Once again another of George Turner’s Edwardian racers finds itself on my workbench.
Today we’re building the 1905 Darracq 200hp.
The car was designed by Louis Ribeyrolles. He took two 100hp Darracq engines, which had been built to compete in the Gordon Bennett Cup and mated them at a common crankshaft, producing one of the world’s first V8s with a whopping displacement of 25.4 litres.
Side note: James Gordon Bennett Jr (who went by Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father) was the publisher of the New York Herald and was a bit of a playboy.
He sponsored a lot of sporting events including the 1900-1905 Gordon Bennett cup which saw national automobile clubs competing against each other rather than individual manufacturers. It was these races that birthed the idea of national racing colours which were prominent until the early 1960s.
The British had green, Germany had white, France had blue etc. Italy didn’t adopt their famous red until 1907 and Germany later became affiliated with silver after the 1934 Eifelrennen. At that event a cars maximum weight was 750KG. The new Mercedes W25 weighed in at 751KG, so they stripped the white paint off of it to get it into compliance, and so the legend of the Silver Arrows was born.
Gordon Bennett is also an old fashioned British phrase expressing suprise or shock. The news paper publisher was likely the inspiration.
According to this article from Goodwood https://www.goodwood.com/grr/event-coverage/members-meeting/interview-mark-walker-talks-about-owning-and-racing-his-incredible-darracq-200/ the 200hp title is a little misleading and it actually makes a lot more. It’s the torque that this thing produces that needs to be talked about though.
According to Supercars.net (https://www.supercars.net/blog/1905-darracq-200/) 200hp was possible from this engine at 1200rpm which means this beast produces 875lbft of torque (if the 200hp name is to be believed) and over 1000lbft (quoted from Goodwood with a rpm reading of 1500 and assumably 285+hp) which are impressive torque figures even by today’s standards.
The car also weighs a tiny 900KG. In modern terms of torque and weight it’s like putting a Ford Superduty engine into a Fiat 500.
The car went on to break the land speed record a few times. The articles I linked to earlier go into more detail, and I’m very aware I’m waffling on a bit, so I won’t go too much detail. I will note it broke 2 miles a minute (or 120mph) at the Daytona/Ormond Beach Speed Tournament.
The car is currently owned by Mark Walker who regularly raced and displayed it. It had an accident at Goodwood earlier in the year and I’m assuming (hoping) it’s being rebuilt.
Before we get into the build I’d like to share some lovely in period photos of the Darracq I found at the following site: http://www.villiers.info/Darracq/
Here’s the kit. George Turner has started offering running gear with his newer models which is great. Ordering through Pendle Slot Racing is fine – they’re a great company – but it’s handy to be able to get everything from the same place.
The body, crew and some of the accessories are cast in resin, which will need a little cleaning up. It’s inevitable with the way that resin is cast.
You can see the excess material around the exhausts and on the driver.
Use a sharp scalpel blade to remove the excess. Take your time with it as some of the parts are fine. I found it easiest to assemble the steering column, to be able to get around the steering wheel and properly get it tidy.
The chassis is 3d printed. I’ve used this chassis on a couple of Edwardian kits now and really like it.
The first of his kits I did (https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2023/02/18/george-turner-models-edwardian-mercedes/amp/) had a resin ladder chassis, which was lovely and really suited the character of the car, but the 3d printed one is soooo much easier to work with.
Using a very fine Dremel piece, open all the holes for the steering mechanism up a bit. You want the steering to be nice and loose, and the chassis has been designed with very tight tolerances, so if you paint the chassis before assembly the steering will be very stiff.
The steering mechanism on these kits is very clever.
The chassis is actually painted here. I’ve not actually seen this car in the metal and differing sources show it as different colours (or I’m going colour blind). In some pictures and videos it looks really dark grey and in others it looks almost greenish, like a German WW2 Fieldgrau. I obviously went with the dark gray.
Here it is mechanically all together.
There are little spacers provided to go between the front wheel and the steering block. On other Edwardian kits I haven’t found I’ve needed to use them, but on this one it’s worth it. Without them the front wheels are super floppy.
I normally go with brass bearings on the axle, but I’d run out. The ones provided seem to do the job nicely and realistically longevity isn’t that much of a concern for the bearings I put in these cars. I race on a home track with my Dad at most once a week. It’s not going to be a super high mileage car.
Wiring. This is the bit that concerned me as with the Darracq there’s very little room under the body – as there isn’t really a body. George has designed this so well, it all does fit!
Body on!
Now onto painting. I model with a mix of Vallejo and Army Painter paints. I used AK Interactive’s Copper for the water tank just to try a different brand. They’re alright!
I did want to try to get this rusted look on the exhaust. I very slightly thinned some Army Painter Dark Rust and streaked it on. I don’t think it looks too bad.
Gauges on the back of the water tank.
Victor Demogeot and his riding mechanic:
Then it’s just a case of putting it all together! I put the crew in first and then steering column, which needed to be trimmed a touch.
It all went together really nicely.
Finally, a nice family portrait of my Edwardians:
Thanks for reading.
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By Richard Francis
