Rak 1 first appeared at opels test track at russelsheim on april 11, 1928, in full view of the german press. Hd wallpaper for backgrounds opel rak, car tuning opel rak and concept car opel rak wallpapers. Opel and kiska have teamed up to design a fresh new urban commuter, the opel rak e concept. Opel was officially opened for business 142 years ago today by adam opel, although not as a car manufacturer. The rak 1 prototype reached the 100 kmh mark within 8 seconds. Step 1 was the opelrak or rak1 as its helpfully known now. Space ship takeoff, a technical fantasy internet archive. On this day wednesday 11th april 1928 92 years ago. On march 15, 1928, kurt volkhart tested the worlds first rocketpropelled car, the opelrak 1 and achieved a top speed of 75 kilometers per hour 47 mph in it, proving the concept.
In just eight seconds, rak 1 reached a speed of 100 kmh 62 mph. The worlds first rocketpropelled car, the opelrak 1, was initially tested on march 15, 1928. On a single charge, the rak e can travel 61 miles and will re. The demonstration in front of the international press was a complete success. The new car, called the opelrak 1 see figure 1, was a converted racer whose conventional engine was replaced by six sander rockets and then by eight.
He has written more than 400 articles about aviation topics and 29 books, the. Valier signaled go, and volkhart pressed the firing pedal to the floor, igniting the first bank of rockets. We browse the web for plans and present them with info from the originating website. The latest thinking on aerodynamics was applied to the bodywork, including the downforcegeneration wing which was a real innovation at the time. By the spring of 1928, the company announced the public debut of a rocketpowered car, called rak raketenwagen 1. Where rak 1 was just a car with a few rockets strapped on, rak 2 was a proper machine. On september 30, 1929, opel piloted the rak 1 sometimes referred to as rak 3 to distinguish it from the automobile, the first such public rocketpowered flight, in front of a large crowd. Our search engine contains 2 gallery articles related to the topic opelsander rak.
The members of the group set march 12, 1928, as the date for the cars first trial. Here you can see a video of the opel rak 2 german speed record car from 1928 filmed in the technik museum speyer, germany. Later rak vehicles ran on rails and crashed rak 3 or exploded rak 4. On may 23 of that year, he reached a speed of 230 kilometers per hour 143 mph in an improved version, the rak 2, driven by 24 solidrockets. Step 1 was the opel rak or rak 1 as its helpfully known now. Of the 12 rockets attached to the rak vehicle a motor car stripped of engine and brakes, five failed to function, but the vehicle reached 110 kmph 60 mph and the press were appropriately impressed. Volkhart to a top speed of 75 kmh 47 mph on march 15, 1928. The work of three germans in the late 1920s had a the. He is remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of rocket propulsion that earned him the nickname rocket fritz. This was based on an opel 734 factory race car, with a selection of friedrich wilhelm sanders rockets strapped to the back. This photograph originates from a press photo archive. Numerous other books by other experimenters advanced the cause of spacecraft development in germany in the mid1920s. The first official opel rocket car test run was made for the press.
Space ship takeoff, a technical fantasy department of defense. The e not only stands for electric, but also takes up again the idea of groundbreaking experimental vehicles. High quality limited edition miniature model of opel made with attention to details in scale. And it had 24 solid rocket boosters stuffed up its bottom. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, opel had a brief flirtation with solid propellant. The group took rak 1 to the opel trackthis time in view of the german media. With general motors looking around for someone, anyone, to take opel off its hands, this model is a welcome reminder of one of the zanier chapters in the german manufacturers history. A rak 1 rocket plane the worlds first was constructed in 1929. The opel rak 1 rocket car driven by kurt volkhart was publicly demonstrated for the first time in russelshiem, germany. Opel himself testdrove an improved version, the opelrak 2, on may 23 of that year. These were quick firing and intended for acceleration.
Volkhart pressed the firing pedal once, then again. Opel rak e concept, a lightweight ev which debuts at the 2011 frankfurt motor show, needs 10 times less energy than a modern small car and one third the weight, making it more affordable for the. In 1928 rak 2 catapulted the grandson of companyfounder adam opel to a top speed of 228 kmh. The opelrak1, the worlds first rocketpropelled car was driven by kurt c. On the second run the vehicle jumps the track and is destroyed. As early as march 1928, the trio of valier, sander and opel started. Hauneburg article about hauneburg by the free dictionary. Opel rak e concept targets ev affordability at frankfurt. Opel rak wallpapers free pictures of opel rak for your desktop. Opel glider model, from modelhob direct submission to outerzone. This tandem twoseater is designed for lightweight, high efficiency, zeroemission driving on an allelectric drivetrain. Among the first rocket planes, the flight of rak 1 was witnessed by a large crowd. Opel did not get the chance to fly it, however, as the aircraft was destroyed by an engine explosion on its second test flight.
Nazi ufos article about nazi ufos by the free dictionary. The first official run of a rocket car took place on the opel track south of russelsheim, on april 11, 1928. On may 23, 1928, opel himself demonstrated the car, opel rak ii, on the avus speedway near berlin. On april 11, the opel rak 1 with opel engineer and racing driver kurt volkhart behind. On may 23, 1928 he reached a speed of 230 kmh 143 mph in an improved version, the rak2, driven by 24 solidfuel rockets.
Opel rak 2 from 1928 historical german speed record car. Opel decided to drive the rak 2 automobile himself and on may 23, 1928, he fired the 24 solid fuel rockets fitted to his futuristic car and pushed it to a. In june 1928, he had purchased an alexander lippischdesigned sailplane, the. A rocket car that achieved 75kmh 47mph on march 15th, 1928 the pictures that you see are from a sample. Opelrak were a series of rocket vehicles produced by german automobile manufacturer fritz. On april 12, 1928, successful runs were made at speeds of up to 55 mph over 2,000 to 3,000foot distances at russelsheim. The first aircraft to fly under rocket power was the lippisch ente, in 1928. The opel rake is a tandem twoseat commuter car concept, mildly motorised to give an idea of what it could be like to drive this intriguing.