Auguste Frédéric Doriot (24 October 1863 – 1955) was a French motoring pioneer who developed, built and raced cars for

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

before founding his own manufacturing company D.F.P. in combination with Ludovic Flandrin and the Parant brothers. In 1891, Doriot and his Peugeot colleague Louis Rigoulot completed the longest trip by a petrol powered vehicle when their self-designed and built Daimler powered

Peugeot Type 3 Background The earliest Peugeot models from 1889 were steam-powered tricycles, built in collaboration with Léon Serpollet. In 1890, Armand Peugeot met with car technology innovators Gottlieb Daimler and Émile Levassor and became convinced t ...

completed 2,100 kilometres (1375 miles) from

Valentigney Valentigney () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Valentigney is best known as the place where Peugeot began operations; several members of the Peugeot family still live in the area. ...

to Paris and Brest and back again. They were attached to the first Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race, but the duo reached Brest one day after the winning cyclist,

Charles Terront Charles Terront (9 April 1857 – 31 October 1932) was the first major French cycling star. He won sprint, middle distance and endurance events in Europe and the United States. In September 1891 he won the first Paris–Brest–Paris cycle ra ...

, finished in Paris, and they then finished six days after him. Doriot's son,

Georges Doriot Georges Frédéric Doriot (September 24, 1899 – June 1987) was a French-American known for his prolific careers in military, academics, business and education. An émigré from France, Doriot became a professor of Industrial Management at Har ...

, emigrated to the United States and became a professor at the Harvard Business School, where he later became known as the ''father of Venture Capitalism''. He also served as a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and was known for founding

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

business school.

Early life

Auguste Frederic Doriot was born on 24 October 1863, the second youngest of eight children of Jacques Doriot, in the village of Sainte-Suzanne, Doubs in Franche-Comté. Ante (2008): p. 4 On 27 September 1894 at Valentigney he married 24-year-old Berthe Camille Baehler from Voujeaucourt, known as Camille, who had a Swiss father from

Uetendorf Uetendorf is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Uetendorf is close to the city of Thun, and connected to traffic through the A6 motorway and the BLS AG's Thun-Belp-Bern railway line. Due ...

and a French mother. She had been orphaned aged three and was raised by her grandmother and three older sisters. The couple went on to have two children, Georges Frederic was born in September 1899 and Madeleine Georgette (''Zette'') was born on 11 August 1906 at the family home in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Ante (2008): pp. 14-15 Doriot was a cold, stern, driving, ambitious father, unlike Camille. Even Georges' successes were met without enthusiasm, and 'his cool stare was worse than any physical punishment'. Georges was trained in the D.F.P workshops and was able to enlist as an Artillery engineer after WW1. After the war the family sent him to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in the USA but he switched to the Harvard Business School where he became a Professor and the ''father of Venture Capitalism''. He also became Brigadier general (United States) during WWII. Ante (2008): p. 116 Georges also noted: "I think that my father worked 24 hours a day." Ante (2008): p. 25

Career

Peugeot

In 1889 at the age of 26, Doriot finished his military service and took a job at the

bicycle factory in Beaulieu-sur-Doubs,

(or possibly 1887 Doriot & Gupta (2004): p. 134).

Armand Peugeot Armand Peugeot (; 18 February 1849 – 4 February 1915) was an industrialist in France, pioneer of the automobile industry and the man who transformed Peugeot into a manufacturer of bicycles and, later, of automobiles. He was accepted into the Au ...

, seeing his technical potential and ambition, sent him on a series of apprenticeships to develop his skills. By 1891 he had become a full employee at the factory and began working for the company's main engineer, Louis Rigoulot, installing Daimler engines into Peugeot's first vehicles, thus developing a four-wheeled petroleum-powered ''Quadricycle'' - the Peugeot Type 2 and the Type 3 with 2.5 hp, four forward gears plus reverse. This enterprise saw Doriot promoted to foreman. Ante (2008): p. ?

World's longest drive Paris–Brest–Paris

In order to publicly prove the reliability and performance of the 'Quadricycle' it was officially entered (appended) into the 1891 Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race,

having persuaded the organiser,

Pierre Giffard Pierre Giffard (1 May 1853 – 21 January 1922) was a French journalist, a pioneer of modern political reporting, a newspaper publisher and a prolific sports organiser. In 1892, he was appointed ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Légion d'Honneur and ...

of '' Le Petit Journal'', of the benefits if his network of monitors and marshalls could vouchsafe the performance. The intended distance of 1200 kilometres had never been achieved by a motorised vehicle, it being about three times further than the record set by Leon Serpollet from Paris to Lyon. Additionally Rigoulot and Doriot loaded the Type 3 Quadricycle with tools, spare parts, luggage and water, and drove it 300 kilometres from Valentigny to Paris, a three-day journey. They reached 20 kilometres an hour on flat roads but Rigoulot had to walk behind up the hills, ready to push. Peugeot had to pre-seed the route with petrol supplies, so employees placed cans at strategic railway stations about 60 kilometres apart. Unfortunately some were lost or disposed of by station masters on safety grounds so the 'racers' had to acquire dry cleaning fluid. The Peugeot left Paris behind the cyclists on 8 September, covering 200 kilometres on the first day and 160 kilometres on the second, but then lost 24 hours when a gear failed near

Morlaix Morlaix (; br, Montroulez) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Leisure and tourism The old quarter of the town has winding streets of cobbled stones and overha ...

. After effecting a repair using local resources (a shoemaker's tools) they arrived at

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

after dark where they were received by a large crowd and the local Peugeot bicycle dealer. ''Le Petit Journal'' reported their arrival in Brest on 12 September, one day after it reported winning cyclist

's finishing the race back in Paris. Doriot and Rigoulot arrived in Paris with cyclists 88–96 on 16 September to complete the Paris–Brest–Paris race six days after the winner. '' Le Petit Journal'' Paris, 12 September 1891 states: '' Le Petit Journal'' Paris, 11 September 1891 states: '' Le Petit Journal'' Paris, 16 September 1891 states:

Engineering development, testing and racing

Throughout the 1890s Doriot worked for

at Doubs, and was regarded as

's protégé, developing and testing the cars, plus competing in the Grandes Épreuves. Armand Peugeot appointed Doriot as director of Peugeot's Paris factory and new showroom on the Avenue de la Grande Armée. Doriot drove for

in the Grandes Épreuves of the 1890s, consistently finishing near the top after many hours of competing on unsurfaced roads in difficult conditions. On 22 July 1894, he finished third in the Paris-Rouen Trail, covering the 126 kilometres in seven hours. In 1895 he finished fourth in the

Paris–Bordeaux–Paris The Paris–Bordeaux–Paris Trail race of June 1895 is sometimes called the "first motor race", although it did not fit modern competition where the fastest is the winner. It was a win for Émile Levassor, who came first after completing the 1,1 ...

Trail, carrying three passengers for the 59-hour race. In 1896 he finished eighth in the ten-day Paris-Marseilles-Paris Trail, covering the 1,710 kilometres in 81 hours. In 1897 he finished 29th in the Paris-Dieppe Trail, taking six hours for the 170 kilometres. He finished seventh in the

1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris The 1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris Race was a competitive 'city to city' motor race which ran over 7 days from 7–13 July 1898 and covered 1,431 km. It was won by Fernand Charron driving a Panhard et Levassor for 33 hours at an average speed o ...

after taking 36 hours to cover the 1,431 kilometres. In 1899 he was second in the Paris-Saint Malo trail and 10th in the Paris-Ostende trail driving Peugeot voiturettes. In 1900 he finished fourth in the Coupe des Voiturettes averaging circa 36 kilometres per hour.

D.F.P. (Doriot, Flandrin et Parant)

Doriot left Peugeot in 1902, and worked for

Clément-Bayard Clément-Bayard, Bayard-Clément, was a French manufacturer of automobiles, aeroplanes and airships founded in 1903 by entrepreneur Gustave Adolphe Clément. Clément obtained consent from the Conseil d'Etat to change his name to that of his b ...

for a short time while preparing to establish his own company. In 1906 Doriot cofounded Doriot Flandrin (DF et Cie) with Ludovic Flandrin, also from

, at 169 Boulevard St Denis in Courbevoie, near Paris, where they manufactured a small car with single cylinder 1.1 litre engine. It was sold as a Doriot Flandrin. In 1908 the brothers Alexandre and Jules René Parant joined and the company became D.F.P.

Doriot, Flandrin & Parant Doriot, Flandrin & Parant (D.F.P.) was a French car maker based in Courbevoie, Seine between 1906 and 1926. Auguste Doriot and Ludovic Flandrin had both worked for Peugeot and then Clément-Bayard before setting up their own car making compan ...

, adding a new range using 4-cylinder Chapuis-Dornier engines for 2 litre (10 hp), 2.4 litre (12 hp) and 2.8 litres (14 hp). D.F.P. started to make their own high quality engines in 1912, a high performance version of which was used by

W. O. Bentley Walter Owen Bentley, MBE (16 September 1888 – 13 August 1971) was an English engineer who founded Bentley Motors Limited in London. He was a motorcycle and car racer as a young man. After making a name for himself as a designer of aircraft a ...

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfie ...

. Georgano (2000): p. ? After World War I they used proprietary engines but by 1922 they started to make their own engines again, which they supplied to the recently reborn British manufacturer GN until 1923. Production finished in 1926 and the factory was sold, by which time Doriot was 62 years old. Doriot died in

Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

, France in 1955.

Race results

Notes

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' Index

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 9 June 1895 – Voitures sans chevaux - Changed route

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 11 June 1895 – Voitures sans chevaux - Race day

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 12 June 1895 – Voitures sans chevaux - Intermediate race report

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 13 June 1895 – Voitures sans chevaux - Race report

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 14 June 1895 – Voitures sans chevaux - Arrival in Paris

Gallica, Online Archive, ''Le Petit Journal'' 15 June 1895 – Voitures sans chevaux - later finishers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doriot, Auguste 1863 births 1955 deaths French automotive pioneers French automobile designers French founders of automobile manufacturers French racing drivers Grand Prix drivers Racing drivers from Paris Vintage vehicles