Prior to the 1914 French Grand Prix, the ultimately successful Mercedes team lines up in preparation. Eventual winner Lautenschlager’s car is second from left. Photo: Daimler AG
It was the race every manufacturer and driver wanted to win. Having created the Grand Prix de l‘Automobile Club de France in 1906, France hosted the single most important automobile contest in the world.
Although the ACF retrospectively awarded its august title (not merely the French GP please note) to its epic road races back to 1895, it was at Le Mans that the true story of the Grand Prix began. The race graced Dieppe on three subsequent occasions before moving to Amiens in 1913, but in 1914 the great honor was bestowed upon France’s second city, the self-appointed capital of gastronomy, Lyon. It was an excellent choice and provided a fitting curtain call on the heroic age.
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