German Land Speed Record Cars

[LostCosmonaut]

Prior to World War 2, the Nazis, keen to make Germany look great in any way possible, decided to pursue the land speed record.

 

In 1938, a Mercedes managed to do 270 mph on a section of converted autobahn. Pretty impressive, especially considering it was on a public road, but not good enough for the record (which was held by the Brits at the time).

 

 

So Mercedes began work on the T80, a cool looking aerodynamic thing powered by a DB603 engine (the same one as would power the Ta 152, and many other aircraft).

 

http://greyfalcon.us/Mercedes%20T80.htm

It was planned to reach a top speed of about 750 km/h (465 mph), again on a section of converted autobahn. Seeing how other German engineering from the period performed, it probably would have exploded pretty hilariously, but still, it's pretty interesting.