Happy Birthday Grand Prix racing

[Blueboy]

One hundred years ago today in Le Mans Grand Prix racing was born when 32 cars set off at 90-second intervals to complete 12 laps of a 64 mile circuit on the public roads to the east of the city. the field was led away by Fernand Gabriel's Lorraine-Dietrich. At the end of the first lap Vincenzo Lancia's Fiat led the way with a time of 53m42secs. At the end of the second lap Paul Baras led in a Brasier. And by the end of the third it was Ferenc Szisz, the most consistent of the drivers, who moved into the lead. After six laps the racing stopped with the cars going into parc ferme and the remaining six laps were completed the following day with Szisz winning for Renault, finishing 32m ahead of Felice Nazzaro's Fiat.

One hundred years later Fernando Alonso's Renault was beating Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, which of course is owned by Fiat.

Plus ca change.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns17034.html