SAHJ305
[…] 305 • July / August 2020 3 President’s PerspectivePresident’s Perspective A mong the great many things that have fallen through the cracks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is that 2020 marked a century and quarter of motor sport. Although there are those who point to the Concours des Voitures sans Chevaux, organized by Le Petit Journal of July 1894, that covered the roughly 125 kilometers from Paris to Rouen as the fi rst automo- bile race, it was actually what would more or less evolve into a reliability trial, speed being but one of a number of criteria that determined the recipient of the 5,000-franc fi rst prize. The distinction of the fi rst auto- motive con test to be judged by the simple criteria of the voitures (automobiles) com- peting—the fi rst automobile covering the distance in the shortest time was the win- ner—was held in June 1895. It was held over a route of 1,200 kilometers, the start- ing point being the Place de l’Etoile in Paris, then to Bordeaux, with a return to Paris. The fi rst car to complete the event did so in 48 hours 48 minutes, a Panhard et Levassor with M. Levassor doing much of the driving. However, the rules stipulat- ed that the automobiles had to carry more than two passengers and, therefore, the Peugeot of M. Koechlin, fi nishing exactly 11 hours later, pocketed the prize money for fi rst place. If motor sport as a speed contest or race got its start in France, it was the Unit- ed States that held the next several auto- mobile races. In the summer of 1895, the Times-Herald of Chicago announced plans for an event similar to the Paris-Bordeaux- Paris contest, the race to cover a route from Chicago to Waukegan and then return to […]