The Kaiserpreis ( German : Emperor's Prize ) auto race, named after Emperor Wilhelm II , was held in 1907. Like his brother's Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt held from 1908 to 1911, it was a precursor to the German Grand Prix .
6-641: As Camille Jenatzy had won the Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing in 1903 with a Mercedes , Germany had to stage the 1904 event. A 117 km (73 mi) long track in the Taunus mountains was selected, from Oberursel to Weilburg and back. The Cup was won by Léon Théry in a Richard-Brasier , and the Gordon Bennett race returned to France for 1905 and 1906, but was not continued as such in 1907, as Grand Prix motor racing evolved. On
12-400: A Mercedes. Jenatzy died in 1913 in a hunting accident. He went behind a bush and made animal noises as a prank on his friends who were hunting with him. Alfred Madoux , director of the journal L'Etoile Belge , fired, believing it was a wild animal. When they realised it was Jenatzy, they rushed him to hospital by car; he bled to death en route, fulfilling his own prophecy he would die in
18-569: The Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt resumed until 1911. See 1907 Kaiserpreis . Camille Jenatzy Camille Jenatzy (1868, Schaerbeek – 8 December 1913, Habay la Neuve ) was a Belgian race car driver . He is known for breaking the land speed record three times and being the first man to break the 100 km/h barrier. He was nicknamed Le Diable Rouge ("The Red Devil") after the colour of his beard. On 17 January 1899 at Achères, Yvelines near Paris , France , he reached
24-451: The electric CITA Nº 25 La Jamais Contente , the first purpose-designed land speed racer, and the first record over 100 km/h (62 mph). In 1902, he lost the land speed record to Léon Serpollet . Jenatzy won the 1903 Gordon Bennet Cup in Athy , Ireland , at the wheel of a Mercedes . Auto racing was a deadly sport at the time and at some point Jenatzy predicted he would die in
30-490: The same track as the Gordon Bennett three years earlier, Germany staged its second large international event in 1907, the Kaiserpreis auto race (after sailing and rowing events were also named so). Entries were limited to touring cars with engines of less than eight litres. The race was won by Italian Felice Nazzaro in a Fiat 130 HP , against competition from Opel , Mercedes , Eisenach , Adler and others. In 1908,
36-464: The speed of 66.66 km/h (41.42 mph) over one kilometre, driving a CGA Dogcart . That same day, the record was broken by Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat , topped on 27 January 1899 when Jenatzy achieved 80.35 km/h (49.93 mph). This record was again broken by Chasseloup-Laubat, who applied rudimentary streamlining to his Jeantaud . Jenatzy replied with his third land speed record on 29 April 1899, reaching 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph) in
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