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06/05/2012 6:35 pm
PICS - The 1st Official Land Speed Record Holder @ 39.24 MPH in 1898.
Giving a talk about the history of the LSR next week served impetus to finally build this first ultimate land speed record holder.
Not too many years prior to steam locomotion MD's seriously considered that speeds above 20 MPH might be too great for humans to draw breath. I wonder if the driver of this car ever considered these musings? Anyway, an official ultimate speed contest was held and this Jeantaud electric car was the first winner.
Here she is
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in all her street robed glory.
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In March 1899 new challengers tried their hand but the Jeantaud provided a surprise, aerodynamics, and again it won the prize at 57.6 MPH.
Same chassis but now with pointy nose and tail.
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December 1899 provided another electric powered winner, the La Jamis Contente, which broke the 60 MPH barrier at 65.79 MPH. This record was the last ultimate LSR held by an electric vehicle and lasted for almost three years until a couple of gasoline powered vehicles achieved speeds in the mid 70 MPH range in 1902.
The La Jamis Contente was another streamlined design and utalized two electric motors.
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The next major aerodynamic advance will be getting the driver out of the airstream and lower in the streamlined body. This took awhile to become widely practical as these first contenders were basically street cars.
Drawings came from the excellent LSR history book, The "Land Speed Record" by Cyril Posthumus.
Hope you enjoyed this short history.
Cheers and Happy Collecting,
Steve
06/05/2012 11:19 pm
PICS: Great post Steven, I was just a tad disappointed that for the
La Jamais Contente (Never Satisfied) and the Jeanteaud Profilee (Aerodynamic Jeantaud) you did not use the pictures of the 1:43 models 😉
Anyway, here goes:
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Jeantaud Electrique Profilee in 1:43 by John Shinton
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C.I.T.A. "La Jamais Contente" again 1:43 this time by Rio.
I have understood that both Touchwood Models and Mach One Models are planning a few other early LSR models! I can hardly wait.
Thanks for the bit of history Steven!
Cheers,
Arie
07/05/2012 6:35 am
Arie, thanks for posting the model pics. I don't have the 1899 Jeanteaud Profilee model and the book pictures will be used in next weeks presentation so I included them in this post.
That is something new BTW, using pictures as well as models in an auto history talk. Not sure how it will work. The pics should match the 1/43ed scale models being discussed and people further back should be able to see the car better. Not much of a problem when using 1/18th scale models, the normal size I use, but these small 1/43eds needed a different approach.
Again Thanks,
Steve
07/05/2012 2:17 pm
And to think that some years ago I rode my bicycle down a hill behind UC at Berkeley in California at 52 mph. Now, at age 66, when my bicycle reaches 30 mph I begin to get nervous.
David Knight
Richmond, Virginia. USA
07/05/2012 4:00 pm
PIC - Bike record attempt 52 MPH does seem quite fast on a bicycle.
How's this one David?
Spark bicycle LSR model
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The story's Link: http://993c4s.com/porsche-culture/porsche-factoids/land-speed-record-bicycle-rude/
Cheers,
Steve