Steam car
A steam car is a car propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine in which fuel is combusted inside the engine. ECEs have a lower thermal efficiency, but carbon monoxide production is more regulated; the first steam-powered vehicle was built in 1672 by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish Jesuit in China. The vehicle was a toy for the Chinese Emperor. While not intended to carry passengers, therefore not a "car", Verbiest's device is to be the first engine-powered vehicle; the first experimental steam-powered cars were built in the late 18th and 19th centuries, not until after Richard Trevithick had developed the use of high-pressure steam around 1800, that mobile steam engines became a practical proposition. By the 1850s it was viable to produce them commercially: steam road vehicles were used for many applications. Development was hampered by adverse legislation from the 1830s and the rapid development of internal combustion engine technology in the 1900s, leading to their commercial demise.
Few steam-powered vehicles remained in use after the Second World War. Many of these vehicles were acquired by enthusiasts for preservation; the search for renewable energy sources has led to an occasional resurgence of interest in using steam power for road vehicles. A steam engine is an external combustion engine, as opposed to an internal combustion engine. While gasoline-powered ICE cars have an operational thermal efficiency of 15% to 30%, early automotive steam units were capable of only about half this efficiency. A significant benefit of the ECE is that the fuel burner can be configured for low emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned carbon in the exhaust, thus avoiding pollution; the greatest technical challenges to the steam car have focused on its boiler. This represents much of the total mass of the vehicle, making the car heavy, requires careful attention from the driver, although the cars of 1900 had considerable automation to manage this; the single largest restriction is the need to supply feedwater to the boiler.
This must either be carried and replenished, or the car must be fitted with a condenser, a further weight and inconvenience. Steam-powered and electric cars outsold gasoline-powered cars in the US prior to the invention of the electric starter, since internal combustion cars relied on a hand crank to start the engine, difficult and dangerous to use, as improper cranking could cause a backfire capable of breaking the arm of the operator. Electric cars were popular to some extent, but had a short range, could not be charged on the road if the batteries ran low. Once working pressure was attained, early steam cars could be driven off with high acceleration. To overcome this, development has been directed toward flash boilers, which heat a much smaller quantity of water to get the vehicle started, in the case of Doble cars, spark ignition diesel burners; the steam car does have advantages over internal combustion-powered cars, although most of these are now less important than in the early 20th century.
The engine is lighter than an internal combustion engine. It is better-suited to the speed and torque characteristics of the axle, thus avoiding the need for the heavy and complex transmission required for an internal combustion engine; the steam car is quieter without a silencer. A French inventor, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, built the first working self-propelled land-based mechanical vehicle. There is an unsubstantiated story that a pair of Yorkshiremen, engineer Robert Fourness and his cousin, physician James Ashworth had a steam carriage running in 1788, after being granted a British Patent, No.1674 of December 1788. An illustration of it appeared in Hergé's book Tintin raconte l'Histoire de l'Automobile; the first substantiated steam carriage for personal use was that of Josef Božek in 1815. He was followed by Thomas Blanchard of Massachusetts in 1825. Over thirty years passed before there was a flurry of steam cars from 1857 onwards with Dugeon and Spenser from the United States, Thomes Rickett, Austin and Ayres from England, Innocenzo Manzetti from Italy, Elijah Leonard of London, Canada being the earliest.
Others followed with Amédée Bollée and Louis Lejeune of France in 1878, Rene Thury of Switzerland in 1879. The 1880s saw the rise of the first larger scale manufacturers in France, the first being Bollée followed by De Dion-Bouton, Whitney of East Boston, Ransom E. Olds and Peugeot; this early period saw the first repossession of an automobile in 1867 and the first getaway car the same year - both by Francis Curtis of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The 1890s were dominated by the formation of numerous car manufacturing companies; the internal combustion engine was in its infancy. Electric powered cars were becoming available but suffered from their inability to travel longer distances; the majority of steam powered car manufacturers from this period were from the United States. The more notable of these were Clark from 1895 to 1909, Locomobile from 1899 to 1903 when it switched to gasoline engines, Stanley from 1897 to 1924; as well as England and France, other countries made attempts to manufacture steam cars
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou. Poitiers is a major university centre; the centre of town is picturesque and its streets include predominantly historical architecture religious architecture and from the Romanesque period. Two major battles took place near the city: in 732, the Battle of Poitiers, in which the Franks commanded by Charles Martel halted the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate, in 1356, the Battle of Poitiers, a key victory for the English forces during the Hundred Years' War; this battle's consequences provoked the Jacquerie. The city of Poitiers is strategically situated on the Seuil du Poitou, a shallow gap between the Armorican and the Central Massif; the Seuil du Poitou connects the Aquitaine Basin to the South to the Paris Basin to the North. This area is an important geographic crossroads in Western Europe. Poitiers's primary site sits on a vast promontory between the valleys of the Clain.
The old town occupies the slopes and the summit of a plateau which rises 130 feet above the streams which surround it on three sides. Thus Poitiers benefits from a strong tactical situation; this was an important factor before and throughout the Middle Ages. Inhabitants of Poitiers are referred to as Poitevins or Poitevines, although this denomination can be used for anyone from the Poitou province. One out of three people in Poitiers is under the age of 30 and one out of four residents in Poitiers is a student; the climate in the Poitiers area is mild with mild temperature amplitudes, adequate rainfall throughout the year although with a drying tendency during summer. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this type of climate is "Cfb". Poitiers was founded by the Celtic tribe of the Pictones and was known as the oppidum Lemonum before Roman influence; the name is said to have come from the Celtic word for Lemo. After Roman influence took over, the town became known as Pictavium, or "Pictavis", after the original Pictones inhabitants themselves.
There is a rich history of archeological finds from the Roman era in Poitiers. In fact until 1857 Poitiers hosted the ruins of a vast Roman amphitheatre, larger than that of Nîmes. Remains of Roman baths, built in the 1st century and demolished in the 3rd century, were uncovered in 1877. In 1879 a burial-place and tombs of a number of Christian martyrs were discovered on the heights to the south-east of the town; the names of some of the Christians had been preserved in inscriptions. Not far from these tombs is a huge dolmen, 6.7 metres long, 4.9 metres broad and 2.1 metres high, around which used to be held the great fair of Saint Luke. The Romans built at least three aqueducts; this extensive ensemble of Roman constructions suggests Poitiers was a town of first importance even the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania during the 2nd century. As Christianity was made official and introduced across the Roman Empire during the 3rd and 4th centuries, the first bishop of Poitiers from 350 to 367, Hilary of Poitiers or Saint Hilarius, proceeded to evangelize the town.
Exiled by Constantius II, he risked death to return to Poitiers as Bishop. The first foundations of the Baptistère Saint-Jean can be traced to that era of open Christian evangelization, he was named "Doctor of The Church" by Pope Pius IX. In the 4th century, a thick wall 6m wide and 10m high was built around the town, it was 2.5 km long and stood lower on the defended east side and at the top of the promontory. Around this time, the town began to be known as Poitiers. Fifty years Poitiers fell into the hands of the Arian Visigoths, became one of the principal residences of their kings. Visigoth King Alaric II was defeated by Clovis I at Vouillé, not far from Poitiers, in 507, the town thus came under Frankish dominion. During most of the Early Middle Ages, the town of Poitiers took advantage of its defensive tactical site and of its location, far from the centre of Frankish power; as the seat of an évêché since the 4th century, the town was a centre of some importance and the capital of the Poitou county.
At the height of their power, the Counts of Poitiers governed a large domain, including both Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Poitou. The town was referred to as Poictiers, a name commemorated in warships of the Royal Navy, after the battle of Poitiers; the first decisive victory of a Western European Christian army over a Muslim power, the Battle of Tours, was fought by Charles Martel's men in the vicinity of Poitiers on 10 October 732. For many historians, it was one of the world's pivotal moments. Eleanor of Aquitaine resided in the town, which she embellished and fortified, in 1199 entrusted with communal rights. In 1152 she married the future King Henry II of England in Poitiers Cathedral. During the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Poitiers, an English victory, was fought near the town of Poitiers on 19 September 1356. In the war In 1418, under duress, the royal parliament moved from Paris to Poitiers, where it remained in exile until the Plantagenets withdrew from the capital in 1436. During this interval, in 1429 Poitiers was the site of Joan of Arc's formal inquest.
The University of Poitiers was founded in 1431. During and after the Reformation, John Calvin had numerous converts in Poitiers and the town had its share of the violent proceedings which underlined the Wars of Religion throughout France. In 1569 Poitiers was defended by Gui de Daillon, comte du Lude, against G
Gardner-Serpollet
Gardner-Serpollet was a French manufacturer of steam-powered cars in the early 20th century. Léon Serpollet is credited with perfecting the flash boiler in the late 1800s. Serpollet produced his own automobiles under the name Serpollet and Gardner-Serpollet until his death in 1907. Léon Serpollet was born in the Ain department of France, went on to establish his factory with his brother Henri on the rue des Cloÿs in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, a location that has become the Parc Léon Serpollet today. In 1886 the brothers formed La Société des Moteurs Serpollet Frères in Montmartre. Leon Serpollet and his brother Henri, early French steam car pioneers, worked together to perfect the flash tube boiler that introduced an efficient and new way to produce steam; the exact date that their innovative system was first built appears to be unknown, but after further development it went on to make steam power in an automobile more practical because of its advanced design and quick steam output. They made a steam tricycle in the late eighteen-eighties to test the steam engines and it soon convinced others of the merit of the design.
In 1896 Léon Serpollet patented the flash boiler, which made steam a much more practical source of power for an automobile. The oil-fired flash boiler fed steam to a advanced four-cylinder enclosed engine similar to the contemporary petrol engine design including poppet valves and an enclosed crankcase. On July 22, 1894 four Serpollet vehicles competed in the Le Petit Journal Contest for Horseless Carriages from Paris to Rouen. Maurice Le Blant finished 14th and Ernest Archdeacon finished 16th, but'De Prandiéres' and Étienne le Blant stopped en route. In 1898 the brothers met a wealthy American, they formed the Gardner-Serpollet Company which began producing cars in 1900. A 1903 Gardner-Serpollet is on display at Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Massachusetts. Besides being an inventor and manufacturer, Leon Serpollet became the first driver of a non-electrically powered car to hold the Land Speed Record, his ovoid steam car Œuf de Pâques reached a speed of 120 km/h over the flying kilometre on the Promenade des Anglais at Nice, France on April 13, 1902, exceeding the 1899 record of Camille Jenatzy's La Jamais Contente.
Land Speed Record
Panhard
Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was last a manufacturer of light military vehicles, its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005, by Renault in 2012. In 2018 Renault Trucks Defense and Panhard combined under a single brand called Arquus. Panhard was called Panhard et Levassor, was established as an automobile manufacturing concern by René Panhard and Émile Levassor in 1887. Panhard et Levassor sold their first automobile based on a Daimler engine license. Levassor obtained his licence from Paris lawyer Edouard Sarazin, a friend and representative of Gottlieb Daimler's interests in France. Following Sarazin's 1887 death, Daimler commissioned Sarazin's widow Louise to carry on her late husband's agency; the Panhard et Levassor license was finalised by Louise, who married Levassor in 1890. Daimler and Levassor became fast friends, shared improvements with one another.
These first vehicles set many modern standards. They used a clutch pedal to operate a chain-driven gearbox; the vehicle featured a front-mounted radiator. An 1895 Panhard et Levassor is credited with the first modern transmission. For the 1894 Paris–Rouen Rally, Alfred Vacheron equipped his 4 horsepower with a steering wheel, believed to be one of the earliest employments of the principle. In 1891, the company built its first all-Levassor design, a "state of the art" model: the Système Panhard consisted of four wheels, a front-mounted engine with rear wheel drive, a crude sliding-gear transmission, sold at 3500 francs; this was to become the standard layout for automobiles for most of the next century. The same year, Panhard et Levassor shared their Daimler engine license with bicycle maker Armand Peugeot, who formed his own car company. In 1895, 1,205 cc Panhard et Levassor vehicles finished first and second in the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race, one piloted solo by Levassor, for 48¾hr. However, during the 1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris race, Levassor was fatally injured due to a crash while trying to avoid hitting a dog, died in Paris the following year.
Arthur Krebs succeeded Levassor as General Manager in 1897, held the job until 1916. He turned the Panhard et Levassor Company into one of the largest and most profitable manufacturers of automobiles before World War I. Panhards won numerous races from 1895 to 1903. Panhard et Levassor developed the Panhard rod, which came to be used in many other types of automobiles as well. From 1910 Panhard worked to develop engines without conventional valves, using under license the sleeve valve technology, patented by the American Charles Yale Knight. Between 1910 and 1924 the Panhard & Levassor catalogue listed plenty of models with conventional valve engines, but these were offered alongside cars powered by sleeve valve power units. Following various detailed improvements to the sleeve valve technology by Panhard's own engineering department, from 1924 till 1940 all Panhard cars used sleeve valve engines. Under the presidency of Raymond Poincaré, which ran from 1913 till 1920, Panhard & Levassor's 18CV and 20CV models were the official presidential cars.
During the war Panhard, like other leading automobile producers, concentrated on war production, including large numbers of military trucks, V12-cylinder aero-engines, gun components, large 75 and 105 diameter shells. The military were keen on the sleeve valve engined Panhard 20HP. General Joffre himself used two 35HP Panhard Type X35s with massive 4-cylinder 7,360 cc engines for his personal transport, these were to be seen by Parisians carrying military leaders between the front-line and the Élysée Palace. Following the return to peace in 1918, Panhard resumed passenger car production in March 1919 with the 10HP Panhard Type X19, which used a 4-cylinder 2,140 cc engine; this was followed three months by three more 4-cylinder models which will have been familiar to any customers whose memories pre-dated the war, but they now incorporated ungraded electrics and a number of other modifications. For the 15th Paris Motor Show, in October 1919, Panhard were displaying four models, all with four cylinder engines, as follows: Panhard Type X19 2,150 cc / 10 HP Panhard Type X31 2,275 cc / 12 HPPanhard Type X28 3,175 cc / 16 HP Panhard Type X29 4,850 cc / 20 HPBy 1925, all Panhard's cars were powered by Knight sleeve valve engines that used steel sleeves.
The steel sleeves were thinner and lighter than the cast iron ones, fitted in Panhard sleeve valve engines since 1910, this gave rise to an improved friction coefficient permitting engines to run at higher speeds. To reduce further the risk of engines jamming, the outer sleeves, which are less thermally stressed than the inner sleeves, were coated on their inner sides with an anti-friction material, employing a patented technique with which Panhard engineers had been working since 1923; this was one of several improvements applied by Panhard engineers to the basic Knight sleeve-valve engine concept. In 1925 a 4,800 cc model set the world record for an average of 185.51 km/h. A surprise appeared on the Panhard stand at the 20th Paris Motor Show in October 1926, in the shape of the manufacturer's first six-cylinder model since before the war; the new Panhard 16CV "Six" sat on a 3,540 mm wheelbase. At the show it was priced, at 58,000 francs. Of the nine models displayed for the 1927 mo
Versailles, Yvelines
Versailles is a city in the Yvelines département in the Île-de-France region, renowned worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in the western suburbs of the French capital, 17.1 km from the centre of Paris, Versailles is in the 21st century a wealthy suburb of Paris with a service-based economy and a major tourist destination as well. According to the 2008 census, the population of the city is 88,641 inhabitants, down from a peak of 94,145 in 1975. A new town founded at the will of King Louis XIV, Versailles was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution. After having lost its status of royal city, it became the préfecture of the Seine-et-Oise département in 1790 of Yvelines in 1968, it is a Roman Catholic diocese. Versailles is known for numerous treaties such as the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles, after World War I.
Today, the Congress of France – the name given to the body created when both houses of the French Parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate, meet – gathers in the Château de Versailles to vote on revisions to the Constitution. The argument over the etymology of Versailles tends to privilege the Latin word versare, meaning "to keep turning, turn over and over", an expression used in medieval times for plowed lands, cleared lands; this word formation is similar to Latin seminare. During the Revolution of 1789, city officials had proposed to the Convention to rename Versailles Berceau-de-la-Liberté, but they had to retract their proposal when confronted with the objections of the majority of the population. From May 1682, when Louis XIV moved the court and government permanently to Versailles, until his death in September 1715, Versailles was the unofficial capital of the kingdom of France. For the next seven years, during the Régence of Philippe d'Orléans, the royal court of the young King Louis XV was the first in Paris, while the Regent governed from his Parisian residence, the Palais-Royal.
Versailles was again the unofficial capital of France from June 1722, when Louis XV returned to Versailles, until October 1789, when a Parisian mob forced Louis XVI and the royal family to move to Paris. Versailles again became the unofficial capital of France from March 1871, when Adolphe Thiers' government took refuge in Versailles, fleeing the insurrection of the Paris Commune, until November 1879, when the newly elected government and parliament returned to Paris. During the various periods when government affairs were conducted from Versailles, Paris remained the official capital of France. Versailles was made the préfecture of the Seine-et-Oise département at its inception in March 1790. By the 1960s, with the growth of the Paris suburbs, the Seine-et-Oise had reached more than 2 million inhabitants, was deemed too large and ungovernable, thus it was split into three départements in January 1968. Versailles was made the préfecture of the Yvelines département, the largest chunk of the former Seine-et-Oise.
At the 2006 census the Yvelines had 1,395,804 inhabitants. Versailles is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese, created in 1790; the diocese of Versailles is subordinate to the archdiocese of Paris. In 1975, Versailles was made the seat of a Court of Appeal whose jurisdiction covers the western suburbs of Paris. Since 1972, Versailles has been the seat of one of France's 30 nationwide académies of the Ministry of National Education; the académie de Versailles, the largest of France's thirty académies by its number of pupils and students, is in charge of supervising all the elementary schools and high schools of the western suburbs of Paris. Versailles is an important node for the French army, a tradition going back to the monarchy with, for instance, the military camp of Satory and other institutions. Versailles is located 17.1 km west-southwest from the centre of Paris. The city sits on an elevated plateau, 130 to 140 metres above sea-level, surrounded by wooded hills: in the north the forests of Marly and Fausses-Reposes, in the south the forests of Satory and Meudon.
The city of Versailles has an area of 26.18 km2, a quarter of the area of the city of Paris. In 1989, Versailles had a population density of 3,344/km2, whereas Paris had a density of 20,696/km2. Born out of the will of a king, the city has a symmetrical grid of streets. By the standards of the 18th century, Versailles was a modern European city. Versailles was used as a model for the building of Washington, D. C. by Pierre Charles L'Enfant. The name of Versailles appears for the first time in a medieval document dated 1038. In the feudal system of medieval France, the lords of Versailles came directly under the king of France, with no intermediary overlords between them and the king. In the end of the 11th century, the village curled around a medieval castle and the Saint Julien church, its farming activity and its location on the road from Paris to Dreux and Normandy brought prosperity to the village, culminating in the end of the 13th century, the so-called "century of Saint Louis", famous for the prosperity of northern France and the building of Gothic cathedrals.
The 14th century brought the Black Death and t
Émile Mayade
Émile Louis Mayade was a French motoring pioneer and racing driver. He drove a Panhard et Levassor in the world's first'city to city' motoring contest from Paris to Rouen in 1894 and went on win the world's first open motor race, the 1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris, where the first driver across the line was the winner. Émile Mayade was born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1853 and by the 1890s was working as'Chef d'Atelier' at Levassor in Paris, looking after the workshop and machinery, plus participating in the development of the cars. He was married to Jeanne Marie Louise Dussutour of Tarbes and they lived above the Levassor workshop in the'Avenue d'Ivry' in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Mayade drove a Panhard et Levassor Phaeton 8 hp in the world's first motoring event from Paris to Rouen in 1894 where he finished seventh after eight hours and nine minutes. In 1895 he finished sixth in the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race after 72 hours 14 minutes, his greatest success was the victory in the 1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris where he won three stages and finished in 67 hours 42 minutes 58 seconds 30 minutes ahead of Merkel in another Panhard et Levassor 8 hp.
The Panhard had been extensively upgraded for 1896, using their first four-cylinder engine which provided double the horsepower of the 1895 model. It was equipped with tiller candle lamps; the brakes were a spoon-lever pressing on the solid rubber back tyre plus a belt that tightened onto a drum on the transmission. This was the same vehicle in which Émile Levassor had won 2 of the first three stages before suffering what would become fatal injury during stage 4. On 14 November 1896 he finished 6th in the inaugural London to Brighton Veteran Car Run to celebrate the Emancipation of British motorists and the repeal of the Red Flag Act, he took 6 hours 8 minutes 15 seconds to complete the 54 miles in a Panhard & Levassor 8 hp, Phaeton 4 seater. The car was subsequently sold to Charles Rolls for £1,200. In July 1897 Mayade drove a Panhard in the Paris-Dieppe race, won by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion in a de Dion 20 hp steamer Mayade died in 1898 in Chevanceaux, Charente-Maritime, after a traffic accident with a runaway horse and cart that caused him to be thrown from his car and crushed.
European Motoring Museum, Drawing of the 1894 Panhard & Levassor, number 64 driven by Émile Mayade, equipped with "four-poster" draperies
Jules-Albert de Dion
Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion de Wandonne was a pioneer of the automobile industry in France. Jules-Albert was the heir of a leading French noble family, in 1901 succeeding his father Louis Albert William Joseph de Dion de Wandonne as Count and Marquis. A "notorious duellist", he had a passion for mechanics, he had built a model steam engine when, in 1881, he saw one in a store window and asked about building another. The engineers, Georges Bouton and his brother-in-law, Charles Trépardoux, had a shop in Léon where they made scientific toys. Needing money for Trépardoux's long-time dream of a steam car, they acceded to De Dion's request. During 1883 they formed a partnership which became the De Dion-Bouton automobile company, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time, they tried marine steam engines, but progressed to a steam car which used belts to drive the front wheels whilst steering with the rear. This was destroyed by fire during trials. In 1884 they built another, "La Marquise", with drive to the rear wheels.
As of 2011, it is the world's oldest running car, is capable of carrying four people at up to 38 mph. Comte de Dion entered one in an 1887 trial, "Europe's first motoring competition", the brainchild of M. Paul Faussier of cycling magazine Le Vélocipède Illustré. Evidently, the promotion was insufficient, for the de Dion was the sole entrant, but it completed the course; the de Dion tube was invented by steam advocate Trépardoux, just before he resigned because the company was turning to internal combustion. In 1898 he co-founded the Mondial de l'Automobile, he died in 1946, age 90, is buried in the cemetery at Montparnasse in Paris. There is a memorial plaque in the family chapel in Wandonne, 3 km south of Audincthun in the Pas-de-Calais. Motor racing was started in France as a direct result of the enthusiasm with which the French public embraced the motor car. Manufacturers were enthusiastic due to the possibility of using motor racing as a shop window for their cars; the first motor race took place on 22 July 1894 and was organised by Le Petit Journal, a Parisian newspaper.
It was run over the 122 kilometres distance between Rouen. The race was won by de Dion, although he was not awarded the prize for first place as his steam powered car required a stoker and the judges deemed this outside of their objectives; the roots of both the Tour de France cycle race and L'Auto, a daily sporting newspaper, can be traced to the Dreyfus affair and de Dion's passionate opinion and actions regarding it. Opinions were heated and there were demonstrations by both sides in the Dreyfus affair. Historian Eugen Weber described an 1899 conflagration at the Auteuil horse-race course in Paris as "an absurd political shindig" when, among other events, the President of France was struck on the head by a walking stick wielded by de Dion, he served 15 days in jail and was fined 100 francs, his behaviour was criticised by Le Vélo, the largest daily sports newspaper in France, its Dreyfusard editor, Pierre Giffard. The result was that de Dion withdrew of all his advertising from the paper, in 1900 he led a group of wealthy'anti-Dreyfusard' manufacturers, such as Adolphe Clément, to found L'Auto-Velo and compete directly with Le Velo.
After a enforced change of name to L'Auto it in turn created the Tour de France race in 1903 to boost falling circulation. In 1900 de Dion led a group of wealthy anti-Dreyfusards including Édouard Michelin to start a rival daily sports paper, L'Auto-Velo. De Dion and Michelin were concerned with Le Vélo – which reported more than cycling – because its financial backer was one of their commercial rivals, the Darracq company. De Dion believed that him too little. De Dion was an outspoken man who wrote columns for Le Figaro, Le Matin and others, his wealth allowed him to indulge his whims, which included refounding Le Nain jaune, a fortnightly publication which "answers no particular need."
