It was the 24th of 1903. It was the Paris (Bordeaux) Madrid. It was the "race to death". In memory of these pioneers (as Farman, Rolls, Vanderbilt, Renault brothers,etc..) of the last open road races, stopped in Bordeaux because too much deaths and injuries ( 9 persons dead the first day, included the famous Marcel Renault, lot of hard injuries among spectators, drivers and mechanics). I'm absolutly stunned when i see that average speed of the winner (on Mors 70 HP car, ) was 65.3 mph on 341 miles and that some of the racers did 88 mph on straight (and rough) roads... Even with today cars i'm not sure i can't beat it if i drive on non highways roads !! If you want to look at a report (in english) of one of the competitors (Jarrot, 4th at final ) go to http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/paris1903.htm and http://www.motorracingretro.com/pioneer/retro03madrid/retro03madrid.htm to see pics (with distorted wheels, they didn't have numeric cameras even not good cameras..). Results at http://members.fortunecity.com/quintin_cloud/18941925/1903fe.htm Sorry to this non-related FWDLK post but these pioneers need a lot of gratitude, their cars weren't as today computer-like "race cars"... -- Philippe COURANT (Pau, France)- Webmaster des sites ACCF et C-I-F Imperial 1957 Crown convertible Buick 1996 Roadmaster wagon - American Car Club de France (ACCF) : http://www.accf.com - Chrysler Imperial France (C-I-F) : http://www.ifrance.com/c-i-f - Cadillac " Standard of Excellence " : http://www.ifrance.com/accf-cad - SportsCars : http://www.ifrance.com/accf-sprtcar -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2003 Calendar voting results and ordering information is online! Please visit: http://www.forwardlook.net/calendar2003 for more information. |
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