Motorsport
Pic-Pics competed in a number of motorsports in their short existence. Two Pic-Pics with 4.5 liter engines and front wheel brakes competed in the 1914 Grand Prix, but both cars were withdrawn. In hillclimbing events, Pic-Pics competed more successfully. Pic-Pic cars came in first place in Vosges in 1909, Bern in 1911, and Jaunpass in 1912, 1913, and 1914.
Testbed for first ever air to air missiles
During WW1, The prolific french inventor, aviation and scuba diving pioneer, Commandant Yves LePrieur, a naval officer, devised a scheme to deal with the german artillery corps tetherd balloons (used for gunnery spotting and ranging), nicknamed Drachen -dragons- in Germany and Saucisses -sausages- in France.
He wanted to fit solid fuel, electrically fired rockets (enlarged 14 th July fireworks by the french firm Ruggieri) to the wings of fighter aircraft .
The military brass were interested but voiced concerns about the survivability of the attacking aircraft, fearing that the flame jet would set the -then varnished canvas over wooden frame- aircraft wings on fire.
Undeterred, Cdt LePrieur pleaded for his idea up to the Higehest Command and obtained a Picard Pictet sports racer, one of the very few period cars with a 80 Mph capability, as a testbed. He bolted a section of wing from a Voisin aircraft to the runningboard of the Picard Pictet and ran trials on a long straight line paralleling a canal : The canvas wing was only mildly burnt and dispersion proved acceptable for the intended target (albeit at short range).
Consequently, sets of six or eight LePrieur rockets were fitted to Nieuport figter aircraft and proved quite deadly against the Drachen balloons
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