Fiat Mefistofele Land speed car
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Production period: | 1923 |
Class: | race car |
racing series | Special |
Body versions: | open two-seater |
Engines: | Gasoline:21.7 litres (235 kW) |
Length: | 5091 mm |
Width: | 1850 mm |
Height: | 1400 mm |
Wheelbase: | 3450 mm |
Curb weight: | 1780 kg |
The Fiat Mefistofele is a former world record vehicle based on a race car of type SB4 of the Italian car manufacturer Fiat.
History
The Briton Ernest Eldridge created on this basis called the Mefistofele car Mefistofele is not an original Fiat or Eldridge type designation, but a nickname given to the vehicle by viewers and the press. The name refers to Mephistopheles, the satanic demon who buys the soul from Doctor Faust .as a homemade car this broke the land speed record in 1924.
The base vehicle was built in 1908 as Fiat SB4 for circuit racing and was at that time equipped with a 18,146 cc four-cylinder engine with about 175 hp (129 kW). 1922, the now-damaged and no longer operational race car was purchased by Ernest Eldridge and rebuilt in 1923 to be a record car. For this Eldridge extended the lead frame in the front end to make room for a large 21.7-liter six-cylinder inline engine of the type Fiat A.12. This engine came from a combat aircraft of the First World War, its power is around 320 hp (235 kW). On 12 July 1924 Eldridge together with his co-pilot and mechanic John Ames at a straight country road in Arpajon in Paris broke there the world record of 234.980 km / h. For the record drive the motor had been modified: In a pressure vessel entrained both carburettors pure oxygen was supplied. Due to the amount of fuel needed the co-driver's job was to maintain fuel delivery with a hand-operated pump.
