Strange But True: The Longest Race

In 1907, the automobile was new and auto racing was a new sport. Early races were held on hard sand beaches and between nearby cities on the dirt paths that passed for roads. But in that year a French newspaper, Paris Matin, sponsored an event that would be remembered long after the shorter contests were forgotten. It was to be a race from Peking, China, to Paris, France, a distance of almost nine thousand miles. The course led through Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, into Siberia, over the Ural Mountains into Moscow, then down through Poland, Germany, Belgium and finally into France. Depots were erected along the route, stocked with extra tires, fuel and spare parts.

Five cars entered. The race began on June 10, 1907, and ended exactly two months later on August 10. The winning car was a four-cylinder Italia driven mostly by Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy. Two other cars arrived three weeks later.

The race was so successful that the Paris Matin decided to sponsor another one, even longer. This time the starting point was New York City, and the finish line was Paris. The cars were to head west, traveling almost around the world before reaching Paris. The American section of the race was organized by two American newspapers, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. According to the plans, cars would drive to California, take a boat to Alaska, drive north toward the Bering Strait, then take another boat to Russia.

On February 12, 1908, six cars moved to the starting line in Times Square, New York City.

One car was a German Protos, which had been built in 16 days by order of Kaiser Wilhelm, the German chief of state. It had six cylinders and a 40-horsepower engine, and could reach a speed of 70 miles per hour. It was easily the biggest car in the race.

Another car was an Italian Brixia-Zust, which had a 40-horsepower engine and could speed up to 60 miles per hour.

Then there were three French cars. One was a De Dion-Bouton, which had spiked tires for snow driving and a winch to pull itself out of snow or mud. The other French cars were a Motobloc and a Sizaire-Naudin, the smallest entry. Since it was so light, the designer thought it would not sink into the mud and snow as easily as the others.

The final entry was an American car, a Thomas Flyer. Because its body was aluminum, it was the second-lightest car in the race. But its four-cylinder, 60-horsepower engine was the most powerful.

It was cold and the sky was overcast when the race began. About 20 miles from the starting line the cars ran into a blizzard. They experienced all sorts of difficulties, going into ditches, snapping transmission chains, having radiators crack from the cold. There were some comical sidelights too. In one town the drivers of the Zust were fined three dollars for frightening a horse.

The first car to drop out was the French Sizaire-Naudin. While the car was still in New York State, a gear in the rear axle broke. There was no way to get a spare part to repair the damage.

All the car crews suffered incredible hardships. Once one of the Italian mechanics became so tired that he fell asleep while changing a tire. Food froze and was warmed by holding it over the steam of the radiator. When the cars got stuck in deep snow or mud they had to be hauled out by six or eight horses. It was not until February 26 that the lead car, the Flyer, reached Chicago. A day and a half later the Zust and the De Dion reached the Windy City. The Protos and Motobloc were far behind. In fact the Motobloc withdrew from the race at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, just two hundred miles beyond Chicago.

All the cars had narrow brushes with disaster. Crossing the Rockies, the Zust suddenly skidded to a stop. The road had been cut away by a landslide. A few feet more and the car would have plunged down a 150-foot cliff.

The Thomas Flyer reached San Francisco first and was shipped to Alaska. But the crew found it impossible to drive in the territory, for there were almost no roads to speak of. The car and crew returned to the United States. The race officials changed the route, leaving Alaska out and adding Japan instead. But the short scouting visit to Alaska cost the Americans their lead.

The Japanese section of the race was more difficult than expected. The road across Mount Fuji was so narrow that the cars could not steer around the hairpin turns; the crews had to get out and lift their cars around the bends. Bridges were so fragile that they almost collapsed under the weight of the cars.

From Japan the cars were shipped to Vladivostok, Russia. Oddly enough, at that point the owner of the De Dion decided to sell the car to a wealthy Chinese businessman. Now only three cars remained. The Thomas Flyer, Protos and Zust.

By now it was June. Spring rains had turned the Russian fields into mudholes. The American car overtook the Protos which was stuck in the mud. Sportingly, the Thomas Flyer crew pulled the German car free and continued on.

All the cars had broken down numerous times by then, but they forged onward, going through the wide Manchurian plains, across Siberia and the rest of Russia. The mechanics improvised beautifully when they could not find spare parts. Once the Zust crew made a new bearing from bullets melted over a small fire.

On July 26, the Protos drove into Paris and claimed victory, but the claim was denied. The Protos had been shipped across the Rockies by railroad instead of driving across, and it had not entered the Japanese section of the race at all. Officials said these omissions were worth 30 days of time. Thus, when the Thomas Flyer came in four days later, it was declared the winner by 26 days. It had traveled the distance in 166 days, or about five and a half months.

The Italian Zust had bad luck throughout the race. Once the Russians thought a crew member was a spy and detained the car. Another time the Zust frightened a horse, which then trampled a boy. That meant three days in prison. Between Berlin and Paris the car crashed into a ditch, and the crew was hospitalized.

Finally, on September 17, 1908, seven months and five days after the cars had left the starting line, the last car to finish the Great Race arrived in Paris.

From The Giant Book of Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.

http://thegreatautorace.com/