14 replies to this topic

[eldougo]

We should consider this day 22nd of July as the day we celebrate the competitiveness of man and women  using a motor car to prove themselves against other ,and how it has  grown to what we have today ( good or bad) .I say thank goodness for the motor car and the joy it has brought to our lives over the years and in turn we still relive those drivers and machine we have seen  race and those we only heard about,drivers that we love, the ones we dislike, ones that have departed this earth doing what they liked

the people that took up this sport and gave it a go win loose or draw .It stimulate the imagination of designer engineers and the back yard mechanic that wanted to create a vehicle to  show  their skill or not.  We revire the Champions in all forms of competition through out the world and we thank you for the visions of joy it has supplied to us

It would have been a very different world for me personally ,and loads of you people out there.That enjoy the Smell , Sound and the Speed that is MOTOR RACING .

  

 From Wikipedia....                                                                                         ----------------------------------------------------

Paris–Rouen, Le Petit Journal Horseless Carriages Contest , was a pioneering city-to-city motoring competition in 1894 which is sometimes described as the world's first competitive motor race.

The contest was organised by the newspaper Le Petit Journal and run from Paris to Rouen in France on 22 July 1894. It was preceded by four days of vehicle exhibition and qualifying events that created great crowds and excitement. The eight 50 km qualifying events started near the Bois de Boulogne and comprised interwoven routes around Paris to select the entrants for the main event.126 km ^]

The first driver across the finishing line at Rouen was "le Comte de Dion" but he did not win the main prize because his steam vehicle needed a 'stoker' and was thus ineligible. The fastest petrol powered car was a 3 hp (2.2 kW; 3.0 PS) Peugeot driven by Albert Lemaître. The premier prize, the 5,000 franc Prix du Petit Journal, for 'the competitor whose car comes closest to the ideal' was shared equally by manufacturers Panhard et Levassor and Les fils de Peugeot frères ("The sons of Peugeot brothers"), with vehicles that were 'easy to use.

Edited by eldougo, 22 July 2016 - 08:52.

[Tim Murray]

But was it really a race ... ?

[arttidesco]

Jaein, yes there was a race, no the outcome did not appear to have any bearing on the destination of the prizes ;-)

[Tim Murray]

Hence, although the time taken by each entrant was noted, officially it was not a race.

[eldougo]

When cars line up and compete against each other i personal think that sis a RACE. and long my it last.

[eldougo]

Seventeen of the original 21 racers eventually completed the 79-mile journey,

with most arriving on the Champs de Mars in Rouen in the early to late evening.

Despite his detour through the potato patch, the Count de Dion crossed the finish line first

with a total time of six hours, 48 minutes and an average speed of around 12 miles per hour.

Lemaitre arrived five minutes later in his Peugeot, followed by Doriot

and then Paul Panhard and Emile Levassor.

At the awards ceremony the following day, the judges from Le Petit Journal

decided to split first prize between the Peugeot and Panhard & Levassor cars

whose vehicles had demonstrated remarkable reliability.

The judges singled out Gottlieb Daimler’s engine for special praise,

saying it had “turned petroleum or gasoline fuel into a practical solution” for powering automobiles.

While he technically won the race, the Count de Dion only received second prize.

His steam-powered tractor required a passenger to serve as an onboard stoker,

which meant it failed the “ease of operation” test laid out in the competition rules

Third prize went to Maurice le Blant, for a large Serpollet steam carriage that could carry nine passengers.  

Sounds like a race to me.

[Tim Murray]

In the days when my motor club ran economy runs, we used to record the time taken by each competitor to complete the course, so that, if needed, the time taken could be used as a tie-break in case two competitors ended up with the same fuel consumption figure. This didn't turn the event into a race - it was still an economy run.

[Michael Ferner]

While it is true that the organizers of the event never intended to hold a race, and never regarded it as such before, during or after the actual running, the feeling at the time (and ever since) was that the entries in the event, the manufacturers as well as the individual drivers, VERY MUCH made it into a de facto race. Call it will power, fate or destiny - it was the beginning of something BIG.

[Vitesse2]

In the days when my motor club ran economy runs, we used to record the time taken by each competitor to complete the course, so that, if needed, the time taken could be used as a tie-break in case two competitors ended up with the same fuel consumption figure. This didn't turn the event into a race - it was still an economy run.

 

 

While it is true that the organizers of the event never intended to hold a race, and never regarded it as such before, during or after the actual running, the feeling at the time (and ever since) was that the entries in the event, the manufacturers as well as the individual drivers, VERY MUCH made it into a de facto race. Call it will power, fate or destiny - it was the beginning of something BIG.

Succinct summaries of the two points of view - a discussion which has been going on for about 120 years. And will no doubt continue for at least another 120!

 

Of course if more than one car had turned up at Pont de Neuilly on April 28th 1887 ...

 

There had of course been at least two previous challenge matches between steam-driven road vehicles, but whatever its status Paris-Rouen does hold the distinction of being the first event in which vehicles powered by internal combustion engines took part.

[bradbury west]

In view of the various categorising parameters within which the cars were assessed for results classification, perhaps it resembles an early variation of the Pomeroy Trophy format
Roger Lund

[Doug Nye]

Yeah but...there were previous and more convincing forerunners for what became the format of 'the motor RACE' as such...

 

DCN

[Afterburner]

Huh. I finally figured out what the basis for this song's title is; probably should've known this already, though. 

 

[eldougo]

Lovely music ,shame it not a video of the RACE to Rouen with real footage because it was not invented then ?...OR WAS IT. 

[DCapps]

But was it really a race ... ?

 

 

While it is true that the organizers of the event never intended to hold a race, and never regarded it as such before, during or after the actual running, the feeling at the time (and ever since) was that the entries in the event, the manufacturers as well as the individual drivers, VERY MUCH made it into a de facto race. Call it will power, fate or destiny - it was the beginning of something BIG.

 

 

Yeah but...there were previous and more convincing forerunners for what became the format of 'the motor RACE' as such...

 

DCN

 

I would suggest that the more appropriate term would be contemporary way used for such events: contest.

[robert dick]

Paris-Rouen report in The Engineer/London, 20 July 1894, pages 47, 48 and 49,

"The visitor to Paris or to any other large town will now see as many cycles as in a similar town in England; 

he will be struck by the number of ladies who are cyclists, and probably surprised to see the greater proportion of them wearing loose Turkish trousers."

...

(including the routes for the different eliminations)

 

https://babel.hathit...09220156&seq=70