After three years of the original and first City-to-City races (épreuves or courses), the period 1897-1900 can be considered as the empirical validation phase of early automotive engineering. The IC-engine rapidly emerged as the dominant motive power, although the vehicles mostly resembled the older horse-drawn chariots and the steering wheel only came to replace the tiller somewhere in 1898. The year 1899 even saw some thirty épreuves being held from January till October.
   The 1897 Paris-Dieppe and Paris-Trouville races demonstrated the IC-engine’s baseline design.
   The 1898 Paris-Amsterdam-Paris race proved its long distance durabilty for over more than 1300 km. 
   1899’s Tour de France with an even longer distance over multiple stages, gave an enormous boost on data for durabilty, chassis and tires.
   The shorter Paris-Bordeaux and Paris-Ostende races saw average speed even go up to some 50 kmh.
   The 1900 Circuit de Sud-Ouest showed already an average speed of roundabout 60 kmh, as did the Paris-Bordeaux of that year.
The gallery shows a graph containing the development of the average contest speed over these years. Next to engine power, tire- and wheel technology as well as the condition of the roads were the most infuential factors for that period. On the other hand, these increasing speeds were one of the reasons that City-to-City races were banned some years later (1903 – „Race of Death“). (As per October 2026, this page is still under construction.)