated number 243. From there, they would drive it to Paris to compete in the great race.
The Wolseley team entry for the Paris–Madrid race consisted of three cars plus a reserve, led by the car’s designer, Herbert Austin. Leslie Porter supervised final details and testing, adding an extra flap to help cool the radiator tank of his car. As our story will reveal and as might have prevented tragedy, Austin’s car was the only Wolseley equipped with wire braces on its wooden road wheels.
The Porter–Nixon Wolseley performed superbly on the 180 mile run from Birmingham to the port of Newhaven. After crossing on the steamer to Dieppe, they had a brief delay as they were detained by police and fined 25 francs for hitting a dog! Before long they were back on the road and averaging 60 mph on the run to Paris. Spirits were high, even after the Wolseley’s rear axle needed knocking back into shape following a collision with an open drain at speed.
THE RACE
The three-day 1903 Paris–Madrid, VIII Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France, was billed as a celebration of motor racing’s first decade but became a byword for danger and was dubbed by the press ‘The Race to Death’. With almost no safety measures for drivers or the crowds, it was a reckless spectacle: across 784 miles of rutted, unmade roads at speeds approaching 80 miles per hour from Versailles to Bordeaux, then Bordeaux to Vittoria, and finally Vittoria to Madrid. Although 275 entries were registered for the race, many failed to start. On the line were 90 heavy cars, 49 light cars, and 36 voiturettes (light cars), for a total of 175 cars, along with an unspecified number of motorcycles.
THE ACCIDENT
At 3:45 a.m. on Sunday May 24th 1903, the first car a De Diétrich driven by British racer Charles Jarrott left Paris (Versailles) to begin the race. Porter, with Nixon as his riding mechanic, followed at 5:32 a.m., with the rest of the competitors setting off at two-minute intervals, and the motorcycles departing last, in full daylight.
The first accident came at Coignières, near Rambouillet, just 35 kilometres from the start, when the American F. Terry, in Mercedes #290, hit a tree. The car overturned and caught fire, but both occupants escaped unhurt.
Hours later, Leslie Porter was caught in the race’s first fatal accident, in the town of Bonneval. A race official failed to flag warning of a rail crossing ahead, and at full speed the Porter–Nixon Wolseley swerved toward a field but slammed into the wall of gatekeeper Monsieur Chaligny’s farmhouse. A wooden wheel collapsed, the car flipped, and Porter was thrown clear. Willie Nixon was trapped beneath the burning car and died in the flames.
Although early newspaper reports claimed he had died, Porter, suffering only minor injuries, was taken to Bonneval Hospital.
Following telegrams from France, the News Letter of 25 May 1903 informed its readers… “motor car race fatalities are all very terrible, and the most shocking of them has unfortunately happened to a Belfast competitor, Mr Leslie Porter, of the Northern Motor Company. He was pinned underneath the overturned car, and burned to death, presumably being drenched with petrol from the reservoir.
To set the record straight, Leslie Porter sent a telegram home: TYRES COLLAPSED AT CORNER FROM WHICH FLAGS HAD BEEN REMOVED JUST BEFORE OUR ARRIVAL. NIXON KILLED INSTANTANEOUSLY AGAINST WALL, ALSO BADLY BURNED. UNINJURED. LESLIE PORTER.
In a later edition, a different local paper added “…it was Mr Willie Nixon, of Cavehill Road, Belfast, who lost his life.
CALLED OFF
When the 114 remaining competitors reached the small village of Quatre Pavillons, near Bordeaux, on the orders of the Ministry of the Interior the race was halted. The decision came in response to the appalling toll of the first stage alone, ten dead, including drivers, riding mechanics, and spectators. King Alphonso XIII of Spain, a keen motor sport enthusiast, told the organisers he was happy for the race to proceed from the Spanish border to Madrid, but the French Government remained unmoved.
Fernand Gabriel, driving 90 hp Mors started at 168th place, arrived third and was later recognized as the winner when the time slips were tallied up having led as far as Bordeaux with a time of 5 hrs 14 min 31 sec, hitting speeds of up to 140 km/h and averaging 105 km/h. All vehicles were transported by train back to Paris from the closed park where they had been locked away before the second stage. To further block the racers, the Spanish government shut its border, preventing any competitor from crossing.
In the aftermath, a wave of press criticism in France led to questions in the French Parliament. Both France and Spain subsequently banned motor racing on public roads, a decision that spurred the creation of closed circuits where drivers and spectators could be kept under tighter control.
WILLIE NIXON
William John Nixon, 27, of Cavehill Road, Belfast, was buried on May 28th 1903 in Cimetière St. Sauveur, Bonneval. Frank Fenton, an old friend, arranged the service with Leslie Porter, securing an English-speaking clergyman and bringing Nixon’s brother and cousin to attend. The Mayor and people of Bonneval were described as “very kind and sympathetic,” with wreaths from the Mayor, Wolseley, Porter, and friends in Belfast. In 1909, racing driver and author Charles Jarrott commissioned a memorial for Nixon’s grave and placed an iron cross at the gatekeeper’s cottage.
IN COURT
As recorded by Alain Denizet on the 19th Century Stories website, Lesie Porter was summoned before the Châteaudun Criminal Court on 14 January 1904 to answer a charge of negligent homicide. In his deposition, Porter attested to the failure of the Automobile Club de France to restore the warning flags at a hazardous bend and at a railway level crossing. The court, having considered the matter, imposed upon him a fine of two hundred francs.
MOTORSPORT CAREER
Leslie Porter returned to motorsport in 1908, entering a Calthorpe in the Irish Automobile Club’s Reliability Trial and winning his class with one of only 20 penalty-free finishes from 70 starters. His performance earned him a factory drive in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, where he finished fourth in a production car, 25 minutes ahead of the next competitor. He went on to race successfully in the Coupe des Voiturettes at Boulogne in 1909 and again in 1910, helping Calthorpe secure the prestigious Regularity Cup before retiring from competition to focus on his rapidly expanding Belfast motor business.
BUSINESS EXPANDS
In 1912, Leslie Porter Ltd. added Singer cars to its showroom, followed by Arrol-Johnston vehicles in 1913. On 17 November 1914, four WWI ambulances, built in Belfast on special Daimler ambulance chassis supplied by the company, were completed for service.
WAR SERVICE
In May 1915, a birthday gift flight from his wife inspired Leslie Porter to learn to fly; he joined the Royal Flying Corps that November, serving with No. 45 Squadron in France on Sopwith 1½ Strutters and earning promotion to Flight Commander. While on leave in September 1916, he flew home to Curryfree, performing daring aerobatic displays over Belfast and Bangor before returning to Norfolk.
On 22 October 1916, leading a mission behind enemy lines, his aircraft failed to return. Initially listed as missing, his family learned through diplomatic channels that he had died two days later, the Germans returning a silver locket he had worn. Research by Bob Montgomery indicates Porter was likely the final victim of German air ace Oswald Boelcke.
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Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
Alain Denizet website – May 1903: Paris-Madrid race, one dead at Bonneva
iMuseum
Ireland’s Pioneer Racing Driver – Irish Times – Bob Montgomery
Magnolia Box
Media Storehouse
Motor Racing History Website
Motorsport Memorial Website
News Letter
Observe the Sons of Ulster: Paris-Madrid 1903 – Racing Daydreams Motorsport History for the Curious
Pre War Car website
Scientific American Website – The Paris-Madrid Automobile Race
Ten Years of Motors and Motor Racing – (1906) Charles Jarrott
The War Dead of North Down & Ards
Veloce Today – Worlds Oldest Race Driver
