Paris-Madrid

The Automobile Club de France chose Madrid as the destination for its international destination for the Paris race in 1903. The first stage was on the well-trodden roads from Versailles to Bordeaux (Pessac), then to Vitoria and on to Madrid. “of the Spanish roads very little was known,” Gerard Rose wrote in his A Record of Motor Racing 1894-1908, “except that they were bad.” The race did not get that far for it had to be abandoned at Bordeaux due to the high level of fatalities as the huge crowd overwhelmed the insufficient number of police and soldiers responsible for control. Marcel Renault was among the ten confirmed fatalities that included drivers, riding mechanics, spectators and a policeman. Fernand Gabriel, whose Mors had been the 168th car to start at one minute intervals, was declared winner of the ill-feted race. The French government withdrew support for city-to-city races on open roads, with events switching to closed circuits thereafter.