In the early days of the automobile, when motor racing and the motorcar were both in their infancies, aspiring racers took part in transnational and international city to city events run on public roads. Designed to show off the speed and endurance of the autocar to the general public who often lined the streets to watch these demonstrations of man and machine at their finest, road racing also brought with it inherent danger and excitement. From their very inception, city to city road races were linked with both glamour and mortality, as racers lost their lives in pursuit of pace.