As one of three Gordon Bennett Cups established by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., millionaire owner of the New York Herald, the automobile racing award was first given in 1900 in France. In 1899 Gordon Bennett offered the Automobile Club de France (ACF) a trophy to be raced for annually by the automobile clubs of the various countries. The trophy was awarded annually until 1905, after which the ACF held the first Grand Prix motor racing event at a road course near Le Mans. The 1903 event in Ireland possibly gave rise to the birth of British Racing Green. The Cup The trophy given to the winner was a Panhard, driven by the Genius of Progress, with Nike as his co-driver. Rules Competition was intended to be between national automobile clubs, or nations, and not individuals. The first contestants were France, Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy. Each club was required to pay a Fr3000 entry fee. Each could send up to three cars; drivers had to be members of the entrant club. A race, once scheduled, had to be held between 15 May and 15 August, with a total distance of between . Participating clubs shared the cost of running the event. The cars themselves had to have two seats, side by side, with driver and riding mechanic (who were to weigh no less than each). Cars were to weigh at least empty, and had to be built entirely in the country under whose colours they ran. Gordon Bennett races The Gordon Bennett Cup auto races drew entrants from across Europe, including future aviator Henry Farman, and competitors from the United States such as Alexander Winton driving his Winton automobile. Under the rules, the races were hosted in the country of the previous year's winner. As the races were between national teams, it led to the reorganisation and standardisation of national racing colours. Count Eliot Zborowski, father of inter-war racing legend Louis Zborowski, suggested that each national entrant be allotted a different colour. Britain had to choose a different colour from its usual national colours of red, white and blue, as these had already been taken by USA, Germany, and France respectively. Reputedly as a concession to Ireland where the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup race was run (racing was illegal on British public roads), the British adopted shamrock green which became known as British racing