Selwyn Francis Edge, invariably known simply as ‘SF’, was a highly significant pioneer of motoring in Britain. When, in 1902, he drove a Napier to victory in the Gordon Bennett Cup, a mighty event on public roads between Paris in France and Innsbruck in Austria, he initiated serious British endeavour in motor racing. He was deeply involved in the birth of Brooklands, setting a 24-hour solo driving record there when the circuit opened in 1907. As a towering industry figure most closely associated with Napier and AC Cars, he played an important role in the growth of car manufacture in Britain. In the words of ‘Bentley Boy’ S.C.H. ‘Sammy’ Davis, ‘His keen grey eyes, the bushy eyebrows and the hawk-like face… made him a notable figure in any assembly.’ This biography uncovers the life of an extraordinary man whose achievements deserve to be far more widely recognised.

Simon Fisher grew up in Surrey, not far from Tilburstow Hill, scene of some of S.F. Edge’s early competition successes. After university he trained in London as a chartered accountant, using a 1934 Alvis Firefly as his everyday car. A few months after qualifying he signed a six-month contract to work for his employer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the end of which he forgot to return home. The rest of his career has been spent in Eastern Africa, mainly in Kenya, where he and his wife Catherine now live. That has not prevented him from pursuing his passion for early motoring. He has been a member of both the Vintage Sports-Car Club and the Alvis Owner Club for over 50 years and the Veteran Car Club for almost as long, and has maintained a succession of elderly cars in England, including two Napiers, while his Alvis Firefly spent many years with him in Nairobi.