on-Bennett race was run from Paris to Bordeaux,
perhaps the most ideal course in all the world for such an event. It
was won by Girardot in a forty-horse Panhard.

The Paris-Berlin race came in the same year, with Fournier as winner,
in a Mors designed by Brazier.

In 1902 the Gordon-Bennett formed a part of the Paris-Vienna
itinerary, the finish being at Innsbruck in the Tyrol. De Knyff in a
Panhard had victory well within his grasp when, by a misfortune in
the parting of his transmission gear, he was beaten by Edge in the
English Napier. Luck had something to do with it, of course, but Edge
was a capable and experienced driver and made the most of each and
every opportunity.

Through to Vienna the race was won by Farman in a seventy-horse-power
Panhard, though Marcel Renault in a Renault "_Voiture Legere_" was
first to arrive.

It was in 1901 that the famous Mercedes first met with road
victories. A thirty-five-horse power Mercedes won the Nice-Salon-Nice
event in the south of France, and again in the following year the
Nice-La Turbie event.

In the Circuit des Ardennes event in 1902, Jarrot, in a seventy-horse
Panhard, and Gabriel in a Mors, were practically tied until the last
round, when Jarrot finally won, having made the entire distance
(approximately 450 kilometres) at an average speed of fifty-four and
a half miles per hour. There were no _controles_.

In 1903 the Gordon-Bennett cup race was held in Ireland, over a
course of 368 miles, twice around a figure-eight track. Germany won
with a Mercedes with Jenatzy at the wheel, with De Knyff in a Panhard
only ten minutes behind.

In 1903 was undertaken the disastrous Paris-Madrid road race. Between
Versailles and Bordeaux the accidents were so numerous and terrible,
due principally to reckless driving, that the affair was abandoned at
Bordeaux. Gabriel in a Mors car made the astonishing average of
sixty-two and a half miles per hour, hence may be considered the
winner as far as Bordeaux.

In 1904 the Gordon-Bennett race was run over the Taunus course in
Germany, with Thery the winner in a Richard-Brazier car.

In 1905 Thery again won on the Circuit d'Auvergne in the same make of
car, making a sensational victory which--to the French at least--has
apparently assured the automobile supremacy to France for all time.

The 1906 event was the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club de France on
the Circuit de la Sarthe. The astonishing victories of the Renault
ca