Noel van Raalte

Marcus Noel van Raalte was a British racing driver and playboy.

Biography

Van Raalte's family owned Brownsea Island. When Robert Baden-Powell held the experimental Camp on Brownsea Island, van Raalte was 19 and helped with the Camp. In 1910, Baden-Powell planned to take a Troop of Boy Scouts on a tour of Canada as an introduction to the Scout Movement. van Raalte was one of the party. In 1912, Baden-Powell went on a lecture tour of the U.S.A.; he travelled via the Caribbean on the S.S. Arcadia. van Raalte went too, as A.D.C. to Baden-Powell. These two tours introduced van Raalte to North America.
Van Raalte raced in the 1915 Indianapolis 500 in a Sunbeam, finishing in 10th place. He later owned the first Bentley automobile.