Jenatzy ‘La Jamais Contente’ 1899

£15.00

The first powered land vehicle to exceed 100 kilometers per hour (breaking the land speed record at the same time).

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Description

La Jamais Contente (The Never Contented) was the first road vehicle to exceed one hundred kilometres per hour (62 mph) on 29 April 1899 at Achères, near Paris. A light-alloy, torpedo-shaped vehicle powered by batteries, it had two Postel-Vinay 25 kW motors each driving the rear axle via a chain, running at 200 V and drawing 124 A, for about 68 hp total. It had Michelin tires. Driven by Camille Jenatzy, a Belgian, who carved a space in the promising Parisian electric carriage market, Jenatzy started a manufacturing plant, and produced many electric vehicles. Competing fiercely against carriage-maker Charles Jeantaud to see who made the fastest vehicles. To ensure success, Jenatzy built a bullet-shaped prototype in partinium (an alloy of laminated aluminium, tungsten and magnesium).
Known for his record-breaking speed runs and nicknamed “Le Diable Rouge” for his red beard, he won the 1903 Gordon Bennet Cup race in Athy, Ireland, driving a Mercedes. He died in 1913 in a hunting accident. Hiding behind a bush he made animal noises as a prank; his hunting friends heard and shot him and rushed him to hospital.  He died en route fulfilling his own prophesy he would die in a Mercedes. Within a few years of his record the gasoline-fuelled combustion engine would increasingly supplant electric technology.
After this exploit the gasoline-fuelled combustion engine would increasingly supplant electric technology.
The Jamais Contente is now on display at the automobile museum in Compiègne, France.

Additional information

Weight 0.02 kg
Dimensions 42.5 × 25.4 cm
Jenatzy ‘La Jamais Contente’ 1899
£15.00

In stock

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