21/8/1853 - 18/9/1898
Record updated 21-Aug-06
French automobile pioneer and racing driver. He was killed in a bizzare incident when he was involved in an accident with a horse and cart.
French automobile pioneer and racing driver. Mayade drove for the team of René Panhard and Émile Levassor.
With Panhard he started his first race with Paris Rouen in 1894. He finished 7th and in 1895 he finished 6th. His greatest victory came in 1896 when he won the Paris Marseille Paris in a Panhard 8 hp.
In the autumn 1898 Émile Mayade died in one of the first automobile traffic accidents in France outside of racing. Mayade was diving down a narrow lane when he saw a horse and cart. He switched his engine off as the horse looked skittsh. By then the car and the cart were along side. The owner of the horse was holding the reins when the horse bolted and the cart collided with the car. The tiller that steered the car swung across, knocking Mayade out of the vehicle and then, as the vehicle overturned, it crushed his chest killing him.