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1904 French CGV Racing car 1904 of British David Drew heads the race through Vibraye forest
© AFP Jean-Francois Monier

A century ago, around a circuit of dusty, badly surfaced, rural French roads near to here, the modern-day "Grand Prix" was born.

The competition, officially the first to bear the Grand Prix title, put Le Mans forever on the motor racing map. It also paved the way for the historic Le Mans 24 hours competition that has been a mainstay on the international motor racing calendar since 1923.

Sunday's birthday celebrations saw drivers of around 100 vintage cars, all of them built before 1914, follow the same winding route between villages followed by their illustrious predecessors a hundred years earlier.

There was little doubt that the star of the show was a 1906 Darracq 4B that took part in the original race.

Belgium's Michel Beuvens fixes his Stanley
© AFP Jean-Francois Monier

It seemed to outrun the other participants -- even if the Sunday drive was was memorial circuit, not a race.

"This is a very sentimental day for me. It felt fantastic being on the same roads that this car drove around all those years ago," the car's current owner, New Zealander Anne Thomson, told AFP.

Thomson's husband and co-pilot Wallace McNair explained that the couple had made the journey specially from New Zealand to take part in the race.

"The organisers helped to pay for part of the cost of transporting the car over here, but we had to find most of the money for the trip ourselves," he said, estimating their personal costs at around 40,000 euros (50,000 dollars).

"But this is a very special occasion. The car will never be 100 years old again," a white jump-suited McNair explained during a sun-drenched rest stop in the picturesque Sarthe village of Bouloire.

"We can't really afford to be here, but we couldn't stay at home," Thomson added, laughing.

French Le Mans race track manager Herve Guyomard (R) gives the start to the Darracq 1906
© AFP Jean-Francois Monier

When pushed however, the couple of sprightly sixty-somethings said that their pride and joy had in fact undergone several major refits since 1906.

The car was brought to New Zealand by a navy officer shortly after World War I. "The idea was to use the engine to power a speedboat, but in the end it was used as an electricity generator at a newspaper office," McNair said.

In the 1960s, a used car enthusiast bought the engine and partially rebuilt the car using parts from other vintage Darracq. McNair completed the job after Thomson bought the unfinished vehicle in 2003.

Some other competitors good naturedly suggested that fact that the Thomson-McNair's Darracq had undergone such a major series of renovations called into question the owners' claim that it really was the same car that took part in the 1906 race.

Briton Marc Walker's Panhard (R) overtakes Daniel Convers' tricycle Bollee
© AFP Jean-Francois Monier

"They have been a bit naughty with the Darracq. They have done, shall we say, a slight re-organisation," joked Mark Walker, a British car enthusiast in his early 40s who came to Le Mans with his pride and joy -- an original 1908 French Panhard-Levassor which he modestly described as "the best car ever built".

"It really is a most beautiful car to drive. The only thing is it doesn't have any brakes, so you have to plan any stops well in advance," a happily oil-smudged Walker added.

Warm, early summer weather helped draw crowds to the roadways to watch Sunday's ride, eager to catch a glimpse of motoring history.

"It's magnificent. We are very proud that everything started here," said locals Pierrette and Martine, who had come to watch the festivities with Martine's three-year-old granddaughter Oriane.

Local car builder Leon and Amedee Bollee, who began making automobiles in the late 19th century, were also represented.

Daniel Convers, 54, took part in the parade in his 1896 Leon Bollee three-wheeler.

"It's a great car to drive. People always wave at you and I always try to give them a blast on the horn," he said.

"But it's true that it does need quite a lot of maintenance, even when you're driving."

Other participants tried, with varying degrees of success, to argue that owning a vintage car was not a rich person's hobby.

"You can give yourself a treat for the price of a second-hand car," insisted 53-year-old management consultant Philippe Vercruysse, who came to Le Mans from his native Belgium with his 1900 Nagant Gobron-Brille.

Many of the vintage cars will stay in Le Mans for this year's 24 hours race, which begins next week.

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