The Paris–Marseille–Paris race was the first competitive 'city to city' motor race originating in Paris, 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 Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed b ...

. 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; Lyon; Dijon; Sens and return to Paris.

History

The first competitive 'city to city' motoring event had been the 1894 Paris–Rouen where the Count

Jules-Albert de Dion Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion de Wandonne (9 March 185619 August 1946) was a French pioneer of the automobile industry. He invented a steam-powered car and used it to win the world's first auto race, but his vehicle was adjudg ...

was first into Rouen but steam-powered vehicles were ineligible for the main prize. Likewise, in 1895 the nascent Automobile Club de France) (ACF) organised its first event, the

Paris–Bordeaux–Paris The Paris–Bordeaux–Paris Trail race of June 1895 is sometimes called the "first motor race", although it did not fit modern competition where the fastest is the winner. It was a win for Émile Levassor, who came first after completing the 1,1 ...

race, but excluded two-seater cars such that their official winner, a four-seater, finished 11 hours after

Émile Levassor Émile Constant Levassor (21 January 1843 – 14 April 1897) was a French engineer and a pioneer of the automobile industry and car racing in France. Biography Levassor was born in Marolles-en-Hurepoix. After studying engineering and graduatin ...

. The outcry resulting from the 1895 result lead the ''A.C.F.'' to organise the Paris–Marseille–Paris Trail as the first fully competitive motor race starting in Paris, where the first car across the line was the winner. On 8 February 1896 the race was announced in ''La France Automobile'', the second edition of the ''A.C.F.'s'' official magazine.Histomobile, profile of 1896 - Paris-Marseille-Paris
/ref>

Vehicles and entrants

The entry list included : seven

De Dion-Bouton De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux. Steam cars T ...

s (5 gasoline-powered tricycles and 2 steam-powered cars); five Bollées (comprising four Léon Bollée tricycles and tandems plus an

Amédée Bollée Amédée-Ernest Bollée (11 January 1844 – 20 January 1917) was a French bellfounder and inventor who specialized in steam cars. After 1867 he was known as "Amédée père" to distinguish him from his similarly named son, Amédée-Ernest- ...

); four

s; three

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

s; two

Delahaye Delahaye was a family-owned automobile manufacturing company, founded by Émile Delahaye in 1894 in Tours, France. Manufacturing was moved to Paris following incorporation with two unrelated brothers-in-law as equal partners in 1898. The compa ...

s; two

Société Parisienne Société Parisienne (''Maison Parisienne'') was a French manufacturer of velocipedes, bicycles and tricycles from 1876. They began limited automobile construction in 1894 and regular light car (voiturette) construction in 1898 or 1899, and they c ...

s and two Triouleyres. There were also single car entries from Fisson; Landry et Beyroux (or poss. Landoy); Lebrun;

Rochet-Schneider Rochet-Schneider was a French company, based in Lyons, that produced automobiles between 1894 and 1932. The Rochet-Schneider sales slogan was "strength, simplicity and silence". Like other motorcars of the Brass Era, the cars made by Roche ...

; Rossel and Tissandier. * Amédée Bollée drove his own 4 seater 'face to face' (''vis-a-vis'') model, equipped with a 2.3 litre, two-cylinder, air-cooled, petrol engine, which produced about 6 hp. It retired after completing the first stage to Auxerre but was notable for being the only entry with a

steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel (UK), a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and ...

rather than a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

. * De Dion-Bouton entered five petrol-powered tricycles plus and two steam-powered cars. Viet finished in third place overall on his tricycle and won Class B, while Collomb (No. 51) and Delieuvin (No.15) rode their tricycles to finish fifth and ninth respectively. The tricycles of Chevalier (No. 52) and Boiron both retired on the second day. Neither of the steam-powered cars driven by Comté

and Comté Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat (No. 14)completed the first stage. * The

Group entered two petrol powered 4-seater vehicles which used two-cylinder, water-cooled, 2,513 cc engines rated at 6 hp. They were driven by

Émile Delahaye Émile Delahaye (16 October 1843 – 1 June 1905) was a French automotive pioneer who founded Delahaye Automobiles. Émile Delahaye was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire. He studied engineering at Arts et Métiers Paris Technical trade school in An ...

and sporting pioneer

Ernest Archdeacon Ernest Archdeacon (23 March 1863 – 3 January 1950) was a French lawyer and aviation pioneer before the First World War. He made his first balloon flight at the age of 20. He commissioned a copy of the 1902 Wright No. 3 glider but ha ...

who finished tenth and seventh respectively. * Fisson entered a 4-seater car powered by a 4.5 hp Benz petrol engine and driven by Ferté, but it did not complete the first stage. * Landry et Beyroux ( :de:M.L.B.)(''Cie des Moteurs et Autos M.L.B.'') entered a single car for Justin Landry with a rear-mounted, 5.5 hp, single cylinder engine. They had begun producing automobiles in 1894 at their works in Hondouville,

Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Passy-sur-Seine, but ceased production in 1902. Landry completed the race in 119 hours to finish in thirteenth place, 52 hours behind the overall winner. * Lebrun entered a single car that Lebrun built himself, powered by a rear-mounted 4 hp Daimler petrol engine with twin cylinders in 'V' configuration. He completed 5 stages to reach Marseille before retiring. *

Léon Bollée Léon Bollée (1 April 1870 – 16 December 1913) was a French automobile manufacturer and inventor. Life Bollée's family were well known bellfounders and his father, Amédée Bollée (1844–1917), was the major pioneer in the automobile i ...

entered four tricycle tandems fitted with a single cylinder, 641 cc delivering about 3 HP. To reduce weight and lower the centre of gravity the vehicle had no springs or suspension other than the Michelin tyres. Lejane's tricycle was the fastest participant, winning stage 1 at 31.9 km/hour, but then retiring on stage 2. Party persevered to finish fourteenth (last) in 141 hours, 74 hours behind the winning Panhard et Levassor of Émile Mayade. The other two Bollée tricycles of Camille Bollée and a.n.other also retired after stage 1. * Four

s were entered, two (race No. 5 of Émile Levassor and No. 8 of Merkel) were fitted with the 1895 Daimler Phoenix 4 HP (two-cylinder, 1206 cc) engines, whilst the other two had Panhard et Levassor's new design of 8 hp, 4-cylinder 2.4-litre engine. Car number 7 of P. Dubois was a 6-seater omnibus, and number 6 was a 4-seater driven by Émile Mayade to overall victory. * Two

s (Parisienne Benz) were entered by Guyonnet and Charles Labouré and completed the course in 102 hours to record eleventh and twelfth places respectively. The cars were reportedly slightly modified

Benz Viktoria The Benz Victoria was a car sold by the Benz motor company from 1893 to 1900. When bought in Sweden 1900 it cost, in today's value, about 30.000 Euro/Dollars. See also * List of Mercedes-Benz vehicles *Benz Velo The Benz Velo was one of ...

s, using a single cylinder, 2.9-litre, 4.5 hp petrol engine.Driver Database, II Grand Prix de l'ACF 1896
/ref> * Three petrol powered

s were entered. Auguste Doriot drove No 44, a 4 hp, lightweight 2 seater phaeton shod with Michelin tyres, possibly a

Type 7 Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * T ...

or Type 8, using a new 2 cylinder 1,396 engine, and was classified eighth when he reached Paris after 81 hours and 23 minutes. Likewise Louis Rigoulot drove number 45, a similar chassis and engine but bodied as a 2-seater 'break', but retired after the first stage. The third Peugeot driven by Berlet (number 46), a heavy 5 seater "Wagonette" equipped with solid tires and an older Daimler engine, reached Paris in sixth position after 75 hours 26 minutes. *

Gaston Tissandier Gaston Tissandier (November 21, 1843 – August 30, 1899) was a French chemist, meteorologist, aviator, and editor. He escaped besieged Paris by balloon in September 1870. He founded and edited the scientific magazine ''La Nature'' and wrote se ...

, chemist and adventurer, drove his own design of car with a petrol powered 4 hp engine. He retired after the first stage. * Two

Triouleyre The Triouleyre was a French automobile manufactured from 1896 to 1898. The car had a rear-mounted five-horsepower horizontal engine along the lines of a Benz & Cie., Benz driving the back axle through belts and chains. Two started in the 1896 Paris ...

s were entered by the ''Compagnie Générale des Automobiles'' of Paris. The cars used a rear-mounted Benz single-cylinder petrol engine delivering 4.5 hp. Valentin retired after 2 stages whilst Estève failed to complete a single stage.

Prologue - pre-selection

1896 Panhard Levassor of Emile Mayade - Winner of Paris Marseilles Paris - GG

On 20 September, the weekend prior to the start of the race, a selection trial (''prologue'') was run from Paris-Mantes-Paris for bicycles and tricycles of less than 150 kilograms. The eight successful machines were classified as either engine powered or engine and pedal powered. The two self-powered machines were the single seat, petrol-powered ' Wolfmüller' motorcycle (No 31) ridden by D'Ofraiville; and the Hurtu-Léon Bollée tricycle No. 50 of C. Chauveau. The pedal machines (mopeds) were all De Dion-Bouton tricycles ridden by Chevalier (No. 52); Delieuvin (No. 15); Clere (No. 51); Fernand Charron (No. 13); and Comte Laubat Gaston De Chasseloup (No. 14).

The race

The race covered 1,710 km from Paris to Marseilles and return from 24 September-3 October 1896.

Daily itinerary

The race was scheduled to be run over 10 daily stages without rest days. Wiki Italy Motoring in 1896

On the road

The 32 entrants started the first stage from under the

Place de l'Étoile Place Charles de Gaulle (), historically known as the Place de l'Étoile (), is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues (hence its historic name, which translates as "Square of the Star") including t ...

in Paris and raced 177 km to

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

where the winner was Lejane who had driven his Bollée at over 31 km/hour. Unfortunately his glory was short lived as he retired the following day. The first of the Panhard et Levassors came to the fore on the second stage from Auxere to Dijon, when Émile Levassor covered the 150.95 km over unsurfaced roads in 6 hours 51 minutes, thus taking the overall lead. Levassor increased his lead by also winning the third stage into Lyon, but his race was ruined when he suffered an accident on the fourth stage into Avignon. Although he persevered until the end of the stage, he then handed over the driving to his

riding mechanic A riding mechanic was a mechanic that rode along with a race car during races, and who was tasked with maintaining, monitoring, and repairing the car during the race. The various duties included manually pumping oil and fuel, checking tire wear, ...

Charles d'Hostingue and they continued steadily until the finishing fourth overall in Paris. Levassor would never fully recover from the accident and the stress of driving another 36 hours, and died early in 1897. The stage was won by Merkel driving another one of Émile Levassor's cars. The fifth stage into the halfway point at Marseille was won by Viet riding on a gasoline-powered De Dion tricycle, and he also won the next stage leaving Marseille back to Avignon. In a remarkable piece of symmetry Merkel again won the stage between Avignon and Lyon, a move that started Panhard et Levassor's dominant performance as Emile Mayade dominated the final three stages back to Paris and overall victory. Panhard et Levassor had won seven of the ten stages. The winning 8 hp Panhard et Levassor of Mayade had been extensively upgraded for 1896, using their first four-cylinder engine, doubling the horsepower from the 1895 model. It was equipped with tiller steering and candle lamps. The brakes were a spoon-lever pressing on the solid rubber back tyre plus a belt that tightened onto a drum on the transmission.

Results

Paris-Marseilles-Paris Trail - 24 September - 3 October 1896 – 1710 km

Summary

* Entrants - 31. (29 petrol/diesel/oil/gas; 2 steam) - 19 from class A1; 3 from class A2; 5 from class B2; and 4 from class C. * Arrivals - 14. (14 petrol/diesel/oil/gas; 0 steam) - 9 from class A1; 1 from class A2; 3 from class B2; 1 from class C. * Withdrawals - 16. (14 petrol/diesel/oil/gas; 2 steam) - 10 from class A1; 2 from class A2; 1 from class B2; 3 from class C. * Suspended - 1. (1 petrol/diesel/oil/gas) - 1 from class B2.

Overall

The overall results were:

Stage winners

The stage-winners were:

Did not finish

Entrants who did not finish :

References

Gallica online archive of the Library of France
'' Le Matin'', 4 Oct 1898. Automobiles - ''Les Automobiles'' - sont rentrées à Paris, après une absence de dix jours. Voici l'ordre du classement générale.

Other sources

Italian Wikipedia accredited sources: :it:Storia dell'automobilismo (1896)#La Paris-Marseille-Paris * Vedi Storia dell'automobilismo (1878 - 1894)#Bibliografia e, in aggiunta: * Emanuele Alberto Carli, Settant'anni di gare automobilistiche in Italia, Roma L.E.A. (L'Editrice dell'Automobile), 1967. * Jean-Marie Leliévre e Jean-Robert Dulier. Conquete de la vitesse 1895–1900, Paris Editions Automobiles Paul Couty, 1969. * Autori vari, London-Brighton 1896, London B The Autocar, 1896. * Autori vari, Paris-Marseille-Paris, course de voitures automobiles, Paris Publications du Journal Le Génie Civil per conto de L'Automobile Club de France, (fascicolo in fotocopia), 1896. {{DEFAULTSORT:1896 Paris-Marseille-Paris Auto races Motorsport competitions in France Defunct auto racing series Sports competitions in Paris 1896 in French motorsport September 1896 sports events October 1896 sports events