"and a 1912 De Dion-Bouton, a 1907 Itala, and a Contal Cycle-car replica. This journey was televised by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in a four-part documentary series entitled ""Peking to Paris"". The show was hosted by Warren Brown, one of two drivers on the Itala and a cartoonist with Sydney newspaper ""The Daily Telegraph"". The Australian team, driving westward, met the Italian Fiat 500, driving eastward, in an unplanned meeting, somewhere around Krasnojarsk, Russia. In 2007 the Endurance Rally Association staged a rally to celebrate the centenary of the original 1907 race. Unlike the 1997 event, also staged by Philip"
"was involved in a fatal crash near Angoulême in the Paris–Madrid race. Nine fatalities caused the French government to stop the race in Bordeaux and ban open-road racing. In 1907, the Peking to Paris race covered 9,317 miles over some of the roughest terrain on Earth. Five cars took part in the race, which was won by the Italian Prince Scipione Borghese in a 7,433 cc (453.6 cu in) 35/45 hp model Itala. The longest automobile race in history, with Paris as the finish line, was the 1908 New York to Paris Race. Six teams from France, Italy, Germany, and"
"heading west-to-east. In March 1907, the Parisian newspaper ""Le Matin"" issued a challenge for anyone to drive from Peking to Paris by motor-car. Five teams; four French, and one Italian took up the challenge. Thus began the first, and most famous international car rally in early motoring history. Barzini had written a popular book about his adventure, being the first to arrive in Paris, but a decade later, the Soviet Union closed off the route used by Barzini. With the glasnost and perestroika of the final days of the Soviet Union, the time seemed right for a new journey. The"
"km. The 1908 New York to Paris Race covered a distance of over 16,000 km, taking 169 days from February 12 to July 30. In the beginning of formalised endurance racing, the races tended to be for sports cars while the Grand Prix cars of the era began to evolve into the open wheel racing cars of today and ran over shorter distances. Over time sports cars began to evolve away from their roots as a production based alternative to pure-bred racing machines of Grand Prix cars, which led to the creation of GT and touring car racing classes, and"
"York to Paris Race, the first and only around-the-world automobile race ever held. The race began in Times Square, New York, on February 12 and covered some , finishing in Paris on July 30, 1908. Six teams started the race (one Italian, one German, three French (De Dion-Bouton, Motobloc, and Sizaire-Naudin), and the American Flyer). Only three of the cars finished, the Thomas Flyer which won, the German Protos, and the Italian Züst. The original intent was to drive the full distance using the frozen Bering Strait to drive across the Pacific Ocean. In the course of the race, the"
"of 250,000 watching the start of what would become a 169-day ordeal. The Race began in mid-winter at a time when there were no snowplows, few roads on the around the world route, unreliable maps, and often little food for the competitors. The original plan was to drive the cars the full distance from New York City to Paris using the frozen Bering Straits to ""bridge"" the Pacific. This proved impossible, requiring the competitors to cross the Pacific by ship. The Flyer arrived in Paris July 30, 1908 to win although the German Protos had actually arrived there four days"
"from New York to Paris) by 26 days (still the largest winning margin in any motorsport event ever). The Italians arrived later in September 1908. The race was of international interest with daily front page coverage by ""The New York Times"" (a cosponsor of the race with the Parisian newspaper ""Le Matin""). The significance of the event extended far beyond the race itself. Together with the Peking to Paris race which took place the year before it established the reliability of the automobile as a dependable means of transportation, eventually taking the automobile from an amusement of the rich to"
"1908 New York to Paris Race The 1908 New York to Paris Race was an automobile competition consisting of drivers attempting to travel from New York to Paris. This was a considerable challenge given the state of automobile technology and road infrastructure at the time. Only three of six contestants completed the course. The winner was the American team, driving a 1907 Thomas Flyer. In 1907 the Peking to Paris automobile race had inspired an even bolder test of these new machines. The following year the course would be from New York City, USA, to Paris, France with a ship"
"Peugeot, despite arriving 11 hours after Émile Levassor in a Panhard et Levassor. Levassor's time for the course, running virtually without a break, was 48 hours and 48 minutes, an average speed of 24 km/h (15 mph). From 24 September-3 October 1895, the ""Automobile Club de France"" sponsored the longest race to date, a event, from Bordeaux to Agen and back. Because it was held in ten stages, it can be considered the first rally. The first three places were taken by a Panhard, a Panhard, and a three-wheeler De Dion-Bouton. In the Paris–Madrid race of May 1903, the Mors"
"longer were common in Grand Prix racing. The 1906 Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France, commonly known as the 1906 French Grand Prix, was a motor race held on closed public roads outside the city of Le Mans. The ACF chose a 103.18-kilometre (64.11 mi) circuit, composed primarily of dust roads sealed with tar, which would be lapped six times on two days by each competitor, a combined race distance of 1,238.16 kilometres (769.36 mi). Lasting for more than 12 hours overall, the race was won by Ferenc Szisz. It was the first genuinely international race to carry the"
"than a steering wheel. The four nations were each allocated a colour, which their representatives' cars would be painted. These were blue for France, yellow for Belgium, white for Germany, and red for the USA. Competitors gathered at the start line in Ville-d'Avray on the outskirts of Paris in the early hours of the morning of 14 June 1900. The race began at 3.14 am, at the drop of the starter's flag, with all five cars setting off together. Over the first five miles (8 km) of the race, to Versailles, there was one minute between the leader Giradot and"
"spring and summer of the next year. The long distance races appeared almost at the same time of the invention of the internal combustion engine at the end of the 19th century, with races being held between major cities such as Paris-Rouen in 1894, Paris-Bordeaux, Paris-Madrid and others. In those years cars and motos raced together, competing for speed (fastest time) or regularity (achieving a certain objective time). These races on open roads where very dangerous, and the successive fatal tragedies (such as 1903 Paris-Madrid) move the race to roads closed to normal traffic (before the creation of real racing"
"means of demonstrating improvements and innovations to automobiles. In 1909 the ""Automobile Club de Monaco"" (""Sport Automobile Velocipedique Monegasque"") started planning a car rally at the behest of Albert I, Prince of Monaco. The Monte Carlo Rally was to start at points all over Europe and converge on Monte Carlo. In January 1911 23 cars set out from 11 different locations and Henri Rougier was among the nine who left Paris to cover a route. The event was won by Rougier in a Turcat-Méry 25 Hp. The rally comprised both driving and then somewhat arbitrary judging based on the elegance"
"passage from Nome, Alaska, across the Bering Strait to East Cape, Siberia, this at a time when ""the motor car is the most fragile and capricious thing on earth."" The race, which was the first of its kind among automobiles, commenced in Times Square on February 12, 1908. Six cars representing four nations were at the starting line for what would become a 169-day ordeal (making it, in terms of time taken, still the longest motorsport event ever held). The national flags of Germany, France, Italy and the United States flew, with the Protos representing Germany, a Zust representing Italy,"
"standard, the change would mean improved supplies of superior-quality wood for furniture makers. The 1908 New York to Paris Race was the first circumnavigation of the world by automobile. German, French, Italian and American teams began in New York City 12 February 1908 with three of the competitors ultimately reaching Paris. The US built Thomas Flyer with George Schuster (driver) won the race covering 22,000 miles in 169 days. Also in 1908, the first South American automobile was built in Peru, the ""Grieve"". In 1909, Rambler became the first car company to equip its cars with a spare tire that"
"a fleet of taxis. These vehicles were later used by the French military to transport troops during World War I which earned them the nickname ""Taxi de la Marne."" By 1907, a significant percentage of London and Paris taxis had been built by Renault. Renault was also the best-selling foreign brand in New York in 1907 and 1908. In 1908 the company produced 3,575 units, becoming the country's largest car manufacturer. The brothers recognised the value of publicity that participation in motor racing could generate for their vehicles. Renault made itself known through succeeding in the first city-to-city races held"
"- were killed and the race was stopped by the French authorities at Bordeaux. Further road based events were banned. From the 32 entries representing 12 different automobile manufacturers, at the 1906 event, the Hungarian-born Ferenc Szisz (1873–1944) won the race in a Renault. This race was regarded as the first ""Grande Épreuve"", which meant ""great trial"" and the term was used from then on to denote up to the eight most important events of the year. Races in this period were heavily nationalistic affairs, with a few countries setting up races of their own, but no formal championship tying"
"Clément-Bayard, Richard, and Décauville. Renault joined the race with two cars driven by Marcel Renault and Louis Renault, two founders of the brand and experienced drivers. Italian manufacturer Fiat presented only two cars, but could count on two of the best drivers of the time, Vincenzo Lancia and Luigi Storero. French newspapers were excited and covered the race with great enthusiasm. The race was presented as the biggest race since the invention of the car, and over 100,000 people managed to reach Versailles at 2 am for the race start. The first hundred of kilometers of the race track were"
"than that used in conventional rallying, and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than modified on-road vehicles. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks, and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to per day. The race originated in December 1977, a year after Thierry Sabine got lost in the Ténéré desert whilst competing in the Abidjan-Nice rally and decided that the desert would be a good location for a regular rally. 182 vehicles took the start of the inaugural rally in Paris, with"
"1979 Paris–Dakar Rally 1979 Dakar Rally, also known as the 1979 Paris–Dakar Rally was the first running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally began on 26 December 1978 from Paris, France and finished on 14 January 1979 in Dakar, Senegal, interrupted by a transfer across the Mediterranean. Cyril Neveu won the motorcycle category on a Yamaha, while the car category was won by Alain Génestier in a Range Rover. 182 competitors (80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks ) contested the inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally, departing the Place du Trocadéro on Boxing Day 1978 to embark upon a 10,000 kilometre"
"Prix, which was an event that originated from the Gordon Bennett Cup races that had started in 1899. This race was run on a 66-mile (106km) closed public road circuit starting at the western French town of Le Mans, through a series of villages and back again to Le Mans. Hungarian Ferenc Szisz won this very long 12hour race on a Renault from Italian Felice Nazzaro in a Fiat, where laps on this circuit took around an hour and the horse carriage road surface was made of dirt. The 1908 race saw Mercedes humiliating the French organizers and finishing 1-2-3"
"crowded with spectators, and rail stations were swarmed with people trying to reach Versailles. The crowd and the darkness convinced the organisers to delay the race start by half an hour, and to reduce the delay between cars to just one minute. The day was expected to be very hot, and the officials wanted to avoid the heat of the late morning. The starting point was in front of the Eau des Suisses at the gardens of Versailles. In the early morning of May 24, 1903, participants started at one minute intervals for the first leg to Bordeaux via Saint"
"11 different locations and Rougier was among the nine who left Paris to cover a route. The event was won by Henri Rougier in a Turcat-Méry 45 hp. The rally comprised both driving and then somewhat arbitrary judging based on the elegance of the car, passenger comfort and the condition in which it arrived in the principality. The outcry of scandal when the results were published changed nothing, so Rougier was proclaimed the first winner. After World War I Henri Rougier purchased a limited number of completed 1913/14 Turcat-Méry chassis which he then had reworked to improve the engines and"
"1907 French Grand Prix The 1907 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Dieppe on 2 July 1907. Thirty-eight cars set off at one-minute intervals to complete 10 laps of a circuit on a triangular circuit near the city of Dieppe. The field was led away by Vincenzo Lancia's Fiat. The race was run under a fuel consumption limit of . Louis Wagner led the race for the first three laps. After Wagner retired on lap four, Arthur Duray took the lead. Duray set the fastest lap, with an average speed of , and led the"
"race took place for 12 hours each between 8am to 8pm and between it, the cars were locked up overnight to prevent maintenance work from being performed on them. The 2001 Dakar Rally saw competitors cover a distance of with a winning time of 70 hours over 20 days with three classes of cars, motorbikes, and trucks. The 1992 Paris–Cape Town Rally covered a distance of 12,427 km. The 1994 edition saw competitors return to Paris, for a distance of 13,379 km. The Expedition Trophy, first held in 2005, runs from Murmansk to Vladivostok, for a total distance of 12,500"
"the United States competed with three teams actually reaching Paris. The American Thomas Flyer driven by George Schuster was declared the winner of the epic 22,000 mile race in 169 days The Milwaukee Mile is the second-oldest motor racing track in the world still in existence, with racing being held there since 1903. It was not purposely built for motor racing, however. It started as a one-mile (1.6 km) horse-racing track in the 19th century. The first closed-circuit automobile race was held on September 7, 1896 at the Narragansett Trotting Park in Cranston, Rhode Island, and was won by an"
"his Rolls-Royce Alpine Eagle. Then in 1911 came the first Monte Carlo Rally (later known colloquially as ""the Monte""), organised by a group of wealthy locals who formed the ""Sport Automobile Vélocipédique Monégasque"" and bankrolled by the ""Société des Bains de Mer"" (the ""sea bathing company""), the operators of the famous casino who were keen to attract wealthy sporting motorists. The competitive elements were slight, but getting to Monaco in winter was a challenge in itself. A second event was held in 1912. Two ultra long distance challenges took place at this time. The Peking-Paris of 1907 was not officially"
"in the French Grand Prix at Tours, driving a 'Voisin Laboratoire' he retired after 19 laps. In the 1923 Italian Grand Prix at Monza he retired after 28 laps. In 1909 the ""Automobile Club de Monaco"" (""Sport Automobile Velocipedique Monégasque"") started planning a car rally at the behest of Albert I, Prince of Monaco. The Monte Carlo Rally was to start at points all over Europe and converge on Monte Carlo. In January 1911 23 cars set out from 11 different locations and Rougier was among the nine who left Paris to cover a route. The event was won by"
"km long event in just over a day. Post-war winners include Louison Bobet (1959), Tom Simpson (1963), and Jacques Anquetil (1965). The record for the most victories is held by Herman Van Springel who won seven times between 1970 and 1981. George Mills won the inaugural Bordeaux–Paris race in 1891. He was invited by the organisers, the newspaper ""Véloce Sport"" because of his reputation in an age when long-distance racing was the fashion. A race from Bordeaux in the south-west to the capital in Paris would be the longest annual event in France. The race started at 5am in the"
"1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris The Paris–Marseille–Paris race was the first competitive 'city to city' motor race, where the first car across the line was the winner, prior events having selected the winner by various forms of classification and judging. The race was won by Émile Mayade who completed the ten-day, 1,710 km, event over unsurfaced roads in 67 hours driving a Panhard et Levassor. The event was organised by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) and was sometimes retrospectively known as the ""II Grand Prix de l'A.C.F."". It was run in 10 stages from Paris via Auxerre; Dijon; Lyon; Avignon; Marseille; Avignon;"
"circuits) led to the separation of cars and motos, and the long distance races turning into rallies The Bol d’Or (most famous and prestigious Endurance race) was held for the first time in 1922 on the circuit of Vaujours, near Paris (a beaten-earth road circuit used since 1888 for 24-hour competitions for bicycles). Other endurance races were created after World War II, such as 24 Hour Race in Warsage (Belgium) in 1951, the 500 Miles of Thruxton in 1955, the 24 Hours of Montjuich in Barcelona in 1957, and the 24 hours of Monza (Italy) in 1959.. At the beginning,"
"attend a party and drive back to NYC. The inaugural rally featured 74 cars and 189 participants, and traveled from Long Island City, Queens to Montreal, Canada. Drivers were required to stop at 5 checkpoints along the route (which necessitated that mostly local roads were used) and collect evidence of their passing through them. 3 cars never made it to Montreal due to mechanical problems and 1 team - Jake's Clown Car - did not make it back from Montreal due to an accident in which no one was injured. The winner drove a van converted to resemble an emergency"
"Francs per year of export alone. Since races were necessary to promote the brands, they interceded with the government who finally agreed with the race. The Council of Ministries and the President gave their support to the race on February 17, 1903, while the ACF had been accepting applications since January 15. In just 40 days over 300 drivers enrolled, many more than expected. The net worth of the cars involved in the race surpassed 7 million Francs. The race was to span over 1307 kilometers, in three legs: Versailles – Bordeaux (552 km), Bordeaux – Vitoria (km 335) and"