It was 1908. People honestly thought the automobile was a toy for the rich that would break if it hit a stiff breeze, let alone a continent. Then came the Great Race. New York to Paris. 22,000 miles. Most of it without actual roads. When you look back at the little cars in the Great Race, you realize they weren't just vehicles; they were mechanical prayers.
Six cars started. Only three finished.
The story usually centers on the massive Thomas Flyer or the German Protos, but the smaller, often overlooked entries tell the real story of endurance. You've got the De Dion-Bouton, a French car that was basically a high-tech tricycle compared to the American powerhouse, and the Motobloc, which looked like it belonged on a Sunday drive in the park rather than the frozen tundras of Siberia.
The Reality of the 1908 New York to Paris Run
The logistical nightmare of this race cannot be overstated. There were no gas stations. No GPS. No AAA. Drivers had to navigate by compass and sheer luck. The little cars in the Great Race faced a disadvantage from day one because they lacked the ground clearance of the bigger machines. Imagine trying to drive a 15-horsepower engine through three feet of snow in Indiana. That’s what happened.
The Italian entry, a Brixia-Zust, was surprisingly resilient for its size. While the behemoths were digging themselves out of mud pits in Iowa, the Zust team was often right behind them, proving that weight was a double-edged sword. Heavy cars sank. Light cars bounced.
George Schuster, the driver of the winning American Thomas Flyer, noted in his own accounts that the sheer physical toll on the men was worse than the toll on the machines. They were vibrating. Constantly. For months. The smaller cars suffered more because their wheelbases were shorter, meaning every rock felt like a boulder.
Why the De Dion-Bouton Quit
The De Dion-Bouton is the most famous of the little cars in the Great Race to not make it. Gyp, the driver, was a character. He was enthusiastic. He was also realistic. By the time they reached Vladivostok, the French team realized the spare parts situation was a disaster.
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If a leaf spring snapped in the middle of a Russian steppe in 1908, you didn't call a mechanic. You found a blacksmith who had never seen a car before and hoped he could mimic the shape of the steel. The De Dion was technically advanced for its time—featuring a de Dion tube rear axle—but that complexity was its downfall. It was too "little" in its margin for error.
Weight vs. Power: The Engineering Trade-off
People always ask why anyone would bring a small car to a transcontinental race.
Basically, it's about the power-to-weight ratio.
A massive engine needs massive amounts of fuel. Fuel is heavy. More fuel means more weight, which means you sink into the mud. The little cars in the Great Race were an attempt to solve this. If you could keep the car light enough to be pushed by two men, you could theoretically get through anything.
The Motobloc was another French entry. It was innovative because the engine and gearbox were in a single housing. Cool idea? Yes. Practical for a 22,000-mile slog through mud? Not really. It dropped out in Iowa. Iowa! They didn't even make it out of the United States. It shows that "little" doesn't always mean "nimble" if the engineering isn't rugged enough for the reality of 1908 infrastructure.
The Stats That Matter
- Total Distance: Roughly 22,000 miles (35,000 km).
- Time Taken: 169 days for the winner.
- Starting Field: 6 cars (3 French, 1 Italian, 1 German, 1 American).
- The "Little" Engine Specs: Most smaller entries hovered around 15–30 horsepower. For context, a modern lawn tractor has about 20.
Imagine driving a lawn tractor from New York to Paris in the winter. That's the vibe.
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The Siberian Nightmare and Small Tires
Once the teams hit Asia, the game changed. The little cars in the Great Race had to contend with the Trans-Siberian Railway tracks. There were no roads, so they literally drove on the ties.
The vibrations were enough to shake teeth loose.
Smaller cars have smaller wheels. Smaller wheels fall into the gaps between railway ties more easily. The Italian Zust team struggled immensely here. They were the underdogs. No one expected them to finish, yet they crawled into Paris in September, months after the leaders, but they arrived. That is a victory of the "little" guy if I've ever seen one.
The German Protos was actually the first to reach Paris, but they were penalized 15 days because they skipped a huge chunk of the U.S. by putting their car on a train. The Thomas Flyer won because they actually drove the distance. But the Zust? The Zust finished third. It was the smallest car to complete the entire journey.
What We Get Wrong About the 1908 Race
We tend to think of vintage cars as fragile. They weren't. They were over-engineered out of necessity.
When we talk about little cars in the Great Race, we shouldn't think of them as weak. They were made of nickel steel and wood. They used chain drives. They were loud. They smelled like scorched oil and desperation.
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The misconception is that the big cars won because they were "better." They won because they had more money and better support crews. The smaller teams were often privateers or smaller manufacturers looking for a marketing win. They didn't have the backing of the German Army (which helped the Protos) or a massive American factory (which helped the Flyer).
How to Apply These Lessons Today
If you're into overlanding or long-distance rallies, the 1908 race is your Bible. It teaches us three things that are still true:
- Simplicity wins. The more complex the part, the harder it is to fix in the woods.
- Weight is the enemy. Every pound you carry is a pound you have to dig out of a hole.
- Human endurance is the real bottleneck. The cars could often keep going when the drivers couldn't.
The Legacy of the Smallest Contenders
The little cars in the Great Race paved the way for the "everyman" car. Before 1908, people thought cars were just for racing on flat tracks. After 1908, they realized a car could cross a continent.
The fact that a 28-horsepower Italian car could make it from New York to Paris via Siberia is insane. It's still insane.
If you ever find yourself in Reno, Nevada, go to the National Automobile Museum. You can see the winning Thomas Flyer there. It’s huge. It’s imposing. But in your mind's eye, try to picture the little Zust or the Motobloc sitting next to it. Those were the cars that truly tested the limits of what a "normal" vehicle could do.
Actionable Steps for History and Car Buffs
- Read the Source Material: Pick up The Longest Race by Tom Mahoney. It uses the actual diaries of the drivers.
- Study the Route: Look at a map of the 1908 route. Then look at the terrain on Google Earth. You'll realize how impossible it was.
- Visit the Museums: The Thomas Flyer is in Reno; some of the European survivors (or similar models) are in the Cité de l'Automobile in France.
- Understand the Mechanics: Research the "De Dion" rear axle. It’s a fascinating piece of engineering that survived in sports cars for decades after the race.
The Great Race wasn't just a sporting event. It was the moment the world grew smaller. The little cars in the Great Race were the ones that proved you didn't need a tank to conquer the globe; you just needed a bit of steel, some fuel, and an unreasonable amount of stubbornness.
Forget the fancy tech for a second and just appreciate that these guys were hand-cranking engines in -30 degree weather in Russia. That's the real story.