The First Car Race

The first automobile 'car race' took place in France in 1894 for vehicles without horses.

This first car race was not meant to be a 'first to finish race' meaning it wasn't a race for the fastest car.

It was instead a trial to determine the car that was most reliable, easiest to handle and the cheapest to run.

It was June 22 1894 when the Le Petit Journal which was a Paris newspaper organized what was called a ‘reliability trial’ which ran from Paris to Rouen, a distance of 126 kilometers or 79 miles.

With the prize money at 5,000 francs, 102 drivers from France, Germany, Italy and England entered, some of them with rather whimsical vehicles.

After a series of test, the competition was reduced to 20 vehicles, 15 of which completed the course.

In addition to gasoline, steam or electric drive systems, there were also compressed-air engines and ‘hydromobiles’. Among them nine vehicles were powered with engines manufactured under the Daimler License by Panhard-Levassor and one was a 3hp Benz “Vis-à-Vis”.

Realizing that the public was more interested in the fastest car, a number of the Paris-Rouen trial competitors and representatives from newspapers and the French motor industry met to organize a trial where the fastest car would be deemed the winner.

The committee came up with a list of qualifications and the event was sponsored by wealthy patrons including Gordon Bennett Jr., the American publisher of the New York Herald.

The association of French engineers predicted that, “The races will speed up the process of solving the problem of mechanical transportation by road.”

Although the first vehicle to cross the line was a steam-powered De Dion-Bouton tractor of Georges Bouton, it was declared impractical because it was large, took lots of work to run and it was powered by steam.

That was incidentally the first and only time a steam powered vehicle beat a gas powered vehicle.

The vehicles that were declared the winners were from Panhard-Levassor, and the Peugeot brothers – both of which were powered by gasoline engines built under a Daimler License.

This race made people take an interest in the results and successes of the individual brands.

The the first automobile club 'The Automobile Club de France', which was formed in Paris in 1895 organized the first real motor car race, that took place a year later in June. It was a race from Paris to Bordeaux and back, an approximate distance of 732 miles, which 46 contestants entered.

After nearly 49 hours of driving Emile Levassor won, driving an average speed of 15 mph.

He was almost six hours ahead of the second place winner and 11 hours ahead of the car that came in third.

Emile Levassor, however was disqualified because his car was not a required four-seater.

A Peugeot car went on to win the first car race which gained Peugeot publicity and boosted car sales.