Darracq - Motor Sport

Motor Sport

Like other automobile makers in this era, such as Napier, Bentley, and Daimler, Darracq participated in motor racing, and Darracq's drastically stripped-down voitures legére garnered publicity. A 1904 effort to win the Gordon Bennett Trophy, however, was disastrous: despite entries of identical 11.3 l cars built in Germany, France, and Britain (per the Trophy rules), Darracq scored no success. Paul Baras drove a Darracq to a new land speed record of 104.53 mph (168.22 km/h) at Ostend, Belgium, on November 13, 1904. A 1905 racer was more promising. Fitted with a 22.5 l overhead valve V8 made from two Bennett Trophy engines mated to a single crankcase, producing 200 hp (150 kW; 200 PS), making it one of the first specialized land speed racers, and on December 30, 1905, Victor Hémery drove this car to a speed of 109.65 mph (176.46 km/h) in the flying kilometer at Arles, France. The V8 was shipped to Ormonde Beach, Florida (then host to numerous land speed record attempts), where it was timed at 122.45 mph (197.06 km/h) in 1906 to win the title "1906 King of Speed"; this was not enough to hold the land speed record, however, which went to a Stanley, the Rocket, at 127.6 mph (205.35 km/h). On return to Europe the car was sold to Algenon Lee Guinness who set many records over the next few years until the car was retired in 1909 with a broken piston. This V8 Special(see full story at ) was rebuilt in 2005 using its original engine which had survived mostly intact.

Darracqs won the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup at Long Island, New York, both credited to Louis Wagner in a 100 hp (75 kW; 100 PS) 12.7 l racer. Darracq also won the Cuban race at Havana. The company's final racing victory was the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup. Competition efforts did not stop entirely, however. In 1908, Darracqs came second, third, and seventh at the "Four Inch" Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, and in 1912, Malcolm Campbell entered a former works Darracq at Brooklands.