- 94
- Italy
Manufacturer: Fiat (current ownership: FCA group)
Country: Italy
Gran Turismo body class: race-modified car
Gran Turismo engine class: NA
Layout: FR
Power: 320 hp
Displacement: 21706 cm³
Weight: 1780 kg
Background
The year is 1923. It's an ambivalent time for car lovers: on one hand, a typical sports car can extract a measly 60 hp from a 5+ L engine, and a race car is lucky to even reach 200 hp with twice the displacement; on the other hand, it's an age of experimentation and rich gentleman drivers putting their life on the line to test their insane ideas.
The man
Enter rich gentleman driver Ernest Arthur Douglas Eldridge, from London. With a background in both automobile engineering and aeronautics (and coming from money), it's probably not a surprise that he appeared on the motorsports stage at the wheel of several second-hand one-seaters (two-seaters actually, because reliability being what it was, every race car needed a riding mechanic) he had rebuilt with absolutely massive aircraft engines, which were, at the time, the only way to break the 200 hp barrier. His contraptions weren't terribly successful, but Eldridge didn't seem to care: he was in it for the adventure.
A rare good photo of Eldridge.
The car
In 1923 he turned his attention to the World Land Speed Record. To break the 199.70 km/h record set in 1914 by compatriot Lydston Granville Hornsted, he set to build another Frankenstein monster on wheels, his best yet. As the platform, he bought the wreck of a Fiat S.B.-4 Grand Prix car whose engine had failed rather spectacularly (a cylinder-bank-flying-up-through-the-hood kind of spectacular) at Brooklands the year before, after an unsuccessful tuning attempt by Canadian driver John Francis Duff (who, for his part, had since joined the Bentley Le Mans team and would never drive a Fiat again).
The record to beat.
Finding the S.B.-4's original 18 L engine entirely inadequate (not to mention exploded), Eldridge acquired a military surplus Fiat A.12bis - a 21.7 L, 300 hp I6 that was big even for an aero engine - which he nevertheless still found wanting. Only by increasing the compression ratio to 5:1 and giving each cylinder four spark plugs, raising the power output to 320 hp, did he find some peace of mind - for the time being. He gave the engine an exhaust manifold and pipe, but no silencer, to extract as much power as possible. Despite it being designed for a much tamer engine, and despite contemporary reports of decapitated drivers, he alarmingly deemed the original chain drive good enough and left it alone.
Eldridge drives the completed S.B.-4 special, probably at Brooklands.
The new engine was a mere half meter too long for the original hood, so for Eldridge it was simply a matter of increasing the wheelbase by about that much, lengthening and reinforcing the chassis with parts from a London bus (or so the story goes). He completed the car with new, bigger wheels (wire wheels to replace the terrifyingly outdated wooden spokes that were standard on pre-war Fiat Grand Prix cars), a "Torpedo" body with closed sides and a tapered tail, and a solid black paint job. All in all, for being a mish-mash of scraps and spare parts, the Eldridge special looked classy as f:censored:k.
Surprisingly professional-looking.
The opponent
Previous records had been set at the Brooklands circuit in England, which with its two long straights and a wide, steeply banked turn almost seemed designed for the purpose, and Eldridge did set a record there for the fastest standing half-mile in October 1923 (23.7 s if you were curious), but his 1924 land speed record attempt took place at a much quainter venue: Arpajon, a tiny French town just South of Paris, where Eldridge would do battle along the picturesque tree-lined straight of Route d'Orléans with local hero René Thomas for the title of fastest man in the world.
Actually built by professionals.
Thomas showed up on July 6th in a dangerously competitive car, a Delage DI fitted with a 10.7 L V12, nicknamed "The Torpedo" (La Torpille in his native French). Despite about half the displacement of the Eldridge special, it nevertheless outclassed it, with an output of about 350 hp - what a decade of engine technology development could mean. Not wanting to take chances in what would be a close race, Eldridge had made two of his typically worrying additions to his Fiat: a hand-operated pump to keep the fuel pressure optimal, and an oxygen bottle to give the engine that extra kick for a short time (better - and safer - alternative N₂O wouldn't be discovered for another couple decades). John Ames, riding mechanic, would work the pump, and at the right time Eldridge would shout for him to open the oxygen valve. While raw speed greatly preoccupied him, braking seemed to be the last thing on his mind, as it was limited to the original, now grossly inadequate rear transmission brake.
The record run
Eldridge ran first, and was clocked at an average speed of 230.56 km/h over two runs of the flying kilometer, 30.86 km/h faster than the standing record. His car, with its huge, angry, unmuffled engine and bad attitude, caused quite a sensation with the audience, and the French press nicknamed the contraption the "Méphistophélès", after the Faustian demon. The car swerved, screamed and belched fire, and the press praised the considerable strength Eldridge showed in keeping it under control (a dramatic exaggeration, as modern reports describe the controls of the Mephistopheles as maybe even a little too sensitive).
Eldridge and Ames at Arpajon.
Thomas was less impressed, and he pointed out to the AIACR (Association International des Automobile Clubs Reconnus, what the FIA was called at the time) officials that the Mephistopheles lacked the reverse gear mandated by the most recent land speed record rules: Eldridge's run could not be ratified, and the 1914 record still stood. The Englishman retired to a workshop in Paris, while Thomas had his run with La Torpille and set a new record of 230.64 km/h. Thomas was celebrated as a hero, and the record car proudly displayed at the Delage showroom in Paris.
Back with a vengeance
Thomas was still celebrating when, six days later, Eldridge went back to Arpajon. The rules said LSR cars had to have "a means of reversing", and Eldridge showed them a means of reversing: by lengthening the drive chains with spare links, he could mount them crossed, and technically give the Mephistopheles the required "means of reversing". The car shuddered and protested, but did very, very slowly reverse. The AIACR was happy enough with this arrangement, so Eldridge put the chains back on straight - unchained the monster so to say - and set a new record of 234.98 km/h. Legend has it that, to celebrate, Eldridge drove the Mephistopheles to Paris and pointedly parked it in front of the Delage showroom (where Thomas was sitting in the Torpille soaking in the last of his glory), and stood there telling anyone who listened that he had broken the speed record.
The Mephistopheles at the starting line. Not sure which of the two record attempts this autographed photo depicts, but probably the first (the dedication says "in memory of the day of the records").
The legacy
The record only lasted for two months: on September 25, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new record (the first of many) of 235.22 km/h at the wheel of the Sunbeam 350HP, another aero-engined roadster (the first of many). The Eldridge record still stands as the fastest ratified land speed record on a public road.
Route d'Orléans, road of records, was paved over in the '90s during the modernization of Route Nationale 20.
René Thomas, who was approaching the tail end of his career, raced until 1927, mostly driving for Delage in hill climbs. He was quite successful. In 1973 he was honored at Indianapolis with several laps of honor on the 1913 Delage type Y with which he had won the Indy 500 in 1914; Thomas, 77 years old and two years from death, rode as a passenger in the mechanic's seat.
Ernest Eldridge kept mixing car frames and airplane engines, and taking them to races, but his true love was record breaking (although not the absolute speed record, which was to be thoroughly dominated by Campbell for the next decade). He drove all sorts of record cars, of all classes, at all kinds of venues, in Europe and America, breaking lots of speed records on medium and long distances. When he wasn't racing, he was flying, and when he wasn't flying, he was gambling. Danger only caught up to him once: in 1927, during a Class F (1100-1500 cm³) record attempt at Montlhéry, he lost control of his Miller on a banked turn and was thrown off of it. He landed on his head on the infield, and his eyes filled with dirt and shards from his shattered eyeglasses. He lost sight in one eye. Recovery was slow, but by 1930 he was behind the wheel again. He wouldn't die in an accident, either, but of pneumonia, at the young age of 40, which he contracted while he was at Bonneville watching over George Eyston as his "Record Attempt Manager".
The Mephistopheles ran again, at Brooklands and Montlhéry, until in 1925 Eldridge sold it to pseudonymous French driver "Le Champion". It apparently ended back in the hands of the Eldridge heirs at some point, until in 1969 Fiat president Gianni Agnelli bought it off them and added it to the firm's historical collection. It was restored, repainted Rosso Corsa, given the basic safety improvements of guards for the drive chains and a rear view mirror, plus other minor changes (lowered rear bodywork; mechanic's seat removed; vent holes in the right side of the hood), and brought back to running condition. It now spends most of the time as an exhibition at the Archivio Storico Fiat (open Sundays, free entry), but it occasionally gets taken for a drive (Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011 and 2013; Schloss Dyck Classic Days 2013).
Why add it to Gran Turismo:
- because it's a great car with a great story behind
- because it's the finest representative of the inter-war trend of aero-engined LSR cars
- because the Blastolene Special ("Jay Leno Tank Car") feels kind of lonely
- because Gran Turismo has the Goodwood hill climb track, and the Mefistofele has run it twice (but then again, what oddball car has not run at Goodwood?)
- because each of its cylinders has a higher displacement than an entire average modern engine
- because it's the rare cool Fiat!
What am I asking for: premium model of the current (Archivio Storico Fiat) version of the Mefistofele, Goodwood and Dyck stickers included; the original record attempt version would be nice, but I wonder if enough information has survived about it. The original solid black paint job as an option would be nice, at least.
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