On July 22, 1894, the first official car race in history takes place in France!

With the support of the newspaper "Le Petit Journal"...



... the Parisian journalist Pierre Giffard ...



... called for the race for "horse-less vehicles" in 1894, which not only evaluated the driving time achieved, but also criteria such as the quality of the construction, economy, ease of use and operational safety should be.

For the first time, a whole range of vehicle types (in addition to automobiles also two and three-wheelers and so-called quadricycles - similar to today's quads) with different drive concepts (petrol, steam, electric and even muscle or spring-powered) had applied as participants.


All participants had to undergo an obligatory preliminary test over a distance of 50 kilometers, which only steam-powered vehicles or combustion engines survived unscathed and sent on the 126 km route from Paris to Rouen along the Seine ...:



21 daredevil drivers in their "boxes" start, 17 of them reach the finish!

The average speed is almost breakneck 19 kilometers an hour!

After a total journey time of 6 hours and 48 minutes, the French Count Albert de Dion was the first to cross the finish line in his steam car!

De Dion's vehicle is a tractor with an attached carriage, which, in addition to the driver, also needs another heater on board to operate, and needed 800 liters of water for the route to Normandy - the following photo shows him after the finish in Rouen ...:...:



The second and third places also go to the French, both of whom are driving "Peugeot" petrol cars:

Albert Lemaitre arrives 3 minutes and 30 seconds after de Dion's steam monster ...



... a driver, of whom we only have the last name Doriot, is third, 16 minutes and 30 seconds behind.

After the end of the race, the actually victorious de Dion was downgraded to second place by a jury because he had repeatedly accepted the help of spectators while "refueling" water.

Albert Lemaitre is the winner of this first ever car race.

However, the actual winner's price of 5000 Goldfrancs was awarded due to the much easier handling in equal parts by petrol-driven cars from Panhard & Levassor and Peugeot, both equipped with Daimler engines licensed from Panhard.

Here the Panhard after the finish in Rouen - his constructor, Hyppolite Panhard at the wheel ...:



The car is in the museum today ...:



A "Peugeot Type 5", as Monsieur Lemaitre drove one, has also been preserved ...:



However, it is not the winner of the race mentioned ...

I love those old beautiful cars. Such care and craftsmanship went into them. I love the engineering as well. Thanks Martin.