My Science School

Man has been fond of competition and races since ancient times. In the Middle Ages, he used to participate in horse and chariot races. Later, he got bicycle as an excellent vehicle for racing. Then came the development of motor cars which generated tremendous speed and thrill in such competitions.

The first motor race of the world was held at 8 a.m. on July 22, 1894. Twenty-one cars participated in this race from Paris to Rouen. But this was only an exhibition race. A real race first took place on June 11, 1895 from Paris to Bordeaux, covering a distance of 1,178 km. Later, most of the races were held in circular tracks.

The oldest motor race of the world first took place on September 14, 1905. This was conducted for awarding the R.A.C. Tourist Trophy. The first inter-continental motor race was held in Sicily on May 9, 1906. The Grand Prix motor race was held on June 26-27, 1906 in France.

The fastest motor race of the world was held on February 8, 1964 in the US. In this race Richard Peri of North Carolina covered a distance of 80km in 17 minutes 27 seconds, averaging a fantastic speed of 275 km per hour. Francois Lecket of France established an interesting record of covering a distance of 4,00,000 kilometres by driving for 363 days out of 370 days from the 22nd July 1935 to 26th July 1936. Eight persons of France drove a distance of 1, 85,353 miles and 1741 yards in a period of 133 days, 17 hours, 37 minutes and 38.6 seconds between March to July 1933, thus averaging a speed of about 93 km per hour.

Juan Manual Fangio, born on June 24, 1911 in Argentina is known to be the most successful motor racer of the world. He had won twenty-four races by 1958 when he finally retired.

There are many advantages of participating in motor races. While participants receive instant fame around the world, they also get fabulous prize money on winning these races. The biggest advantage is reaped by the motor company whose car comes first in the race as it gets highly publicized. 

               As you know, Olympic Games are played after every four years and almost all the countries of the world participate in them. The history of Olympic Games is very old. Although much information about them is not available, it is certain that the first Olympics were played in the year 776 B.C. at a place named Olympia in south-east Greece from where they take their name. The first Olympic Games were played for five days and were witnessed by many people of Greece.

             In the beginning, only the Greek players took part in these games. At that time, these games were treated as a religious festival. They were played as a mark of honour for Zeus, the chief god of the Greeks. Every player would worship at the temple of Zeus before taking part in the competition. The winner of game used to be given a branch of an olive tree which was planted in the courtyard of the temple. During those days, women did not participate in the games. So much so that they could not even see the games as spectators.

             The Olympic Games continued for almost 1100 years, but in the year 393 A.D. King Theodosius of Rome, put a ban on the Olympic Games after capturing Greece. This ban continued for 1465 years. After this, in 1859, Japas of Greece organized four Olympic Games in the years 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1989. But after his death, these games were again interrupted.

             A French teacher named Baron Pierre de Coubertin started the old Olympic Games once again in 1896. These games were played in Athens, the capital of Greece. 311 players hailing from 13 countries took part in them, 230 of them were from Greece alone.

 

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