The 1908 Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France was the third Grand Prix and the second one on the Dieppe circuit on July 7.
Now, this race was run under newly formed regulations, as agreed in Ostend the year before. Maximum cylinder bore was 155 millimeters and a minimum weight of 1100 kilogramm. It was now a complete Mercedes and a Benz hegemony. With about nine minutes in advance, Chrirstian Lautenschlager in a Mercedes was the winner; Victor Hémery and René Hanriot were 2nd and 3rd, both in a Benz. To complete Mercedes dominance, Otto Salzer in a Mercedes, set the fastets lap.
   This race is best characterized by the comment, accompanying the painting of Frederic Gordon Crosby „The Endless Quest for Speed: The 1908 French Grand Prix on the Dieppe circuit will always be remembered for the tyre trouble suffered by all the cars throughout the race, which ruined the chances of many teams. The truth was that Grand Prix cars were too heavy and much too fast for the tyres of the period. These would not stand up to the Macadam roads which, after several laps of the race, were torn to pieces, so that each corner became a shingle beach.“
   The race was overshadowed by the first-ever fatal Grand Prix accident, as Henri Cissac and his mechanic Jules Schaude lost their lives. (more to come: page is under construction 07.05.2026).