Automobile Club d'Auvergne with the support of Michelin and SATCAR, will resuscitate the spirit of the Gordon Bennett cup 1905, the ancestor of today's Grands Prix and Formula One races.

No less than 150 vintage racing and luxury cars made at the turn of the century in some 11 countries are expected in Clermont-Ferrand to celebrate the centenary of the Gordon Bennett Cup in what will be an outstanding international event.

Participants will flock from Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland, Mexico and United States to cover the same track as a century ago 5 a 140 kilometer (90 mile) track at the foot of Puy-de-Dôme at the heart of the Auvergne volcano park.

An exceptional event and international line up

The impressive line up of dream cars will include in particular five vintage cars that actually took part in the Gordon Bennett Cup: two Napier Gordon Bennett (1903), a Mercedes 60 HP 2-Seater (1903), which entered history when Jenatzy won the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1903 in Ireland, a Pope Toledo Gordon Bennett (1905), and a Panhard Levassor Z40 (1905) which will run for the first time since it was revamped.

The Léon Bollée « tandem seater » of 1897, a tricycle fitted with an engine, will be the oldest vehicle of the race and can be said to be a forerunner of the automobile.

On the sports event side, more than fifty racing cars are enrolled. Some feature performance levels which were simply incredible at the time, with 7000 to 13000 cm3 capacity!

To pay tribute to the car that won the race in 1905, Michelin especially rehabilitated one of the two only Richard Brasiers now left, and enrolled it in the centenary race. It will sport the same blue color that it then had. Note that under the race's regulation color matched a country code: black for Italy, green for the UK, red for the United States, yellow for Belgium, white for Germany and blue for France.