Winged cars

[rf84]

In Post #44 "Indy Roadsters" there is a photo of the Watson Vista Spl fitted with a very large high wing.
What was the first racing car to be fitted with a wing/s?

[Michael Clark]

Wasn't there a Porsche circa 1956?

[bry3500]

1928 Fritz Von Opel used 2 wings on the Opel RAK2

[John B]

The Opel RAK-1 had small 'wings' attached to each side of the cockpit. It was the world's first rocket powered car, and was driven by Kurt C. Volkhart to a top speed of 75 kph (47 mph) on March 15th 1928. Then on April 12th, despite five of the twelve solid-fuel rockets failing to ignite, the RAK-1 reached a speed of 110 kph.


The Opel RAK-2, again driven by Volkhart (although some reports have Fritz von Opel personally driving the car), reached a speed of 230 kph (143 mph) on May 23rd of the same year – the higher speed no doubt helped by the addition of 12 more Brander compressed black powder solid-fuel rockets, plus a far more streamlined bodywork with much larger 'wings'.

[rf84]

John
Thanks for that. Your evidence seems pretty conclusive. Interesting that the wings on Opel RAK2 are the same way up as an aircraft so theoretically should have created uplift. Leading edge is lower than rear so guess it all came down to the angle of attack.
Great photos and article. Thanks.

[John B]

John
Thanks for that. Your evidence seems pretty conclusive. Interesting that the wings on Opel RAK2 are the same way up as an aircraft so theoretically should have created uplift. Leading edge is lower than rear so guess it all came down to the angle of attack.
Great photos and article. Thanks.

Interesting you should mention that the wings are 'aircraft-like', because following the two rocket cars Fritz von Opel commissioned construction of the world's first purpose-built rocket-powered aircraft. The Opel RAK-1 (also known as the Opel RAK-3 to differentiate it from the rocket car of the same name) was designed and built by Julius Hatry. It had a typical sailplane wing, under which a pod was suspended to accommodate the pilot and sixteen solid rocket engines. The tailplane was mounted on booms behind the wing and high out of the way of the rocket exhaust.

Fritz von Opel successfully piloted the RAK-1 over 1.5 km in 75 seconds of flight, but landed hard, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. Opel planned to build a second rocket plane, but apparently lost interest before the project was completed.