First-ever automobile race runs from Paris to Rouen

On July 22, 1894, the world's first-ever automobile race takes place, with 17 of 21 entrants completing the route from Paris to Rouen, France, covering a distance of 126 kilometers, or 78.3 miles. The Concours Paris-Rouen—better known as the Paris-Rouen Trial—paved the way not only for Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500, and all the car races to come, but also heralded the dawn of the motor age by showcasing the automobile’s reliability.

Writing under the pseudonym of Jean sans Terre in the December 19, 1893 issue of Le Petit Journal, editor Pierre Giffard proposed a competition for “voitures sans chevaux” or “horseless carriages.” It focused not on speed, but on cars meeting the required conditions of being "safe, easy to handle, and economical to operate." 

More than 100 entries flooded in before the April 30, 1894 deadline, showcasing a variety of imaginative means of propulsion—including gravity and pendulums, as well as gas and steam. Ultimately, though, only 23 cars were ready in time for the elimination trials set over July 19 and 20, 1894, with 19 successfully completing their routes. Two more vehicles eventually qualified on July 21, for a total of 21 official entrants for the Sunday race.

The competition started at 8 a.m. at Porte Maillot in Paris, with a large crowd on hand. All the vehicles were powered either by steam or internal-combustion engines. One had a steering wheel, while the rest were guided by tillers. Taking into account several breaks—including a leisurely lunch at Mantes—the vehicles averaged 11.6 miles per hour.

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 5:40 p.m. 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 & 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.