Eind
jaren zestig, maar het kan ook begin jaren zeventig geweest zijn,
reisde ik naar het Britse National Motor Museum in Beaulieu om in de
bibliotheek enige data te controleren, het moet iets te maken hebben
gehad met het wereldsnelheidsrecord voor auto's, want in William Boddy's
"The World's Land Speed Record"* vind ik een toen gecopieerd lijstje
met die records: Hémery wordt genoemd, zowel met de Darracq als de
Blitzen Benz. Over de Darracq schrijft Boddy: "This was a remarkable car
and one of the type that already showed what what it could do by
standing-start records. It had a huge V8 engine, with a streamlined tank
above it and a gilled-tube radiator in a vee shaped frame ahead of it.
This engine, with had push-rod overhead valves, was mounted in a very
flimsy chassis and the sole attempt at bodywork was the provision of two
light bucket seats. A record breaker in the grand manner, in fact.
(...) Victor Hémery took the car to the road which ran from Arles to
Salon and proceeded to make even the "century" look slow. He was in the
measured kilometre for just 20.4 seconds, travelling at 109,65 m.p.h. ( =
176,43 km/u). Even those persons who had been inclined to accept the
speed claimed for Bowden** in America realised that Hémery had now gone
almost as fast, and on the road with a more normal motor-car. But
perhaps this observation should not be made, for the World's Land Speed
Records does not allow of "ifs" and "buts". Be that as it may, two days
before the close of 1905 Hémery got the record officialy for France."*gepubliceerd door de Motor Races Book Club, Motor Racing Publications Ltd. London 1965.
**Bowden reed op 25 januari 1905 176,59 km/u in een Mercedes, een record dat niet erkend werd.
Op de foto: Hémery in 1912
