The Spyker 60 HP racing car, probably built in 1902, [1] but presented in 1903, was the world's first petrol-fuelled four-wheel drive car. [2]
Known as "the car of three firsts", [3] with a top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h) [4] to 90 mph, [3] it was manufactured by the Dutch carriage and automobile maker Spyker, set up in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, and also featured the first application of a six-cylinder engine [5] (an 8.8-litre inline design), [6] ( straight-six engine) [4] as well as the first four-wheel braking system. [7]
The 60 HP was commissioned by Jacobus Spijker for the 1903 Paris–Madrid race [5] (although Bill Boddy, in a 1995 article for Motor Sport, states the Gordon Bennett race, [8] the fore-runner of the Grand Prix that would be staged at Le Mans in 1906). The Belgian engineer Joseph Valentin Laviolette already had a design for an engine with six separate cylinders, [5] and he designed a transmission that drove the front as well as the rear wheels, [5] by extending the cardan-shaft from the gearbox extend forward, [8] as well as fitting a transmission brake. [5]
However, the car was not ready in time for the race in May and was not launched until December 1903, in Paris, [5] going on display two months later at The Crystal Palace in London. [5]
The Spyker 60 HP racing car only raced twice; at Blackpool, in 1904, where it finished third, and at Birmingham, in 1906, where it won. [9]
The model on show at the Louwman Museum, in The Hague, Netherlands, was acquired in 1993 after having been housed at various Dutch museums. It was restored over a five-year period to its original condition as displayed at The Crystal Palace in 1904. [1]
The Spyker 60 HP racing car, probably built in 1902, [1] but presented in 1903, was the world's first petrol-fuelled four-wheel drive car. [2]
Known as "the car of three firsts", [3] with a top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h) [4] to 90 mph, [3] it was manufactured by the Dutch carriage and automobile maker Spyker, set up in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, and also featured the first application of a six-cylinder engine [5] (an 8.8-litre inline design), [6] ( straight-six engine) [4] as well as the first four-wheel braking system. [7]
The 60 HP was commissioned by Jacobus Spijker for the 1903 Paris–Madrid race [5] (although Bill Boddy, in a 1995 article for Motor Sport, states the Gordon Bennett race, [8] the fore-runner of the Grand Prix that would be staged at Le Mans in 1906). The Belgian engineer Joseph Valentin Laviolette already had a design for an engine with six separate cylinders, [5] and he designed a transmission that drove the front as well as the rear wheels, [5] by extending the cardan-shaft from the gearbox extend forward, [8] as well as fitting a transmission brake. [5]
However, the car was not ready in time for the race in May and was not launched until December 1903, in Paris, [5] going on display two months later at The Crystal Palace in London. [5]
The Spyker 60 HP racing car only raced twice; at Blackpool, in 1904, where it finished third, and at Birmingham, in 1906, where it won. [9]
The model on show at the Louwman Museum, in The Hague, Netherlands, was acquired in 1993 after having been housed at various Dutch museums. It was restored over a five-year period to its original condition as displayed at The Crystal Palace in 1904. [1]