The world’s first automobile race took place on July 22, 1894, with 17 of the 21 participants completing the 78.3-mile route from Paris to Rouen, France. Known as the Concours Paris-Rouen, or Paris-Rouen Trial, it not only set the stage for legendary races like Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500 but also marked the dawn of the motor age by proving the automobile’s reliability. The contest was first suggested Pierre Giffard, editor Le Petit Journal, who used the pen name Jean sans Terre in the December 19, 1893rd issue. He called it a contest of “voitures sans chevaux,” or “horseless carriages.” The emphasis wasn’t on speed, but on vehicles that were safe, easy to handle, and affordable to run. It was actually a “proving ground” for the vehicles. and that really made this a unique race, as races go.
Before the April 30, 1894, deadline for the race, over 100 entries poured in, featuring all sorts of creative propulsion methods…like gravity, pendulums, gas, and steam. It seems every automobile inventor wanted to test their kind of vehicle, but not all of them were able to be ready in time. In the end, just 23 cars were ready for the elimination trials on July 19 and 20, with 19 making it to the finish. Two more vehicles qualified on July 21, bringing the total to 21 official contenders for the Sunday race. The competition kicked off at 8:00am at Porte Maillot in Paris, drawing a big crowd. All the vehicles ran on either steam or internal-combustion engines. Only one featured a steering wheel, while the others were controlled with tillers. With several breaks along the way, including a relaxed lunch in Mantes, the vehicles averaged a speed of 11.6 miles per hour…not quite the “race” we are used to these days.
With his 20-horsepower steam tractor pulling an open carriage, Count Albert de Dion, co-founder of the French automobile manufacturer De Dion-Bouton, consistently held the lead throughout the race…even after taking a wrong turn into a potato field at Igoville. However, despite his finishing first at 5:40pm in the Champs de Mars at Rouen, with a run time of 6 hours and 48 minutes, the judges all agreed that De Dion’s tractor-trailer combination did not meet the necessary conditions of the competition. Instead, the first-place prize of 5,000 francs (a value of around $40,000 today), was shared equally between the French manufacturers Panhard and Levassor and Les Fils de Peugeot frères for hewing closest to the competition’s ideals.
The real winner of the Paris-Rouen Trial, however, was the automotive industry itself. The competition not only marked a significant milestone in automotive history but also ignited the public’s imagination and laid the groundwork for the acceptance of the automobile as a reliable mode of transportation. Just less than a year later, the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race was held in June 1895, with entrants driving a 732-mile route.
