“Though Andrei Nagel was introduced as Russia’s greatest motorist, he turned out to be quite a small man, far from being old, but grizzled and bald (probably because of hard work) and shabby like an old suitcase that has travelled a lot. The energy and persistence in this small man would be enough for a dozen large men. His famous winter drive from Petrograd to Monaco, with freezing weather and deep snow, only took eight days; this alone has put him on the map in motoring, and he has been on many such feats.”
Evgeniy Kuzmin quoted in the book The world from a car window by Constantine Shlyakhtinskiy.

Andrei Platonovich Nagel, the most famous pre-revolutionary automotive journalist and driver in Russia, was born in St. Petersburg on the 2nd of March 1877. His grandfather was Andrei Aleksandrovich Kraevskiy, a well known and influential publisher, editor, journalist and teacher. As a boy, he attended one of the best private schools in the city.

Like many people of the late 19th century, Nagel was a participant in the bicycle fad. He was a contestant in many races and was extremely talented in the now almost forgotten sport of cycle-ball (a sport similar to football played on bicycles).

In 1900 he began to produce his own magazine called Sport. As the title suggests, it covered a wide range of activities. Perhaps sensing the age of the automobile was on the horizon, in 1902 he set-up a new magazine called Automobile, which soon became popular and remained in publication until the 1917 revolution.

In 1902 he also graduated from St. Petersburg University with a degree in law and found work in the Ministry of Communications where he stayed for 8 years. In the same year he was one of the founders of the St. Petersburg Automobile Club.

In 1904 he joined the Imperial Russian Engineering Society as well as the Imperial Russian Automobile Society, where he managed the department concerned with international motor races.

Not satisfied being just a spectator, Nagel purchased a Russian made Russo-Balt S24-30 (which was not a racecar), and entered it in the 1910 Imperial Prize rally St. Petersburg – Kiev – Moscow – St. Petersburg rally (3200km), which started on the 16th of June. He successfully completed the race without penalty points, and was given a special award for his effort. The same year, to test the reliability of the vehicle or perhaps just for the adventure, he drove from St. Petersburg to the top of Mt Vesuvius near Naples, Italy. The German paper Dresdner Anzeiger mentioned the trip in an article on 7th of September 1910:

"A Russo-Balt automobile powered by a 24-hp engine rolled through our city on its way from St. Petersburg to Rome having covered the St. Petersburg - Dresden leg of the route without a single breakdown. The driver, Mr. Nagel, merits special praise as one of Russia's best motorists."

Using the same automobile he participated in the 1911 Imperial prize rally from St. Petersburg to Sevastopol (2200km) and again completed the race without penalty points.

With the experience gained in the two Imperial prize rallies, Nagel decided to try his hand in the 1912 Monaco Rally (today called the Monte Carlo Rally).

The Monaco Rally, which had first been run a year earlier in 1911, was born out of the rivalry between the Principality and the nearby French city of Nice. Nice was attracting many affluent people during the winter, while Monaco’s luxury hotels remained mainly empty. The success of the Paris to Nice race lead to the idea to have an automobile race that began in January, which competitors would start in various cities throughout Europe and finish in Monaco; thus attracting wealthy clientele with these automobiles (it must be remembered that only wealthy people could afford automobiles at this time). Along the route there were mandatory checkpoints, and during the race repairing the engine or chassis was forbidden (seals were placed on these components prevent tampering). This made the Monaco Rally a challenge for automobile manufacturers as well as for drivers.

Keen to promote their brand, the Russo-Balt factory supplied Nagel with a model S24-55 racecar which featured an open two seater body with an elongated tail section containing an additional fuel tank. It's 4 cylinder, 4.9 litre engine was the first automotive engine fitted with aluminium pistons. It developed 55hp at 1800rpm, allowing speeds of over 110km/h to be reached. Weather protection came from only a folding canvas top. There was no windscreen for fear it would end up covered in ice (mechanical or electrical windscreen wipers did not yet exist). Instead, a curtain with a plastic window could be attached from the front of the canvas top to the dashboard. In theory, this design was self-cleaning as vibrations would remove water before it had time to freeze. In any case, Nagel mostly drove with the top down and wore aviator goggles and wrapped his face tightly with a scarf.

Other vehicle modifications included using pure alcohol in the cooling system instead of water, and an opening in the floor to bring heat in from the engine bay. To assist with traction on the ice and snow covered roads, the rear wheels were wrapped in chains and Nagel was given special set of skis, which could be attached to the front wheels.

On the eve of the race there was a major setback. Vadim Alexandrovich Mikhailov, Nagel’s co-driver for the race, was attempting to crank-start the car when the engine backfired resulting in a broken arm (such mishaps were common before the introduction a electric starters). As Mikhailov refused to remain behind, Nagel would now have to drive the entire way.

With the compulsory 'Rallye Automobile Monaco' plaque fixed to the front of the car, at 8.00am on the 13th of January 1912, twenty degrees below zero Celsius, Nagel and Mikhailov (with one functioning arm) departed St. Petersburg to the cheers of a crowd.

Due to the amount of ice on the road, progress was initially especially slow with Nagel unable to use second gear for the first 90km.

“The weather was freezing, the thermometer showed minus 17 degrees. Before Luga it began and as a result – snowdrifts. The car became stuck in the snow. Skis did not help – the car with them became uncontrollable. Wearing sheepskin coats and felt boots rescued us. Battling with snowdrifts cost us more than four hours. We spent the night in Pskov.” Andrei Nagel (diary entry).

Next day they continued on to Riga where they arrived at 8pm. For some distance out of Riga they were able to follow a truck that helped clear some snow from the road.

“In East Prussia, the weather was the same. We had to stop and examine the snowdrifts time and time again. What was their depth and direction of the road.” Andrei Nagel (diary entry).

Throughout the journey special measures had to be taken because of the freezing weather. At overnight stops, Nagel would remove the dynamo and put it in his bed to prevent it from freezing. He also had to get up every two hours to start the car otherwise the engine oil would have begun to solidify making it impossible to crank-start the car. When the engine needed oil, a small fire was started to heat the oil-can in order that the oil inside become viscous enough to pour.

On the 15th of January, Nagel sent the following message:

"We should arrive if during the journey wolves do not eat us and we do not freeze to death."

Driving towards Konigsberg after dark, another snowstorm hit reducing their speed to only 10-15 km/h as the car’s headlights only produced a white spot. They drove on only being able to determine the direction of the road from the trees on the sides.

 Leaving Konigsberg, they got lost then found the correct road, only to fall into a snow ditch. Once past Berlin the road improved and they were able to make up time.

In France they ran into a large band of fog that was so dense they couldn’t see the trees on the side of the road. Nagel continued by slowly moving forward very quietly listening and feeling for the edge of the road.

In Belfort, France icy ascents and descents made driving treacherous as Nagel had discarded the well worn rear wheel chains back in Heidelberg, Germany as they were heavy and seemingly unnecessary as the roads were completely clear of ice and snow. Nagel, who spoke fluent French, found a nearby village and tried to buy chains, but no one there had any. Finally, someone suggested he try a local winemaker who used chains to tie down wine barrels on a horse cart. The winemaker was found and chains changed hands for 25 Francs (a very large amount of money for a simple set of chains).

With the icy slopes conquered they proceeded to Lyon then on to Avignon, which was to be their last overnight stop. With the end comparatively near and not knowing how far behind their rivals were, Nagel and Mikhailov decided to restrict sleep to less than four hours and drive the last stage to Monaco, via Cannes and Nice, at top speed.

In pouring rain on the 21st of January 1912 an exhausted Nagel and Mikhailov were first to cross the finish line, having taken 195 hours 23 minutes to cover the 3257km from St. Petersburg. And to the surprise of everyone several hours in front of second place Captain von Esmach driving a Dürkopp who had started in Berlin (1700km from Monaco). Out of the 83 vehicles that started only 59 would finish.

In a telegraph to St. Petersburg Nagel wrote:

"I arrived at half past eleven. Motor works as well as it did on departure. Tyres still have St. Petersburg air inside. Huge success. The automobile has been placed in a special pavilion, decorated in flags."

At an award ceremony at the Prince’s Palace, Nagel and Mikhailov were awarded 1st prize for longest route, 1st prize for endurance, and a cash prize of 600 Francs for 9th place overall. Why only 9th place overall? The Monte Carlo rally of 1912 was a competition of elegance and comfort as well as a race. The overall race winner was the one who scored the most points. As would be expected points were scored for distance travelled, average speed and the number of passengers in the car. More subjectively though, a special jury awarded points for condition of the chassis, elegance of the car, cleanliness of the body, comfort of passengers (with luggage as an element of appreciation). In scoring elegance, the jury seemed to have favoured closed body cars as they were found in the top positions. Having started between two to five times further away from Monaco than other teams, as well as having to cope with far worse road and weather conditions, Nagel’s car was never going to arrive as shiny as others.

Needless to say Nagel’s success did not go unnoticed back in Russia. Soon after his return, Czar Nicholas II awarded him the Order of St. Anne, the first state award received for success in motorsport. The Imperial Russian Automobile Society presented him with a gift, and arranged a dinner in honour of his victory on the 23rd of February 1912.

Today, 100 years on, Nagel’s daring drive it is still regarded as the greatest achievement in the history of the Monte Carlo Rally.

Back again in St Petersburg, Nagel was soon once again looking for adventure in his beloved Russo-Balt.

“When we decided to set off on a new journey in my automobile, the first idea that came to me was to choose a route that would be the most interesting challenge for a sports-motorist. First of all, I thought about my desire to visit Africa where a Russian automobile had never before been. Distant Africa seems like a myth blown by the sultry breeze of a tropical legend. So that’s how it happened that a Russian automobile shot along the African continent and burning Sahara for the first time in their existence.”
Andrei Nagel in the magazine Niva no.9 1914.

In late 1913, Nagel together with sports-motorist, journalist and artist Evgeniy Kuzmin and two other Russians, made a remarkable journey from St Petersburg to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia reaching as far south as Biskra (an oasis in the Sahara).

Their image of North Africa being a land of scorching temperatures was tarnished when they were greeted with snow while crossing the Atlas mountains. Another surprise was that the roads in Africa were actually generally better than those in Spain and Italy.

“The road from Barcelona itself was so bad that every minute we wanted to know whether we were following the right route or if there was a ‘real’ road somewhere. We could not believe that roads in the region of such a big, rich and, as it were, automobile city were so poor. But all people we met assured us that there were no other roads leading to Tarragona and that the road we were going along was a real road. So we had to resign. We reached a borough; a murderous road that was much worse than the road we were travelling on turned to the right, while a quite good and completely new highway ran straight ahead. Some bicyclists invited us to turn right and follow them, but we did not let them deceive us and went along the good road merrily. Alas, the highway turned out a no through road, coming to a dead end at a small town. Against our wills we had to return to the terrible road where the bicyclists, who had been our advisers, were having their Spanish lives thrashed out of them. The road was such that we could not catch up to them. We overtook a pedestrian and a cart, though the pedestrian was one-legged and the cart had a broken axle and was lying in a ditch. All other living things moved quicker than we did.”
Evgeniy Kuzmin quoted in the book The world from a car window by Constantine Shlyakhtinskiy.

Like many of his compatriots, following the October Revolution in 1917 Nagel decided to leave Russia and by February 1920 was in Paris, where he was soon joined by his wife and mother.

Little is known about Nagel’s life in exile. In March 1922 he joined a Masonic lodge created by Russian émigrés, but was expelled two and a half years later. It’s known he later joined an association of former students of St. Petersburg University.

His mother died in 1930, followed by his wife in 1948. In the 1950s he began to write articles for a number of Russian language publications. A newspaper published material by Nagel titled At the dawn of Russian sport, where he described the origin and development of sports such as tennis, athletics, cycling, etc. in Russia.

In 1956 the newspaper Russian Idea published a series of three articles devoted to Nagel’s review of that year’s Paris Motor Show. The last of these articles was published with the announcement of his death:

“The editorial board of Russian Idea with deep sorrow announces the sudden death of their employee Andrei Platonovich Nagel which occurred in Paris on Saturday the 10th of November. The funeral was held on Tuesday 13th of November at the cemetery in Neuilly. On the ninth day after his death, Sunday the 18th of November, in the church on rue Daru there will be the memorial service following the liturgy.”

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