The race of engine principles.

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When you publish a book sponsored by Development Panhard and prefaced by Robert and Alain Panhard there is probably a good reason for that. And yes the first great automobile race was a straight out win for Panhard & Levassor. The year was 1895! The race from Paris to Bordeaux and back to Paris. 720 miles or 1200 km. A nice weekend trip to us, a gruesome distance in those very early motoring days (Panhard won with an average of 15 mph in a bit less than 49 hours). 46 teams enscribed with cars powered by petroleum (20), steam (15), gasoline (5) and electricity (2). The R&D departments were not so sure about the complex technique of the relatively new gas engines. Even to this extent Mr. Bollée entered with a 15 year old (!) steamer of which he knew the strong and the weak points....(click). Of all 23 entrees which showed at the start, 12 made it halfway to Bordeaux and only 9 reached the Finish, with 48 hours, 48 minutes as best time. A fact seen of historical technological impact. The Scientific American (August 10, 1895) published all finishing cars, four of which were gasoline powered! A better proof for the superiority of the novel technique would be very hard to deliver.
The most attractive bilingual book by Benoît Pérot (French text) and John Sly (English) doesn't fatigue you with long reading. Instead it offers you a multi course meal of modern French cooking. Lots of highly digestable details 'petit fours' (tasty bites) of the amazing race with lovely pictures, letters, reconnaisance reports, budgetting. Technological diffulties. (the website alone by publisher Timkat is a delicious hors d'oevre for this must-have for the fan of early racing. start your engine (title: 1895, Paris-Bordeau-paris, the Pioneers of the Automobile in a Race for History, Editions Timkat. ISBN: 978-2-9529973-0-0. Price 30 Euro)

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