The first event to have been planned was to have been a short trial in Paris organized by "Le Velocipede" in 1887, but only one competitor turned up and so it was abandoned. The first organized event was actually a Reliability Trial run from Paris to Rouen in 1894 over a distance of 126 km. It was organized by a newspaper, Le Petite Journal, and the winning "horseless carriage" had to be "safe, easily controllable and reasonably economical to run." Twenty one entries left Paris on July 22nd, and the first home was Count de Dion in a steam driven De Dion tractor. Unfortunately for De Dion, the jury decided that his car was not a practical road vehicle and instead awarded the prize jointly to the next two leading cars, a Peugeot and a Panhard-Levassor respectively. The winning average speed was an exhilarating 17km/h. Many town races were run in the following years including Paris to Bordeaux and back. This 1895 event, a true race, was won by Emille Levassor. Driving a 2-cylinder, 4-bhp Panhard-Levassor he drove 48 hours 48 minutes virtually non-stop. Because his car only had two seats instead of the required 4 he was denied the prize of 31,000 francs, yet it is his statue that overlooks the finishing line at the Porte Maillot in Paris. An other interesting entrant in this race was the Peugeot of André Michelin which used pneumatic tires. Typically wheels used on other cars were either iron or solid rubber. At first the "air tyre" was ridiculed as impractical and indeed Michelin's car suffered from numerous flats due to the poor condition of the roads at the turn of the century. Panhard would dominate racing until the end of the century.

The first Italian race took place on the 18th of May, 1895. The 93 kilometer route took the drivers from Turin to Asti and back. Only five competitors took the start and of those three were able to finish. The winner was Simone Federmann at an average of 15.5 kph in a Daimler Omnibus which contrary to its name had a seating capacity of four. 1895 marked the formation of the Automobile Club de France while in America the Chicago Times Herald sponsored a race or more accurately a challenge as there were only two competitors. The A.C.F. sponsored what would be the longest race held up to that time from Bordeaux to Agen and back to Bordeaux, a distance of `1710 kilometers. Rather than one long race the event was divided into 10 stages and rand from September 24th to October 3rd. To the delight of the French crowd the first two places were won by Panhards followed by a De Dion-Bouton tricycle in third.

The following years saw an ever increasing search for speed and the easiest path was to increase engine size. Soon 7 and 8 liter engines were common place and even a 16 liter engine was produced. Developments in chassis design, brakes and tires did not maintain pace but in 1901 that changed with the introduction of the 35 h.p. Mercedes. It was the first sports-racing car which featured a fur-cylinder engine with mechanical valves, a "honeycomb" radiator, a steel chassis, pneumatic tires and a magneto ignition. After solving some early reliability problems and coupled with the increase of engine capacity to 9 liters producing 60 h.p., the car became a consistent race winner. Each of the leading manufactures contributed advancements to automobile design. Renault produced a car with shaft drive and a live rear axle.

The Gordon Bennett Races
James Gordon Bennett arrived in Paris in 1887 and had established a Continental edition of his father's New York daily. This being the same Bennett that sent Stanley in search of Livingstone had an eye for publicity. In July 1899 he established a series of races bearing his name. The six international motor races held between 1900 and 1905 came to be known as the Gordon Bennett Cup Race but within the pages of the New York Herald and its Paris offshoot it was always referred to as the Coupe International. Gordon Bennett himself never drove an motor car and in fact never witnessed any of his races.

The trophy was described as 'a valuable object d'art', and depicted a racing Panhard steered by the Genius of Progress with the Goddess of Victory upright upon the seat. The Cup was to be a competition between recognized national automobile clubs initially representing France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, the United States and Italy. Any club wishing to take part in the race was required to deposit the sum of 3,000 francs with the A.C.F. before 1 January 1900. The actual race to be held sometime between 15 May and 15 August. The race distance would be not less than 550 nor more than 650 kilometers. The cost of race organization would be divided amongst each of the participating clubs. The regulations covering the cars were family simple. Two side-by-side seats occupied at all times with driver and mechanic weighing no less than 60 kg. apiece and a minimum empty weight of 400 kg for the vehicle. Any means or propulsion was allowed. Each nation would be allowed to select a team of three cars with the drivers being members of the respective club and the cars themselves had to be made in their entirety in the country whose colors they wore. It was these last rules that would cause contention. The inital race would run from Paris to Lyons and was won by Fernand Charron driving a Panhard-Levassor at an average speed of 38.6 mph.

For 1901 the Gordon Bennett Cup race was to be run concurrently with the 'open' Paris-Bordeaux race. In deference to the Cup's international status, their entrants would be dispatched before the open entrants. Napier had planned to contest the Cup on behalf of England but due to the use of French manufactured tires was relegated to the concurrent open race. The Cup turned into an all French affair. In the end the sole survivor in the cup race was Giradot but he was eclipsed by the open Mors of Fournier at an average speed of 53 m.p.h. 1902 saw the first British entrants in the cup and one a Napier driven by S.F. Edge scored an unexpected victory. The British victory in the Cup race proved a turning point for the series as the French had finally been beaten and could never take the race so lightly again.