You may not think of the French as the world’s biggest motorsports fans. But France was an early hotspot for bicycle racing (thus the Tour de France) and quickly transitioned into one of the first capitals of auto racing. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the oldest automobile race still happening today. But before that, Paris hosted the world’s rowdy first automobile race–with qualifying laps right downtown.

As I’m sure you can imagine, early “horseless carriage” adopters often raced one another for fun. But there’s no record of an organized race until 1894. Newspapers often sponsored bicycle races and other events to advertise themselves. In the winter of 1893, the editor of a Paris daily called Le Petit Journal announced an upcoming “Horseless Carriage Contest.” When editor Giffard put up 10,000 francs in prize money, entry letters from 100 hopefuls rolled in.

These early vehicles were truly carriages. They had tall, spoked wheels and you had to steer most with a tiller–like a boat. At just 10 MPH you can imagine they were “thrilling.” Three early automobile companies established factory teams for the event: Panhard et Levassor, Serpollet, and a little company called Peugeot.

The Peugeot team had the cheeky name “The sons of Peugeot” (Les fils de Peugeot frères). And they rolled up in the latest, greatest vehicles the company could build. They made an unprecedented three horsepowers. And they featured–get this–the first air-filled rubber tires. Peugeot was obviously the team to beat. So who could give them a run for their money? Royalty, of course.

Count de Dion, known to his friends as Jules-Albert, had his eyes set on the prize. The Count owned a company that built steam locomotives. He felt this was the superior powertrain, even for the automobiles. So he’d established the “de Dion-Bouton” steam tractor company. And what better advertising than entering his tractor in an automobile race. This thing was a solid-wheeled beast. It had so much torque that the Count showed up at the competition pulling a fancy trailer he’d had custom built so his entire entourage could ride along. Represent!

Editor Giffard had written that he intended the race to showcase French manufacturing, advertise his paper, and increase public interest in auto racing. He’d originally planned a route 78 miles down the Siene River, to the town of Rouen. But when a 26 cars actually showed up, he had an idea. He scheduled eight days of “qualifying races” in downtown Paris.

On the first day, all the cars competed. Then every day a group of the racers dashed out through a different neighborhood in Paris. Word spread and increasingly large crowds gathered to watch these fantastic machines bounce through the streets. Allez! Allez!

By Sunday, July 22nd, the 21 remaining cars gathered at Porte Maillot for an 8:00 AM start time. Then they “blasted” down the river. They of course stopped for an extravagant lunch (12:00-1:30). Then they set off again.

The Peugeots were plagued by flat tires. Note that the Michelin brothers wouldn’t invent the removable rubber tire until 1889. So Peugeot had glued its new “pneumatic” tires to its wheels. Changing one was a pain, and their quick cars had to stop often.

So After 6 hours and 48 minutes racing at an average speed of 12 mph, Count de Dion’s steam-powered tractor and its trailer rolled into Rouen first. Three minutes and 30 seconds later, Albert Lemaître arrived in a Peugeot. Third place went to Peugeot driver Auguste Doriot. The winners waited together for another half an hour. Then Hippolyte Panhard himself took fourth place.

Because Editor Giffard wanted to demonstrate how reliable automobiles had become, he forbid any car with a ride-along mechanic from taking home the prize money. This rule disqualified the Count de Dion with his posse in tow. The official winner of the first automobile race was Peugeot’s Albert Lemaître. Bien joué!