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Paul Taylor
I own a book called The History Of The Motor Car, which talks about the 1901 Paris-Berlin race (p.107/8). Unfortunately, I cannot find any record of this race on the internet, such as entry lists, the dates of the race/stages, so I was wondering if anyone here at TNF has anything?

It is quite an old book, so I will take a risk and type what is written in the book about this race, in case no other information exists, so we at least have some record of this race on the internet:

The peak of the 1901 racing season, however, was the race from Paris to Berlin, the first of the big inter-capital races which were characteristic of the first years of the century. The last of these races was the 1903 Paris-Madrid. Accidents had taken too great a toll.

The Paris-Berlin was run over 750 miles in three stages, Paris-Aix-la-Chapelle of 285 miles, Aix-la-Chapelle-Hanover of 280 miles and Hanover-Berlin of 185 miles - a more severe test for men and machines than any race so far run. The rules were also strict. No competitor could spend more than 15 minutes on his car at the end of each stage; in this time he had to do all the repair work, greasing, tyre changing and other jobs. After the 15 minutes, the cars were locked in the parc fermé until the start of the next morning.

There were 110 competitors in the Paris-Berlin race, divided into 40 heavy cars (weighing over one ton), 51 touring cars and 10 motorcycles. The most important European manufacturers were represented by Mors, Panhard and Renault from France, Mercedes from Germany and Napier from England.
Details of the race are scarce, though it is recorded that when Pinson in his 40H.P. Panhard suddenly found the road blocked by a tram in the village of Metternich, he deliberately ran into the vehicle to avoid the crowd of spectators. The tram was knocked off the rails; the car was hardly damaged. At Rheims, Brasier hit and killed a child with his Mors.

The lack of background information was not surprising. The press showed little interest before the race, which was described as madness by most journalists. French enthusiasm increased dramatically as Fournier won all three stages. His Mors averaged 70.5 k.p.h (about 44 m.p.h.); immediately behind him was the usual group of Panhards, this time seven in the first ten places. Again, the touring category was won by Giaraud in a 12 H.P. Panhard, which was also eighth in general classification. The results gave little satisfaction in Germany as the first Mercedes to arrive, driven by Werner, who had won the Nice-Salon-Nice race, came in seventeenth.


I found results for the 1901 Paris-Berlin Trial which was subsequently renamed the VI Grand Prix de l'A.C.F., however it's not the same race, as the stages and the stage winners do not match with what's written in the book.
http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1901.html#berl

As a sidenote, is there any record of Brasier's forename?
ReWind
Originally posted by Paul Taylor
As a sidenote, is there any record of Brasier's forename?
Of course: Henri. Full name: Charles-Henri Brasier, b. 09 March 1864 Ivry-la-Bataille, d. 13 November 1941 (77 years old)

BTW: I think the Paris-Berlin Trial you found dates for IS the same race as described in your book. Remember: The German town of Aachen is Aix-la-Chapelle (or: Chappelle?) in French.
Paul Taylor
Ah, yes, that's correct...

Strange, because the results still don't add up with what's written in the book, so which is correct?
fines
Well, for one thing I wouldn't trust a source that lists Renault as one of the five "most important European manufacturers" in 1901! rolleyes.gif

I wouldn't give too much thought to the differing info about the stage winners, they were usually not regarded as relevant info in the reports of those days. Looking through the list of times, I notice that the second stage was "won" by Antony's Mors which later retired, so that may be a source for a mistake on one of the stage winners lists.

A few words about the number of starters: I have 41 starters in class A (heavy cars), plus at least three non-starters, 45 in class B (light cars), 14 in class C (voiturettes), 10 in class D (motor cycles) and 44 in the touring class. I'm not sure if the latter had an official winner (there were 32 finishers who probably all claimed a win of sorts), but Étienne Giraud and his 12hp Panhard-Levassor were not competing in the touring class, but instead won the "light car" class B. According to my info, he was 14th in the general classification.

Apparently the "official" distance was 1196.03 km and the "official" average speed of the overall winner 74.37 kph. I can't complain about a lack of background info, and from what I know the interest shown by the press was apt; e.g. it is said that Fournier changed eleven tyres during the race: three on stage 1, four on stage 2 and four again on stage 3. There's also a lot of technical information, e.g. the bore and stroke of the winning engine etc. I doubt I'd be able to find that much info in the press today about current F1 races.
Vitesse2
The details aren't exactly "sparse" as Michael demonstrated. Jean-Robert Dulier wrote a whole book about it called "La Triomphale Course Paris-Berlin", although, to be fair, only half the book is about Paris-Berlin as it also covers the other major races of 1901.
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