Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat was a French race car driver. He is known for setting the first recognised automobile land speed record on December 18, 1898 in Achères, Yvelines, using a Jeantaud electric car.
The record was set as part of a competition organised by the French automobile magazine La France Automobile. He completed a single flying 1 km run in 57 seconds to give an average speed of 63.13 km/h [1].
He further improved this record to 66.65 km/h one month later on January 17, 1899 also at Achères in the first of a series of record setting duels with Camille Jenatzy. Ten days later Jenatzy managed to break this record although it would revert back to de Chasseloup-Laubat on March 4, 1899 when he increased it to 92.69 km/h. Jenatzy finally took the record on April 29, 1899 with the first run over 100 km/h with an average speed of 105 km/h, a record that was to last 3 years.
[edit] References
- ^ J.R. Holthusen, The Fastest Men on Earth, (Sutton Publishing, 1999), p.6
