Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

334 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. THE 200 HORSE-POWER DARRACQ SPECIAL CAR. This machine, which is the most powerful in existence, holds eight world’s records, and has done 2 miles in 58* seconds. It is now the property of Mr. A. Lee Guinness. It is of the purest racing type, and has two speeds, 45 and 90 miles per hour. for a moment, and then disap- peared, though the kilometre record has been held mostly by road-racing cars, it must be acknowledged. There were the Serpollets of 1901 and 1902, both strange-looking steam cars ; Bow- den’s American Mercedes, with two 60 horse - power engines coupled in tandem, and a bonnet to match; the 150 horse-power Dufaux, the biggest engine ever put into a practical car ; the giant F.I.A.T., already men- tioned ; and the remarkable machine which appeared in De- cember 1905 — the 200 horse- “ record-breaking ” sprint machine. The first was probably Jenatzy’s “ La Jamais Con- tent,” an electric cigar on Record=break- w}ieols, with which the impet- uous Belgian established the flying kilometre record in 1899, at the rate of 65| miles per hour. Since that day many others have arisen, performed power Darracq. This “ speed-beast ” broke the flying kilometre record forty-eight hours after it was finished, and subsequently at the Ormond-Daytona speed trials covered two miles in 58| seconds. Thence it passed into the hands of its present owner, Mr. A. Lee Guinness, who occasionally takes it to a meeting and sweeps the board. PRINCIPAL TIME RECORDS TO DATE. Distance Time. Average Speed. Holder. Where made. Year. min. sec. miles per hour. 1 kilometre (flying start) 1’1 125-9 Hémery. Brooklands. 1909 1 kilometre (standing start) 27| 81-6 Macdonald. n 1906 1 mile (flying start) .... 284 127-7 Marriott. H 1906 1 mile (standing start) 37| 96-3 Macdonald. M 1906 2 miles (flying start) .... 58* 122-4 Demogeot. n 1906 5 miles (standing start) . . . 2 47j 107-7 Marriott. H 1906 10 miles (standing start) 6 15 96-0 Macdonald. n 1906 15 miles (standing start) 10 0 90-0 Lancia. n 1906 DISTANCE RECORDS. Time. Distance. Average Speed. Holder. Where made. Year. 1 hour. . 89 miles 892 yards. 89-5 Smith. Brooklands. 1909 2 hours 173 miles 810 yards. 86-7 Smith. n 1909 12 hours . 799 miles 1,600 yards. 66-7 Edge. »5 1907 24 hours . 1,581 miles 1,310 yards. 65-9 Edge. 1907 [Note.—The thanks of the writer are due to Messrs. De Dion Bouton, Ltd., for permission to reproduce the illustration of the De Dion Tractor; also to the Mercedes Company, Messrs. A. Darracq and Company, and Messrs. S. F. Edge (1907), Ltd., for the loan of photographs of Mercedes, Darracq, Napier, and Hutton racing cars.]