Magnum Photos Blog

The Daily Gallery 

Auto Racing 

June 13, 2013 
118 years ago today, the first official automobile race took place in Paris. Emile Levassor and his Panhard et Levassor car was the fastest to make the round-trip from Paris to Bordeaux and back again. The 732-mile course took Levassor almost 49 hours to complete, at a then-impressive rate of about 15 miles per hour, and signified a French superiority in automotive development. Since, auto racing as become one of the world’s most popular sports, and in today’s gallery, we take a ride through auto racing culture.