Paris-Madrid, 1903.
By Graham Gauld
Here in the South of France there are a lot of “Brocantes” which, to you and me, means a space in a town or village where people set up a table and sell all the rubbish they have in the house for a few cents a time.
I am always on the lookout for real rarities such as commercially printed postcards of photos from auto racing 100 years ago.
Let me tell you the story behind two of those cards. The first shows a photo taken at the 3rd Coupe des Voiturettes held at Compiegne in northern France on September 27 1908. It was a great day for the French manufacturer Sizaire-Naudin as they finished first, second and fourth. What is even more interesting is that both Louis Naudin and Georges Sizaire, the founders of the company along with Georges’ brother Maurice, were racing in the event and finished first and second. The second is linked closely with the world’s oldest race driver.