Balls of Depleted Uranium: The 1905 Darracq "200"

I’m not a huge fan of the insanely old antique cars, but every so often, something springs onto my radar that makes me stop and take notice. One such example was my nominee for Hooniversal Car of the Year. If I hadn’t found that car, this might have been my runner-up.
Way back in 1904, a man named Victor Hémery joined Darracq as their chief car tester. He set to work right away in developing vehicles to win races. Even back then, Darracq saw the potential for race victories to raise the profile of their brand and boost sales of their street cars. To that end, Hémery began a project to develop a race car faster than anything else in the world.
By 1905, that project was complete, with the assistance of another French racing driver who had been working for Fiat, by the name of Louis Chevrolet. They had heavily modified two Darracq four-cylinder engines, mating them together to create a 90-degree V8. As each 4-cylinder engine had come from a 100-hp race car, they nominally called the car a 200-hp car and called it a day. In reality, with the heavy modifications they had done on the engine, it was likely producing significantly more. This, at a time when a fairly “powerful” production car would be producing 20 horsepower. Incidentally, the engine displaced about 25.4L.
During initial production tests, the first couple of runs the car made showed great promise. They managed an average of 109.65 mph, as officially recorded. Hémery was disappointed with this result, despite the fact that it was a world record, feeling that the cold weather had prevented it from achieving its best result.
Just over a month later, the vehicle had been shipped to America for something of a “grudge match” against a twin-engined, aerodynamic Stanley Steamer. In its first run, the Stanley managed 111.8 mph, and Hémery felt they could best that comfortably.
Hémery was not known for his sportsmanship, however, and when he pulled the car up to the starting line beside the Stanley, he aggressively revved the engine in his powerful V8, and the resulting flames from his open exhausts threatened to set the wood-and-canvas body of the Stanley on fire. The officials threatened him with disqualification for poor sportsmanship, and the flood of vitriol that he released in response would surely have sealed the deal, except that the American officials couldn’t understand a word of his French.
He did manage to make a run at 115.3 mph, but the timing mechanism broke for his return pass to confirm it. The officials were able to understand enough of his response to disqualify him, and he was sent home with his Darracq in tow. In response, the Darracq factory fired him.
In the absence of Hémery, Louis Chevrolet agreed to drive the car for further testing. They managed speeds of 117.65 and 127.66 mph. Keep in mind, this was 1906. The Sopwith Camel biplane would not be introduced for another nine years, and when it was, its top speed was 117 mph. That was certainly a prodigious result for a road-going car.


Unfortunately, it was a little too much for Louis Chevrolet. He privately admitted that the car was terrifying to him, and would not drive it again without a substantial extra fee being paid. At that point, the car went into storage for almost a year, until it was purchased by Algenon Lee Guinness, a member of the Guinness family famous for their deliciously chewy beer. He used the car to do a few speed runs and exhibitions around Europe, but was never able to exceed his personal best of 122 mph, and had never been able to repeat that speed and earn the record. He was chasing this personal record in 1909 when Guinness cracked a piston. The car was brought back to his estate for repairs, but other priorities got in the way, and in about 1917, Guinness mother complained about the mess, and insisted that he dispose of it. Unbelievably, he did.
He regretted it some time later, but by that time, the car had been largely dismantled, and he only managed to retrieve a pile of left-over parts. It remained in that state until his death in 1954. From there, the car went to a Darracq collector, Gerald Firkins, who didn’t realize at first the true value of the piece he had acquired. After some research, he discovered that the pile of parts he had in his shed was, in fact, a former world land speed record holder, and he began a very long, very slow restoration. The car was unveiled in April 2006, firing up and running perfectly after a ninety-seven year hiatus.
The car was sold again later that year, and the new owner undertook an even more perfect restoration, revealing the final result last year. It has been driven many times since in various demonstrations, and virtually every passenger has commented that they can understand Louis Chevrolet’s trepidation. There is are no doors, no floor, no fenders, and no cover over the engine. There is no exhaust, and the open headers can belch flames over six feet long. There are no safety restraints, and only the most basic of chairs to keep you in place. Indeed, it is little more than a massive engine in a very small frame.
The speeds this car could attain — 200 km/h or 125 mph — are incredibly fast in most production cars today. Those who have done them can attest that even in the collapsible safety cages currently on the market, it’s a frightening speed. In a vehicle that is little more than a steel ladder with a belching, fire-breathing Victorian-era factory bolted haphazardly to the front, it must be positively terrifying. For those men who willingly pushed the limits, and kept trying for more, we owe them a debt of gratitude for every automotive advancement that followed.
We also owe them our unwavering respect.

[Editor’s Note: I started writing this article three months ago, and have since lost the sites I drew info and photos from. If they’re yours, PLEASE let me know and I’ll happily credit you!]

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  1. facelvega Avatar
    facelvega

    The first words I thought of when looking at these pictures: model bloat.
    As in, try to identify any one item that doesn't need to be there. The fifth spoke on the steering wheel? Some of the bolts? I was talking to my mechanic a little while ago, one of the best in Brooklyn, and I pointed out that he seems to complain about the construction of every car that exists. What car would he call truly well-engineered, I asked. He thought about it for a minute. "The Model A Ford. After that, it was all downhill."

    1. mr. mzs zsm msz esq Avatar
      mr. mzs zsm msz esq

      I see two seats, that seems frivolous in a land speed record breaker, but I see the point you're making 😉

      1. Deartháir Avatar
        Deartháir

        Nay nay! Remember, this was in the era of automobiles as a series of barely-controlled explosions that threatened to blow the whole thing to pieces if anything was slightly off. The second seat would be required for the mechanic, to make sure everything was running right. Rather like the second seat in a British sports car.

        1. mdharrell Avatar

          On behalf of the entire British and French motor industries I must strongly object to your use of the word "was" in place of "is" in this otherwise benevolent (indeed, charitable) description.

    2. mdharrell Avatar

      Sounds like your mechanic may have read "Stranger in a Strange Land" at some point:
      "Jubal did not care who was to blame– it all confirmed his conviction that technology had reached its peak with the Model-T Ford and had been growing decadent ever since."

      1. facelvega Avatar
        facelvega

        It's funny to imagine a big, cheerful, 50 year old mustachioed italian man reading Heinlein in his spare time. But maybe that's what becomes of scifi-loving kids when they grow up: brilliant automotive mechanics. Could be worse.

  2. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Thus began the great tradition of Chevrolet pushrod V8s.

    1. Thrashy Avatar

      They need to make an LS motor witht the valvetrain just hanging around on top of the head like that. It would be terrifying awesome.

      1. mdharrell Avatar

        The factory-specified technique for setting the valve lash on a FoMoCo Y-block is with the engine running. Good times, particularly since it also has to be warmed up to full operating temperature before undertaking the adjustments.

  3. muthalovin Avatar

    Spits that hot fire! Impressive. Very impressive for the time.

  4. skitter Avatar
    skitter

    Amazingly, my roommate knows this car from his days helping out with a Riley engined Menasco Pirate, another VSCC car. He says the owner also has a 1907 Grand Prix car that is faster than my Accord, corners about the same, and would only lose out under braking.

  5. Bret Avatar

    [youtube i1aIZXte5ug http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1aIZXte5ug youtube]
    Here is a video of this monster being time trialed (!) around a track. A dab of oppo in a 25 litre 100+ year old Darracq would leave skid marks in my trousers.

    1. fede6882 Avatar
      fede6882

      this goes well beyond awsome… every owner of a classic car (specially sport/race cars) should see this, use your car as it was meant to be used!

  6. joshuman Avatar
    joshuman

    With the radiator design and the pointy gas tank, it looks fast even standing still. A lot of these horseless carriages don't achieve that.
    Can somebody explain what the 9th and 10th tubes that aren't for exhaust do? They exit towards the driver and then bend down to dump directly on the rear most pair of headers.

    1. Bret Avatar

      I noticed those too. My guess is they are to collect warm air for the intake.

      1. Alff Avatar
        Alff

        It's an early form of EGR. You know, to comply with the strict emissions standards of the early 1900's.

    2. Smells_Homeless Avatar
      Smells_Homeless

      I think those are road-draft tubes. They're designed to use road speed to suck excess crankcase vapors out and prevent pressurizing the case and blowing oil everywhere. I think American cars used them until 1965 or so when the PCV valve was implemented to allow the crankcase gasses to be routed into the intake for burning.

  7. discontinuuity Avatar
    discontinuuity

    I like this similar yet smaller JAP racecar. It also has a V8, but it's an air-cooled WWI-era engine. And the frame is made of wood.
    <img src="http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee57/stevelines/GN1.jpg&quot; width=500>

    1. jeremy![™] Avatar

      that thing if fucking amazing.

    2. Deartháir Avatar
      Deartháir

      If you've got more on that, send it to me in an email, I'll write it up as another Balls of Depleted Uranium post.

  8. Deartháir Avatar
    Deartháir

    I saw the Octane article just after I started putting this one together, and it's a big portion of the reason I delayed running this one; I'll double-check, but I don't think these photos are from Octane. Thanks for the suggestion though!

    1. Black Steelies Avatar

      Ya I agree cuz I looked too after saying that.

  9. engineerd Avatar

    The idea of strapping a seat to an engine and calling it a day permeated the aircraft industry.
    <img width=500 src="http://cdn.globalaircraft.org/media/img/planes/lowres/f-104_4.jpg"&gt;

    1. Thrashy Avatar

      That could be applied to the aerospace sector in general; it's a little bit intimidating to think about flying the Apollo missions when you realize that a Saturn V rocket boils down to three seats and some luggage strapped to the top of a 30-story tall stack of firecrackers.
      The F-104 is an amazing little beast of a fighter. My favorite story about it is how the leading edge of the wings had to be covered with protective guard so that ground crewed didn't slice up their fingers on them.

  10. BlackIce_GTS Avatar
    BlackIce_GTS

    Wow, something more frightening then the Ford 999.
    I'm glad I am aware of this. Deartháir, thank you for making me aware of this.

  11. John Wood Avatar
    John Wood

    http://www.villiers.info/Darracq/
    I have lots of original footage and photos should you do an update article now that Mark Walker has the car on full noise