Land Speed Ferdinand Porsche and the fastest cars on the road ven before man directed his brain biles were exceptional so a speed demonstration power towards mechanized trans - was staged to prove it. His one kilometer dash Eportation, the gauntlet was thrown took 57 seconds achieving an average speed of down to determine who could be the fastest – 63.13 km/hr (39.24 mph). Others almost im - the fastest in the air, the fastest on sea, and the mediately were prompted to prove they could go fastest on land. Over the past century the men even faster. And they did. and machines that have worn the speed crown When Porsche worked for Jakob Lohner By Phil Carney have changed many, many times. This is due not he was young and had a desire to show the only to the fact that technology has advanced but world his engineering skills. An obvious way to also because the title of “fastest” involves many do this was to enter into auto competitions. So, qualifications. Most 356 Registry readers are, on September 23, 1900, Professor Ferdinand naturally, interested in the Land Speed Records Porsche decided to have a public display of the (LSR) but this grouping itself covers a wide Lohner-Porsche car’s capability. The venue was range of machines. the Semmering road near Vienna. Although nei - ther paved nor straight, it was a relatively flat stretch and had already been used for various record setting events and been marked off in 10- km segments. The car Porsche raced was a modified version of the electric car that had been exhibited at the Paris World Exhibition a few months earlier. Modification included strip - ping off most of the body and replacing it with a fairing at the front. The record broken by Porsche for an electric powered vehicle that day was 14.875 minutes over 10 km (40.34 km/hr or 25.07 mph) which significantly bettered the previous record of 23.45 minutes (25.57 km/hr or 15.89 mph). In 1902, the Automobile Club of France produced a formal set of LSR rules. Regardless, many clubs ignored these rules and maintained their own set of regulations. In 1924 the Asso - ciation Internationale des Automobile Clubs Re - connus (AIACR) introduced a new set of rules 1902, Ferdinand Porsche at the wheel of a Lohner-Porsche Land Speed Records for cars are scored in that have largely standardized the LSR process. Mixt at the Exelberg Hill Climb. Below: The Semmering-race, a variety of categories. After all, it wouldn’t be The rules included two passes in opposite direc - 14 September 1924. The winner Christian Werner (left) and appropriate to tally piston-powered cars against tions averaged, a maximum time between Ferdinand Porsche (right). Hillclimbs and track races were the norm in Germany and Ferdinand Porsche’s race car de - jet or rocket-powered cars. And, for piston-pow - passes, timing accuracy within 0.01 seconds, signs were successful into the 1930s. Then, with the con - ered cars, it wouldn’t be fair to score 1.5-liter and that cars must be wheel-driven. There are struction of high-speed tracks and the new autobahns, land cars against 44-liter cars. There are many more also regulations for establishing records over speed records beckoned. subcategories such as two-wheeled versus three- great distances and long durations. National or wheeled versus four-wheeled and even six- regional auto clubs have to be AIACR members wheeled. Just to list the LSR attempts for these to ensure records are recognized. The AIACR be - different categories would take a really thick vol - came the Fédération Internationale de l’Auto - ume. So, the following story limits itself to one mobile (FIA) in 1947. of the most well-known efforts with which Americans are most familiar with speed s o Porsche was involved. record breaking at the Bonneville Salt Flats near t o h p Wendover, Utah. For record attempts at this lo - e v i AIACR/FIA Regulations cation and El Mirage, the Southern California h c r a The first record set by a car was in 1898. Timing Association (which is FIA certified) and e h c Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of Paris, Bonneville Nationals Inc. (SCTA-BNI) govern the s r o P France wanted to demonstrate that his automo - rules and operating procedures. 16 Volume 35, Number 3 • Porsche 356 Registry The Silver Arrows of the 1930s In 1933 Hitler offered a 500,000 Reichs - marks annual award to Mercedes to build a dominating German racer for the new AIACR 750 kg Grand Prix formula. After protesting, Auto Union (the conglomerate of Horch, Audi, Wanderer and D.K.W.), was offered an identical amount to build their own Grand Prix cars. The German cars were physically very different. The Mercedes W25 followed the standard layout of front-engine/rear-wheel-drive and was powered by a supercharged inline-eight 3.4-liter engine. The Auto Union racer used a supercharged 4.25-liter, V-16 engine located behind the driver and in unit construction with the transmission and rear axle gearing. Both cars, however, did have a couple of important things in common. The Mercedes M25 engine could trace its line - age back to 1923 when Ferdinand Porsche was the technical director at Daimler Untertürheim. In the case of the Auto Union car, Porsche had an even more direct connection since his newly- formed firm was hired to design the car. The If the rules permitted, on fast circuits a mix of standard open-cockpit cars and streamliners were used. On May 26, 1935 Stuck second commonality was the name and reputa - and Varzi drove the 4.9 liter Type B cars and zu Leininger and Rosemeyer piloted the 4.3 liter Type A streamliners shown in this tion both racers earned. Both marques became photo. Rosemeyer and Stuck were 1-2 on the grid but at the end of Heat 1 Stuck was in the podium while newbie Rosemeyer known as the Silver Arrows and these German was DNF. Rudy Caracciola took Heat 2 and in the final race Luigi Fagioli dominated. The latter were both driving the Mercedes competitors dominated Grand Prix racing be - 4.0 liter W25. Below: After several successful initial tests, Porsche and Auto Union went to AVUS to show the 4.4 liter P-Wagen’s tween 1934 and 1939. speed and endurance capabilities. Hans Stuck was the driver and Ferdinand Porsche personally supervised the event. Three Construction of the Porsche Auto Union Class C records were established on March 6, 1934 for 100 mile, 200 km and one hour runs. racer began in March 1933 and the first car was n o i ready for testing in less than a year. On March t c e l l 6, 1934, Hans Stuck took it out on the fast AVUS o c n circuit near Berlin. It was all very secretive and n a m f the track was surrounded by the military to keep f o H spies away. That Tuesday Stuck broke three Class h c i r C (engine displacement of 3.0 - 5.0 liters) world n i e H speed records. At the 100 mile mark, an average s ’ r o speed of 216.875 km/hr (134.760 mph) was h t u a achieved. At 200 km distance, an average speed m o r of 217.018 km/hr (134.849 mph) was recorded f s o and at one hour, the average speed was 217.110 t o h km/hr (134.906 mph). Of course, a Grand Prix P racer must not only go fast, it must corner and brake. Nevertheless, speed record attempts in a straight line were to become important future endeavors for both Auto Union and Mercedes. During the 1934 Grand Prix season, Auto Union won three events, showed three times in second and placed third once. It was a very good start but Porsche and Auto Union extended the season by attempting to break more speed records in October. So the team returned to AVUS and Hans Stuck drove an Auto Union Type complish this. Meanwhile at Brooklands, Eng - Benz felt compelled to demonstrate their Silver A to five new Class C world records. land, Maserati set two new 3.0-liter (Class D, 2.0 Arrow’s capability. In late October, they took two In addition to Auto Union, other manufac - - 3.0 liters) records and the ERA team set 1.5- Model W25 Silberpfeile to a straight, concrete turers were making speed record history in liter (Class F, 1.1 – 1.5 liters) records as well as Gyon road section just south of Budapest, Hun - 1934. In May at Montlhéry, France a 3.2-liter De - 1.1-liter (Class G, 750 cc – 1.1 liters) records. gary. The appointed factory driver was Ernst lahaye set 11 long distance Class C speed Henne but Rudy Caracciola also showed, sup - records ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 km. It Mercedes Takes on the Challenge posedly just as an observer. The weather was took over 59 continuous hours for their three All of this record breaking was gaining ex - cold and wet when Henne made his first speed drivers operating in four hour stretches to ac - cellent press coverage. So obviously, Mercedes- attempt in an open-cockpit car. He took off www.Porsche356Registry.org • September / October 2011 17 e v i h c r a z n e B - r e l m i a D Above: This photograph shows the record runs on the Impe - swiftly making four-gear changes to reach 100 bird anted-up and at the Salt Flats near Bon - rial Highway between Frankfurt and Darmstadt on November km/hr in the first 170 meters.