The 1908 New York to Paris Race was a bizarre car race with the drivers attempting to drive from New York to Paris, westward!
This meant they had to drive from New York City to San Francisco, then up to Valdez, Alaska. The race had been started so that when they reached the Bering Strait, they hoped that it would be frozen and they could drive across it!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t, while at the same time it was obvious that Alaska was impossible for the cars in those days, so they changed the route and crossed the Pacific by boat. They then faced the challenges of the cold wastes of Siberia.
Bearing in mind this was 1908, and cars hadn’t been around for very long, this was an incredible challenge. It wasn’t just a challenge for car technology, but roads were also at a premium.
It was basically a race around the world at a time when the car was something very new. Basically, new roads were limited to towns and most of these were cobbled.
It was an amazing challenge that was taken up by six teams.
On February 12, 1908, in Times Square New York, six cars representing four countries set out on a race that would take them 169 days and take them three quarters of the way around the world.
A silly fact – it is still the longest motorsport event ever held!
They used Railway Tracks!
There were very few real roads in those day, they regularly mounted railroad tracks in those parts of the world that had no roads. Often, the teams resorted to straddling locomotive rails with their cars, they drove along them for miles when there weren’t any roads.
Times were different then!
The dawn of the motor car
It was a time of innovation, and these six teams needed to do just that as they had to experience for example:
- cars breaking down multiple times.
- lack of usable roads.
- car-hating people giving wrong directions.
- SNOW!
At least from Europe they could drive across land all the way to Paris, which the winning team reached 169 days later. In fact, of the six who started only three finished, which I think is amazing when you think that the motor car had only just arrived.
The first crossing of the USA by car!
The astounding thing was that in crossing the United States from New York to San Francisco, the American team in the Thomas Flyer also became the first people to cross America by car, which they did in in 41 days, 8 hours, and 15 minutes.
Crossing Siberia
This also became difficult, as they reached Siberia just as the spring thaw was arriving, which as they were only using muddy tracks, made it very difficult, and had a bad effect on their progress.
Finally, they reached Europe, the roads improved, and the American Thomas Flyer finally reached Paris on July 30, 1908. Four days earlier the German team had arrived, however they were penalised for:
- Not going to Japan, which was part of the designated route.
- Shipping their car on a train for part of the way.
Then they had to wait until September 1908 for the Italians to arrive, but they had made it.
I can’t help but be amazed by the achievement of these three teams at the beginning era of motor cars, with so little support for any of them when anything went wrong. It was miraculous.
Isn’t History fun?
10 questions to discuss:
- What made the route of the 1908 New York to Paris Race “bizarre”?
- Why did the race organizers want the drivers to cross the Bering Strait and how did they ultimately get across?
- What technological and infrastructure challenges did the drivers face in 1908?
- How long did the race take and how many teams finished?
- Which team won the race and why was the second-place team penalized?
- What was the significance of the American team’s achievement in crossing the United States by car?
- How did the timing of the spring thaw in Siberia affect the race?
- In your opinion, what was the most impressive aspect of this race considering the era and available resources?
- Do you think this race had any lasting impact on the development of automobiles or future races?
- If you could have participated in this race, would you have and why or why not?
To learn more:
https://thegreatautorace.com/race.htmhttps://www.cnyhistory.org/2017/02/great-new-york-paris-automobile-race/
© Tony Dalton