Despite the much publicised eccentricities of Gordon Bennett, he was a shrewd and successful business man.

The international motor racing event was initially publicised ahead of time and with each race covered by the New York Herald, and thus the New York Evening Telegram and the European edition of the New York Herald, published in Paris.  

The Gordon Bennett Trophy - Made in 1895

The Gordon Bennett Motor racing trophy weighing in at 17 kg depicted a racing Panhard, which at the time was, steered by the Genius of Progress with the Goddess of Victory upright upon the seat created by the Paris silversmith André Aucoc.

The Panhard of “Panhard & Levassor” was one of the world's leading car manufacturers with sustained success in racing from 1895, winning the 1200km Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race in 49 hours.

In 1900 the Silver cup was valued at 12,000 francs which had a value equating to £480 or $2333.

Gordon Bennett Race Entry Fee

The race entry fee was 3,000 francs, (£120 or $583) redeemable if one of the registered cars made it to the start line.

1900 Average Earnings

To put things in perspective the average annual wage in 1900 for a male schoolteacher  in the USA was in the region of $780.

In France, a city based labourer and carpenter had a daily rate of 2.91 and 5.20 francs respectively.

Level Playing Field

The twenty two entry rules, pre-cursors of the Grand Prix racing as we now know it, to be monitored and enforced by the ACF were very specific and showed vision in presenting a level playing field, the most contentious of which, to the French at least ,was the three-car limit per nation. 

Race Rules

• The race was to be between 550 kms and 650kms.
• All races for the cup, either taking place in France or in any other country, to be run and enforced under the racing rules of the Automobile Club de France (ACF), published 1899.
• The competitions would take place each year between 15th May and 15th August.
• At least two passengers with an average weight of 70kg to be seated side by side. Any shortfall in passenger weight would have to be made up of ballast.
• The automobile must weigh more than 400 kilos when empty, the 400 kilos to exclude the weight of passengers, supplies ( coal, petroleum, water, accumulators) and tools, spare fittings, luggage, clothing or provisions.
• Every part of the automobiles must be constructed entirely in the respective countries of the competitors (including tyres) and be constructed by members of the competing clubs.
• The winner of each race would host the following years race either in their respective country or France.
• The Cup would be retained each year by the victor.
• Each club can be represented by one, two or three automobiles at will, but the fact that only one or two automobiles of a club should start cannot deter the other clubs from their right to have three cars to compete.
• In addition, to distinguish the cars, each one had to display the national colour.

Les Bleus

Initially this was blue for France, white for Germany, green for the British Isles, black for Italy, and red for the United States (this would subsequently be allocated to Italy). 

World Supremacy

At the time France was the world’s leading car maker, a position which would remain undisputed for some years to come.

The clubs recognised to receive entries by the Automobile Club of France (ACF) were:

• The Automobile Club of America
• The Automobile Club of Austria
• The Automobile Club of Belgium
• The Automobile Club of Germany
• The Automobile Club of Great Britain
• The Automobile Club of Switzerland
• The Automobile Club of Turin. 

The French auto manufacturers had a huge problem with one particular aspect of the Gordon Bennett rules, which they didn't have to worry about with the City to City races and that was the 3 car entry per nation, which was perfectly understandable from their point of view.

Particularly galling to the them was Germany entering two Mercedes and an Opel in 1904 with Austria entering three Mercedes. In 1905, both countries entered three Mercedes being manufactured in both countries.
  
In 1904 France had over 180 Car Brands.

Compared to the rest of the world and they were getting tested in trials on a regular basis, driving on roads completely unfit for purpose, absolute hell for the drivers, but the terrain was really testing the durability of the vehicles with the constant shocks and vibration that pummeled the engine and chassis,generating many factory improvements to vehicle technology.

Following a motor race in April 1900 which left two spectators injured, one of whom was the wife of the Deputy for the Department of the Seine, a racing ban was applied initially for that department, and then nationwide.

After lobbying by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) an exemption was granted on 12th June, just two days before the race.

1900 14th June Paris 0300hrs - First Gordon Bennett Cup Race 

The Paris - Lyons had a very poor showing in year one, with only five out of seven entries who actually started the race. It was deemed a failure, principally through poor organisation and short notice.

Fernand Charron was driving the first of the only two cars, both Panhard's, to complete the race with an average speed of 62.12 km/h

Two Belgian entries, a Panhard and a Snoeck-Bolide, and a USA Winton all retired.

The Winton was driven by the same Alexander Winton who had challenged Fernand Charron in 1889 to travel to the USA to race against him after Charron had added the the Paris–Bordeaux race win to his two city to city victories of Marseille–Nice and Paris–Amsterdam–Paris in 1888.

Gordon Bennett had been requested to mediate the challenge at the time, but it came to nothing as Charron thought the purse offered was insufficent to justify the trip. 

It was decided that for the next two races the event would run concurrently with an open race, which was just as well.

1901 29th May - Second Race

The second Gordon Bennet Cup was run at the same time as the 527km “open” Paris-Bordeaux race.

Britain Disqualified

The German entry did not materialize and the British (Selwyn Edge) Napier entry was disqualified for adopting French tyres as the fitted Dunlops were suspect in being able to support the weight of the Napier, compromising the “100% made in country of origin” rule. 

This left three French cars of which only one, a Panhard driven by Léonce Giradot completed the course averaging 59.53km/h, hardly a noteworthy event. 

Worse still was that Henri Fournier winner of the open race driving his Mors averaged 25km per hour faster than the Panhard.

1902 26th-28th June - Third Gordon Bennett Cup Race

Paris-Innsbruck Once again the race was scheduled to run concurrently, this time with the Paris-Vienna race which had 213 entries. 
There were six Gordon Bennett entries, three from France and three from Britain who would stop racing at Innsbruck, having completed 561km, 186 km short of the open race endpoint in Vienna.

 The Paris Innsbruck Gordon Bennet route was split over three days terminating on day one at Belfort, France  after 375 km. Then Switzerland, which had a racing ban on open roads, and did not count, was crossed on day two at 15mph and on the third day, the race was resumed on the second and final 186km leg from Bregenz to Innsbruck.

The six entries from Britain and France, consisted of two Wolseley's, a Napier, a Panhard, a Mors and the 1900 winner Fernand Charron, driving a Charron-Girardot-Voigt (CGV)