My Dream Drive: The fastest road in the world
If you're going to do one bit of Autobahn it may as well be in the wheel tracks of some record breakers
Where: A5 Frankfurt-Darmstadt Autobahn
Car used: Jaguar XJ Supersport (not a streamlined Mercedes)
The route:
"There are more interesting sections of Autobahn on which you can get your speed hit in Germany, the flat, arrow straight A5 that heads south out of Frankfurt not big on the scenery. But there's a reason for it being a Dream Drive."
Why it's a dream drive:
"With a lack of suitable natural terrain like the beaches of Pendine or the salt beds of Bonneville but a hunger to demonstrate the technological might of the Nazi-sponsored land-speed and racing cars the Germans acted with typical logic and built their own venue for running record cars. Obviously it needed to be straight and flat and that's why this particular section of Autobahn is both of those things and the scene for both triumph and tragedy at the altar of speed.
"In January 1938 on this very piece of road Rudolf Caracciola in a streamlined Mercedes set a record of 272mph that still stands as the fastest recorded speed on a public road. That was the triumph. The tragedy followed when his arch Auto Union rival and German racing hero Bernd Rosemeyer had his go at beating it immediately afterwards and was killed when his car lifted up and smashed into a bridge at over 200mph.
"Even in a Veyron in the wee small hours you're unlikely to trouble that record today but there must be something in the air here because even the middle lanes are a 90mph-plus zone and the outside lane is reserved for the big boys. Which is why driving it in a174mph Jaguar XJ remains a Dream Drive, especially with most of the locals running into their 155mph limiters."
Highlights and lowlights:
"Frankfurt is Germany's business capital and not big on laughs or scenery. And the A5 is the main route south to Mannheim, Stuttgart and other industrial centres. So it's busy. And probably not somewhere you'd choose to go on holiday per se. But there are other attractions, as you'll see."
Sights, stop-offs and diversions:
"Carry on south and branch off onto the parallel A67 at Darmstadt and before long you'll reach Hockenheim. So if you're en route to a DTM round or similar the Rosemeyer memorial in the lay-by on the A5 is an easy stop, if only to pay your respects.
"Just past Hockenheim is the Technik Museum Speyer, home to an amazing collection of boats, planes, trains, cars and ... a space shuttle. And if that doesn't satisfy your appetite for boys' toys you can carry on a bit further to the sister museum in Sinsheim, which has an amazing car collection plus a Concorde on the roof. And a Tupelov Concordski too. The only place in the world you can see both together."
Follow the route here.
My Dream Drive is sponsored by Dunlop Tyres. To share yours email us at dreamdrives@pistonheads.com - if we publish your Dream Drive you'll get a pair of complimentary tickets to the BTCC round of your choosing, courtesy of Dunlop Tyres.
Looking for inspiration? Check out the latest Dunlop Pure Driving Experiences video here.
So the Veyron SS isn't the fastest road car in the world.
The actual leader of the pack is a 1937 Mercedes convertible?
Love it.
What in all that's holy was in that Merc to get it to 272mph, bearing in mind the W16 quad turbo 1200hp Veyron mooching around behind at 268 on its specially rated tyres and 14 radiators?
They must have had carbon-titanium testicles, or the 1937 equivalent.
So the Veyron SS isn't the fastest road car in the world.
The actual leader of the pack is a 1937 Mercedes convertible?
Love it.
What in all that's holy was in that Merc to get it to 272mph, bearing in mind the W16 quad turbo 1200hp Veyron mooching around behind at 268 on its specially rated tyres and 14 radiators?
They must have had carbon-titanium testicles, or the 1937 equivalent.
So I would guess the British guys over on the Salt Lake Flats in the good old USA achieving an extra 100 mph odd over these speeds were not all that worried while breaking the land speed records @ that time!
All credit to the German drivers though!
Watched them on track as well. Auto union looked mad with the engine in the back and the driver very forward. The speeds even today are mental, imagine what they would have been like back the with normal cars struggling to even hit the ton!
Another bit of trivia is that Bernd's wife, the famous aviator Elly Beinhorn, only died 6 years ago. The past isn't as far away as you think.
Another bit of trivia is that Bernd's wife, the famous aviator Elly Beinhorn, only died 6 years ago. The past isn't as far away as you think.
So the Veyron SS isn't the fastest road car in the world.
The actual leader of the pack is a 1937 Mercedes convertible?
Love it.
What in all that's holy was in that Merc to get it to 272mph, bearing in mind the W16 quad turbo 1200hp Veyron mooching around behind at 268 on its specially rated tyres and 14 radiators?
They must have had carbon-titanium testicles, or the 1937 equivalent.
“Once again, the road ahead contracted into a narrow white band and bridges across the motorway into small black holes. I had to steer with maximum precision at the speed I was driving, but before my brains realized what to do, the car had already raced past.”
Rudolf Caracciola
"at about 240 mph the joints in the concrete road surface are felt like blows, setting up a corresponding resonance through the car, but this disappears at a greater speed. Passing under bridges the driver receives a terrific blow to the chest, because the car is pushing air aside, which is trapped by the bridge. When you go under a bridge, for a split second the engine noise completely disappears and then returns like a thunderclap when you are through."
Bernd Rosemeyer, who was killed crashing his Auto Union at well over 250 m.p.h. the same day, trying to beat Caracciola's speed record.
Awesome men, awesome machines.
I have watched documentaries of that racing era, but I too have never heard about this record, perhaps the BBC is a bit biased? Can't attribute anything to the Nazi's I suppose.
Anyway what a great Jaguar, almost as fast as my S Type R!
Apparently an American chap has had his STR up close to 200 with only a pulley upgrade!
So not surprising that the Jaguar Engineers smiled when asked what the top end really was.
A real renaissance of one of our great British motoring icons!
“Once again, the road ahead contracted into a narrow white band and bridges across the motorway into small black holes. I had to steer with maximum precision at the speed I was driving, but before my brains realized what to do, the car had already raced past.”
Rudolf Caracciola
"at about 240 mph the joints in the concrete road surface are felt like blows, setting up a corresponding resonance through the car, but this disappears at a greater speed. Passing under bridges the driver receives a terrific blow to the chest, because the car is pushing air aside, which is trapped by the bridge. When you go under a bridge, for a split second the engine noise completely disappears and then returns like a thunderclap when you are through."
Bernd Rosemeyer, who was killed crashing his Auto Union at well over 250 m.p.h. the same day, trying to beat Caracciola's speed record.
Awesome men, awesome machines.
Superb description of what driving at that speed actually feels like. Somehow, I can't imagine any current F1 drivers being able to explain that sensation so eloquently!
These chaps were the equivalent of the test pilots for the early jet planes. Back when they were designing a car to do 280mph, or a jet plane to do 500mph, it must have been all theoretical as to what would happen e.g Would the tyres explode over 250 or would the wings fall off at 400? Yet despite not knowing and having no computer modelling, these men did it anyway - for no other reason than "just because". It may (and often did) go very wrong, but they did it anyway & carried on doing it. Would we have been so "gung-ho" in todays society - I personally doubt it & that makes us all the poorer really.
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