1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris

The Paris–Marseille–Paris race was the first competitive 'city to city' motor race, where the first car across the line was the winner, prior events having selected the winner by various forms of classification and judging. The race was won by Émile Mayade who completed the ten-day, 1,710 km, event over unsurfaced roads in 67 hours driving a Panhard et Levassor.

The event was organised by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) and was sometimes retrospectively known as the II Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.. It was run in 10 stages from Paris via Auxerre; Dijon; Lyon; Avignon; Marseille; Avignon; Lyon; Dijon; Sens and return to Paris.

The first competitive 'city to city' motoring event had been the 1894 Paris–Rouen where the Count Jules-Albert de Dion was first into Rouen but steam-powered vehicles were ineligible for the main prize. Likewise, in 1895 the nascent Automobile Club de France) (ACF) organised its first event, the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race, but excluded two-seater cars such that their official winner, a four-seater, finished 11 hours after Émile Levassor. The outcry resulting from the 1895 result lead the A.C.F. to organise the Paris–Marseille–Paris Trail as the first fully competitive motor race, where the first car across the line was the winner.

On 8 February 1896 the race was announced in La France Automobile, the second edition of the A.C.F.'s official magazine.

The entry list included : seven De Dion-Boutons (5 gasoline powered tricycles and 2 steam powered cars); five Bollées (comprising four Léon Bollée tricycles and tandems plus an Amédée Bollée); four Panhard et Levassors; three Peugeots; two Delahayes; two Société Parisiennes and two Triouleyres. There were also single car entries from Fisson; Landry et Beyroux (or poss. Landoy); Lebrun; Rochet-Schneider; Rossel and Tissandier.

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