Gottlieb Daimler was a German engineer and inventor who was the pioneer of the internal combustion engine and the modern automobile industry. With his colleague Wilhelm Maybach, Daimler’s improvements in the internal-combustion engine, made in the 1880s, contributed largely to the development of the automobile industry. Daimler and Maybach concentrated on producing the first lightweight, high-speed engine to run on gasoline. They eventually developed an engine with a surface carburetor that vaporized the petrol and mixed it with air. Daimler and Maybach's engine reached 900 revolutions per minute, much more power than existed at the time. In 1889 they placed their engine into a horse carriage and drove the car at speeds of 11 miles per hour—the first four-wheeled automobile. In the first international road race held between Paris and Rouen in 1894, only 15 of the 102 cars completed the course. Daimler engines powered all 15 cars. In 1890, he founded the Daimler Motor Company at Cannstatt, Germany.