Fiat Mefistofele

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Fiat
The Fiat Mefistofele at the Geneva Motor Show 2011
The Fiat Mefistofele at the Geneva Motor Show 2011
SB4 Eldridge "Mefistofele"
Production period: 1923–1923 (single item)
Class : race car
Racing series Special
Body versions : open two-seater
Engines: Otto engine :
21.7 liters (235 kW)
Length: 5091 mm
Width: 1850 mm
Height: 1400 mm
Wheelbase : 3450 mm
Empty weight : 1780 kg

The Fiat Mefistofele is a former world record vehicle based on an SB4 racing car from the Italian car manufacturer Fiat . The Briton Ernest Eldridge created on this basis the car called Mefistofele as self-made and broke with him in 1924, the land speed record .

history

The base vehicle was built in 1908 as the Fiat SB4 for circuit racing and at that time was equipped with a 18,146 cm³ four-cylinder engine with around 175  hp (129  kW ). In 1922, the meanwhile wrecked and no longer serviceable racing car was purchased by Ernest Eldridge and converted into a record-breaking car in 1923. For this purpose, Eldridge extended the ladder frame in the area of ​​the front of the car to create space for a 21.7 liter six-cylinder in - line engine of the Fiat A.12 type . This engine came from a fighter aircraft of the First World War . Its output is around 320  hp (235  kW ). On July 12, 1924, Eldridge drove together with his co-pilot and mechanic John Ames on a straight country road in Arpajon near Paris , where they set the world record of 234.980 km / h. The engine had been modified for the record run: pure oxygen was fed to the two carburetors from a pressure vessel carried along. The passenger's job was to maintain the fuel supply with a hand-operated pump.

Gianni Agnelli later acquired the vehicle for the factory collection (today's name Centro Storico Fiat Lancia ). The car is ready to drive and is regularly presented to the public by Fiat, both as a standing exhibit at trade fairs and as part of demonstration drives. While the car was painted black at the time of Eldridge's record drive, it was painted in the Italian racing car color Rosso Corsa by Fiat .

Naming

Mefistofele is not a type designation originally assigned by Fiat or Eldridge, but a nickname given to the vehicle by spectators of the record drive and by the press. The name refers to Mephistopheles , the satanic demon who bought Doctor Faust 's soul .

Pictures of the vehicle today

  • The Mefistofele at a classic car event

  • Mefistofele's cockpit

  • Aircraft engine type Fiat A.12

Others

  • The value achieved by Eldridge on July 12, 1924 was the last land speed record set on a public road.
  • The designation Mefistofele reflects the Italian spelling of the vehicle name. This can also be found as lettering on both outside of the car. A brass plaque is attached to the wooden bulkhead in the engine compartment, on which the internationally more common, Greek- based spelling Mephistopheles can be read.
  • The Mefistofele experienced one of its recent demonstrations as a rolling exhibit in 2010 on the occasion of the presentation of the Fiat 500 TwinAir on the Balocco test track . This vehicle pairing is interesting and curious, especially due to the fact that the Mefistofele has almost 25 times as much displacement as the Fiat 500 TwinAir.

Web links

Commons : Fiat Mefistofele  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jürgen Lewandowski: Fiat Automobile: The dynamic development of a global corporation . Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-517-01157-6 , p. 54.
  2. ↑ Ferruccio Bernabo: Quando Mefistofele faceva paura . In: Stampa Sera February 23, 1981, page 13 (Italian), accessed March 24, 2012
  3. ↑ Thomas Geiger: Fiat Mefistofele - With the engine of a fighter plane to the world record . on Welt.de, July 31, 2011, accessed March 24, 2012
  4. ↑ a b Bigscalemodels.com ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 14, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bigscalemodels.com