When the motley assortment of steam and petrol-powered vehicles lined up in Paris in 1894 at the start of the trial to Rouen, they launched the colourful history of motor racing. Many of the pioneering events were death-defying, trans-continental marathons, occasionally visiting remote settlements that had never before seen a motor car, in which the competitors were obliged to negotiate basic dirt tracks, muddy bogs, fast-flowing rivers, over-zealous policemen and a seemingly endless supply of stray dogs.
France led the way, not only in chiens perdus, but also in promoting the sport of motor racing. One of many ingenious events was an 1899 handicap race between walkers, horsemen, cycles, motorcycles and cars over the 104 miles (167km) between Paris and Trouville. The horses were allotted 14 hours and finished first and second; the cars, allowed three hours, were third and fourth. The walkers are probably still out there somewhere.
Meanwhile the United States specialised in endurance contests, some of which were highly charged affairs. In 1902 one John Grant Lyman was suspended for six months by the Automobile Club of America for the heinous crime of exceeding 20mph (32.2km/h) during the Long Island Endurance Run.
The first regular circuit race, the Circuit des Ardennes, took place in 1902 but it was several years before this type of event became popular. And in those days a lap could be anything up to 75 miles (121km) – as in Germany’s Kaiserpreis – and take the best part of an hour and a half. Spectator satisfaction was not exactly high on the list of priorities.
Since these humble beginnings, the human race has done many strange things to motor cars in the name of sport – some barely legal. Cars have been bullied and coerced in a manner which would make even Basil Fawlty blush and have taken part in events best classified as innovative. How else would you describe a race where a four-poster bed chases a garden shed around a Grand Prix circuit?
Gathered here are races with strange beginnings, strange middle bits and strange finishes, as well as races which were just … strange. They include the Frenchman who drove 25 miles (40.2km) in reverse; the Grand Prix where the leading drivers were so far ahead that they stopped for a meal in the pits; the Le Mans 24-Hour Race won by a car patched up with chewing gum; and the driver who drank six bottles of champagne – virtually one per pit stop – on the way to winning the Indianapolis 500. Most of the great names are featured as sometimes willing, sometimes baffled, participants – Boillot, Nuvolari, Varzi, Farina, Fangio, Moss, Brabham, Stewart, Hunt, Mansell, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton.
For the purposes of this book, I have included a few memorable rallies, too, partly because rallies are races in all but name and also because their catalogues of incomprehensible rules and regulations lend themselves to the bizarre. A race against time which ends with a stage to see who can go the slowest really does defy description! Yet that was precisely what the organisers of the Monte Carlo Rally came up with in 1932.
Dick Dastardly and Muttley would have loved every minute!
A big thank you to the following for making hours of research so rewarding: The British Newspaper Library, Nottinghamshire Library Services, Westminster Library, Marylebone Library, Derby City Library, Sheffield Library, Southport Local Studies Library, Donington Park race track and the Derby Evening Telegraph. Thanks also to Nicola Newman at Portico and Katie Hewett, and to Jeremy Robson for giving the original project the green light.
Geoff Tibballs