July 22, 1894 - First Auto race? Paris-Rouen

[Peter Gariepy]

Motor racing was started in France as a direct result of the enthusiasm with which the French public embraced the motor car. Manufacturers were enthusiastic due to the possibility of using motor racing as a shop window for their cars. The first motor race took place on 22 July 1894 and was organized by Le Petit Journal, a Parisian newspaper. It was run over the 122 kilometres (76 mi) distance between Paris and Rouen. The race was won by de Dion, although he was not awarded the prize for first place as his steam-powered car required a stoker and the judges deemed this outside of their requirements.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris–Rouen_(motor_race)#:~:text=Paris–Rouen%2C Le Petit Journal,world's first competitive motor race.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules-Albert_de_Dion

 

[Terry Bond]

Thanks for starting this Peter!   It's great stuff, some of which I covered not long ago during a seminar at the AACA Convention. 

Indeed-Paris-Rouen is recognized as the first event of its kind.  It really didn't start out as a race, but competitive spirit being what it is, it ended up being recognized widely as such.

It was originated as a "reliability" event by Pierre Giffard, Editor of Le Petit Journal.  It was intended as a demonstration of reliability and economy of operation with no real official note taken of speed or times. 

It's astonishing to realize there were over 100 initial entries, Their listed means of propulsion contains some wondrous aspiration. Rousselet of Paris entered a car powered by ‘gravity’, Roussat of Paris power source was described as ‘hydraulic’, Victor Popp’s was ‘compressed air’, Leval’s was “Baricycle moved by the weight of the passengers”. Loubiere’s was by “multiple system of levers”, De Prandieres of Lyons enigmatically ‘Automatic’, while Cesar Barthelemy of Yebles cited a ‘system of pendulums’. Others entered machines variably propelled by ‘system of levers’, a ‘combination of animate and mechanical motor’, ‘electro-pneumatic’, ‘weight of passengers’, ‘high pressure gas’ and… ‘self-acting’… The vast majority, however, cited petrol, or steam. 

The winner was Count De Deion.  However, his car did not altogether comply with the conditions of the competition – "a mechanic being necessary to look after the engine, as well as a driver…”  First prize of 5,000 Francs – then £200, a value of around £25,000 today – was split between Panhard & Levassor and Peugeot “both employing the petrol motor invented by Herr Daimler of Wurtemburg”. Second prize of 2,000 Francs – £80 then, around £10,000 today – went to Messrs De Dion, Bouton et Cie “… for their interesting steam tractor which draws a carriage like a horse, and develops a speed absolutely beyond comparison, especially uphill. 

It will always be debated however that this was the first automobile "race.

There’s some evidence that on 30^th August, 1867, a pioneering match race was run over eight miles of public roads from Ashton-under-Lyne to Old Trafford, Manchester, England, between a pair of self-propelled road carriages, supposed winner being Isaac Watt Boulton’s steam locomotive. 

Two truly pioneer motor races had been run beside the river Seine in Paris as early as 1887 and 1888, organised by Paul Faussier (or ‘Fossier', of the La Vélocipède cycling magazine. The Count de Dion won the first, but his little steam-engined quadricycle was the only starter. Fossier/Faussier persevered, and in 1888 a second ‘La Vélocipède’-sponsored horseless-carriage race was run – this time from Neuilly to Versailles (20kms – 12.4 miles). This time it attracted two starters; the Count de Dion winning again, this time in a three-wheeler, defeating a Serpollet – both steam-powered.

An excellent account of the Paris-Rouen event can be found here.

 

https://www.goodwood.com/grr/race/historic/the-1894-paris-rouen-trial-the-race-that-wasnt-a-race/

It's been said before - "Racing was invented the day the second car was built."

 

Terry

 

 

Edited July 22 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[ABear]

As reported in "The Horseless Age" in 1895, Volume 1, Number 1 Edition, Page 14

 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080361374&seq=14

 

 

[oldcarfudd]

Did De Dion and Bouton invent the gooseneck trailer?

[Peter Gariepy]

On 7/22/2024 at 12:01 PM, ABear said:

As reported in "The Horseless Age" in 1895, Volume 1, Number 1 Edition, Page 14

 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080361374&seq=14

 

 

It's page 8 in the publication.  (page 14 in the pdf).

 

here is the raw text:

 

Until the year 1895 few American inventors devoted any attention to the problem of the mechanical propulsion of vehi-cles, and the results of their labors were generally crude and impractical. The complicated and unwieldly creations of these pioneers lie among the archives of the Patent Office undisturbed save when some searcher of the present day happens upon them in the course of his investigation, and views them with something of the same interest a scientist has for the petrified remains of an extinct species. The stimulus of & wide spread public interest was lacking then. The fow inventors whose ideas assumed a more practical form were forced to curb their impatience, and wait until the public should manifest a livelier curiosity.
Fortunately that time was not long delayed. The change in public sentiment from indifference to enthusiasm was to occur in an incredibly short period of time. The first race for motor vehicles from Paris to Rouen, which occurred in June, 1894, set more of our inventive minds at work upon the motor problem, but it brought forth no general response from the American people. But the race from Paris to Bordeaux and return last June was such a phenomenal performance that all Christendom paused for a moment to fasten its eyes upon the flying automobiles. 750 miles in 48 hours and 53 minutes! The self-propelled vehicle was then an accomplished fact. The mechanical world immediately began to discuss it. The newspapers printed the story of the achievement and sent it into every hamlet, and inventors girded up their loins and buckled with energy to the task of completing the work which in many respects, it was admitted, the foreign engineers had failed to carry to a satisfactory conclusion.

[Terry Bond]

Yes, the next event was indeed Paris to Bordeaux, organized from the start as a race.  More on that later but responding to questions about the De Dion "carriage" it was all part of the transition to the automobile.  In order to carry passengers, there were a lot of different ideas tried in the early days.  A "carriage" towed by some kind of driving mechanism was considered by some to be ideal. 

 

There was yet another vehicle using that design produced as late as 1898 in Scotland - the Madelvic.   It was designed by William Peck who was Edinburgh's official astronomer.  He was something of an electrical engineer and was instrumental in creating a system of fire alarm warning bells for the city, and later was responsible for Edinburgh's first electric street lights and their first telephone system. 

 

His vehicle consisted of an electric motor mounted in a "tow vehicle" that had three wheels-two for propulsion and one mounted centrally used for steering.  This propulsion unit had a removable carriage attached.  A variety of configurations were available to use as a commercial container or a passenger car.  The Madelvic was not in production long and only photos and some original literature survive. The factory where it was built does still survive however.  It is listed as an historic building and is recognized as the oldest automoble factory still standing. 

 

 

[Terry Bond]

Back to the Paris-Rouen event, here are some of the photos that i used in my seminar at the AACA Convention.  It might be worth doing a repeat sometime again.  As you could imagine, since the event was organized by the editor of a prestigious newspaper, publicity and coverage would have been pretty good.  A lot of photos exist, and various newspaper accounts add to a wonderful surviving archive of motoring history.

 

The first photo is car number 28,  A 3hp Peugeot that finished in 3rd place.

Second photo is another Peugeot that finished in 9th place. 

Third photo is a Panhard et Levassor driven by Hippolyte Panhard, the son of the company founder, Rene Panhard.

fourth photo is a scene of the cars traveling through the main street of a small town en-route to Rouen.

Photo five is the Steam wagon entered by Serpolet.  Although he would later build successful and popular steam automobiles, this early experiment did not finish.

The sixth photo shows a rather odd looking vehicle constructed and entered by Montraes Braseur. It was entered as a "Gasoline powered vehicle."  It was among many vehicles that did not finish.

The last photo is another Panhard et Levassor, car number 24. This is the generally recognized as the first car to have an actual steering wheel.

Terry

 

 

 

 

Edited July 24 by Terry Bond (see edit history)

[BobinVirginia]

Super Cool 

Edited July 24 by BobinVirginia (see edit history)

[Larry Schramm]

Here is the Madelvic factory link.

 

https://www.nationaltransporttrust.org.uk/heritage-sites/heritage-detail/madelvic-motor-factory