The car you see pictured above is the Opel RAK 2. Fritz von Opel built a whole series of these deals, and this was his second try.
I came across this mention of him over at the Hemmings blog and was presently surprised, since von Opel’s experimentation with these cars plays to my interest in all things land speed record oriented.
Like all LSR endeavors, this has the aura of impending doom written all over it.
Note the 1920s grade rocket exhaust pouring out of the rear end. And not just from a single rocket engine, oh no, that’s emanating from twenty four of them.
What could possible go wrong?
A lot … although Fritz made it through his RAK experimentation, I have seen films of more than a couple of these exploding like a firework at ground level, and in one case, it wasn’t even a car as such, but something mounted on railroad tracks.
He lit the fuse (no throttle on this kind of “car” just an on/off switch), the car moved forward about 15 feet and then BOOOOM, the entire read section of the car was vaporised in a cloud of phosphorus white fire and Fritz shot forward at a great rate of speed for a short distance.
I remember seeing footage of Scott Crossfield performing ground run up tests for the XLR-99 powered X-15 rocket plane, and due to a fuel delivery problem, it detonated right behind his back with an even bigger explosion. My first thought was, “Wow, just like Fritz von Opel, only MUCH bigger.”
Funny thing is, Opel calmed down after this, and went on to run a car company that made cars as unassuming as the Opel Kadet and Opel GT.
You may also enjoy:
