The Great Auto Race

On Monday night, I attended a lecture at the Explorer's Club with PG & IW called 'Bandits, Guns & Autos: The Great Race of 1908.' In an effort to prove the viability of the automobile to the general public, several international teams raced from Times Square in New York to Paris, by way of the Pacific. The race organizers, working on some faulty intel, decided to start the race on my birthday February 12th in order that the teams could transit from Alaska to Russia by way of the 'frozen' Bering Strait. Needless to say, this didn't happen and the few teams that did make it across the United States (driving countless miles over the railway lines) were shipped by freighter to Japan and then to Russia from there. All told, it took 169 days and the American team in a Thomas Flyer won the race. More details can be found here: www.TheGreatAutoRace.com

I enjoyed one of the quotes regarding the race from the London Daily Mail in 1908. "Is such a journey possible? Theoretically it is, but it must be borne in mind that the motor car, after woman, is the most fragile and capricious thing on earth."