THE DUST
Gabriel Started 168th and Still Won the Race That Ended Open Roads
In May 1903 Fernand Gabriel left near the back of a huge field in his Mors, reached Bordeaux first on time, and won the race that ended open road racing between cities.
Updated October 26, 2026
He left with nearly every car already gone ahead.
May 24, 1903. The Automobile Club de France and the Royal Automobile Club of Spain run a race from Paris to Madrid. The start is set for 3:30 in the morning so the crowds can see the cars in daylight. It gets pushed back 15 minutes because nobody can see.
The cars go off one at a time, a minute apart. The big ones are capped at 1,000 kilograms and stuffed with as much engine as that allows. Speeds now reach 80 mph on roads built for carts.
Fernand Gabriel is 25. His Mors carries number 168. More than a hundred cars are out ahead of him, every one throwing up dust.
The road is open. Rail crossings, farm animals, villages, and people. Millions of them line the route, many standing right in it.
Gabriel picks his way through the dust and the traffic. He reaches Bordeaux third on the road, and when the times are counted he is first by a clear margin. 5 hours 14 minutes. About 65 mph average.
Behind him, the day has gone wrong. Drivers, mechanics and spectators are killed and hurt. Marcel Renault, one of the brothers behind Renault, dies. His brother Louis wins the light car class.
The race is stopped at Bordeaux. Nobody goes on to Madrid. Gabriel is declared the winner.
It is the last city to city race of its kind on open public roads.
What is the dustiest road you have ever driven blind?
True races. Still kicking.