The PEUGEOT Type 3 took part in the Paris-Brest-Paris race
130 years ago, the PEUGEOT Type 3 took part in the Paris-Brest-Paris race
130 years ago, one of the very first PEUGEOT cars took part in a… cycling race!
This great adventure is told to us by Bernard DERELLE (member of L’AVENTURE PEUGEOT), extracted from his book “AUTOMOBILES PEUGEOT, 1888 – 1914 L’ECLOSION, LE VISIONNAIRE ET LES CREATEURS” (Editions BDLM):
On the occasion of Paris-Brest and back, the first major cycling race, organized by Le Petit Journal, in September 1891, Armand PEUGEOT asked the organizers “to kindly have their agents check, that a horseless carriage known as the Peugeot quadricycle completed the course at the same time as the competitors of the race, “. What Armand PEUGEOT wanted is proof that his car has indeed made the journey from Paris to Brest and back by its own means.
The car Armand tasked to do this is a vis-à-vis with two seats of two places each, a quadricycle Type 3, complete with tools, the luggage and the petrol and water tanks filled, it weighed approximately 500 kg. It was powered by the Daimler V-engine of 2.5 HP, with ignition by incandescent tubes heated by burners. The gearbox, had four forward gears and one reverse gear.
It is the engineer Louis RIGOULOT who was in charge of driving it, with mechanic Auguste DORIOT, foreman of the factory. They first make the trip from Valentigney to Paris (460 km), in addition to the race. Problems arise mainly from the carbonization of the wicks of the burners and the low pressure of the gasoline supplying them, the main tank being placed too low.
After four days and a thousand adventures, the two drivers arrive late in the afternoon at the Panhard-Levassor factories on avenue d’Ivry, where Armand PEUGEOT was waiting for them. Panhard-Levassor was the exclusive company fitting Daimler engines in cars in France.
Leaving Valentigney at ten o’clock in the morning, four days earlier and having slept in Coutrey, Bar-sur-Aube and Provins, they covered the course at a speed of 13.5 km/h.
A few days later, the car having been checked, Louis RIGOULOT and Auguste DORIOT headed for the start of the Paris-Brest race. They took care to have petrol relays placed in advance, every 100 km, with the FPF agents, throughout the 1200 km of the race.
The start is given at 6 a.m., Sunday, September 6, rue de Châteaudun, in front of the Petit Journal building.
Louis RIGOULOT and his faithful mechanic, Auguste DORIOT, noticed that they worked better in the cool of the morning and evening than in the middle of the day, when the sun was hot. They then had the ingenious idea of covering the fuel tank with tufts of fresh grass to keep it at the lowest possible temperature. Gasoline thus reached the burners much better and the wicks kept much longer.
The car could coast at speed of 20 km/h when on a flat smooth surface,: but for climbs it was often necessary to pass into “first” gear, which gave a top speed of 4 km/h. “It even happened, Louis RIGOULOT recounted, on several occasions, on very steep climbs, as for example to go up to Langres, that while one of us was driving the car, the other followed it on foot, ready to bump-start the engine with a push if needed. »
During the first day, they cover the enormous distance of 200 km! The next day, they arrive at Saint-Brieuc control without accident. But, while they were heading for Brest, a serious breakdown in the differential kept them for twenty-four hours at Ponthou, a small village 15 km from Morlaix. They used their ingenuity to repair the damage with the rudimentary tools of the farrier of the hamlet. Tuesday, September 8, in the evening light in the midst of the crowd, the two motorists arrive in Brest. They manage, not without difficulty, to the checkpoint where Mr. MAGNUS, representative in Brest of the Peugeot company, is waiting for them. The next day would be a rest day with lunch at Le Conquet, at the far western tip of the continent. Having regained their strength, they head back the following day.
Testimony of Louis RIGOULOT and Auguste DORIOT: « Across the entire race route many villages, were notified in advance by telegraph of the passage of the drivers of the Peugeot quadricycle, a bugle player sounded to announce the arrival of competitors. To this call, all the inhabitants rushed out of the inns and houses to see the drivers and the Quadracycle. One Sunday morning, in Brittany, a brave resident of Nonencourt, surprised by the bugle call when he was changing his clothes, was seen holding trousers in his hand, only one leg put on and the another dragging on the ground (he had no underpants), while next to him came another curious person coming out of a wigmaker’s shop, with a towel around his neck and part of his face shaved while the soap suds covered the rest of his face.. In another village, we arrive when people were going to mass. We saw women drop to their knees and do the cross as we passed. Dogs were not yet accustomed to cars, they often bothered us the first few days. We found near Dreux a horse whip, and as soon as a dog rushed towards us, just raising the whip the dogs would run off. This would still be useful in many countries, and rendered us real service. We also encountered a regiment of dragoons, the lead horses reared up and all the others followed. The colonel delegated an officer to beg us to park to let them pass. »
Back in Valentigney, Louis RIGOULOT and Auguste DORIOT found that they had traveled around 2,500 km at an average speed of 14.7 km/h and without any serious incident other than the differential issue. Note, for comparison, that the winner of the cycling race, TERRONT, did the same course at an average speed of 16.9 km/h!
Bernard DERELLE is a former employee of the PSA Group and he is very interested in the history of techniques and in particular that of painting (his favorite field). He has also created a website on this subject -> http://www.peinture-carrosserie-peugeot.com/
