74 replies to this topic

[dretceterini]

What was the larrgest racing car ever built? (Length, width, w/b, track) Was it the 197/30?

[fausto]

Maserati MC12!

;-)

[djellison]

Depends if Thrust SSC counts - as that is HUGE

Doug

[Racecar]

Originally posted by dretceterini
What was the larrgest racing car ever built? (Length, width, w/b, track) Was it the 197/30?

I believe the 971/30 was bigger.

[Paul Medici]

Are you including LSR cars in your question?

If not, a wild guess would be the Cadillac Coupe de Ville that Sam and Miles Collier raced at Le Mans in 1950.
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[Ray Bell]

'Largest ever built' seems to denote that it was built as a racing car...

Eldred Norman's Double 8 comes to mind, but I don't know how big it was, and some say it was quite small. For a racing car built on a Weapons Carrier chassis, at least...

What about the Bu-Merc?

[David McKinney]

Surely some Edwardian monster?

[Bob Brzezinski]

I would imagine the 24 litre Napier Railton is in the running.

http://www.brookland...ion/naprail.htm

[D-Type]

I don't know the answer but we'll need to define the parameters more closely. I'll bet that the longest, widest, largest track, longest wheelbase, heaviest, largest engine, etc are not the same car
Do we include sports cars? LSR cars? Gordon Bennet cars?

Contenders:

Edwardian
I don't know the era
1907 Christie?
1908 Panhard?

Brooklands
John Cobb's Napier-Railton : 23900cc, 10'10" wheelbase
Louis Zborowski's Chitty Bang-Bang
Eldridge's Fiat Mephistopheles

Prewar Grands Prix
Mercedes SSK - Caracciola, Monaco 1929
Bentley 4.5 - Henry Birkin, France 1930

Sports cars
Mercedes SSK
Bentley Speed Six
Cunningham C5R
1950 Cunningham/Cadillac Le monstre
Can-Am McLaren

Formula 1
Talbot Lago

Land speed record
Thrust SSK
White Triplex
Thunderbolt

[Bob Brzezinski]

D-Type,

Mephistopheles was the other one I was trying to recall, thank you. What a monster.

In sports car racing, I'd be surprised if any were longer than the 917/30 (successor to the 197/30 and 971/30 ) or wider than the 917/20 ("Pink Pig").

[wibblywobbly]

Originally posted by Bob Brzezinski
D-Type,

Mephistopheles was the other one I was trying to recall, thank you. What a monster.

I thought the same, an instant after reading the thread title!

[Ray Bell]

What was that thread we had a few months ago, with the pictures?

The car being built and with people standing alongside of it...

[green-blood]

surely the Ford Galaxy and Jag MKVIII and 420G have to count !!!

[dretceterini]

I was thinking of road racing car...longest, widest, largest track, longest wheelase...what car covered the largest physical area. LSR and other similar cars are irrelevent..

obviously 197/30 was a typo :

[Muzza]

Don't discount the trucks that race in the Dakar Rally: those Tatra and Kamaz monsters are gigantic. And fast.

(edited: just saw Stu's posting above asking for road racing entries only)

[D-Type]

Both the Napier-Railton and Mephistopheles raced in VSCC races at Silverstone etc

[Spunout]

Do these things count?

[wibblywobbly]

OK, one big and long road racer, coming up! 1970, Riverside, Plymouth Superbird...

http://www.sportcraf...-x/car30211.jpg

.....

[Muzza]

Guys,


This thread is very interesting, but - as my Irish boss liked to say - "give me the numberrrss!" With no measurements, it is impossible to compare.

We could start with, for example, splitting things between cars and trucks. Then get some measurements, and see if someone else can come up with anything to "beat" that.

For example, what is the width of a 917/20? (I guess I should say the 917/20, shouldn't I?)

- length?
- width?
- wheelbase?
- footprint? (this will be tough)
- frontal area? (this will be tough)
- dry weight?
- "wet" (gross) weight?

Come on, fellows, let get some numbers and this can become a source for excellent trivia questions...

Cheers,


Muzza

[dretceterini]

I was actually thinking more of sports-racers. Was there any one bigger than the 917/30?

Length - 4,562mm
Width - 2,085mm
Height - 730mm

[dbw]

one of those fully decked out greenwood corvettes comes to mind....

[TooTall]

The full ground effects Can-Am Lola 530 always looked about the size of a small aircraft carrier to me. How about the long tail 917s from '71? Probably longer than the 917/30 but maybe not as wide.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Bob Brzezinski]

Some stats courtesy of the Peter Morgan book "Porsche 917":

1969 917 Langheck--length 4780 mm, width 1880 mm
1971 917K--length 4120 mm, width 2080 mm
1973 917/30KL--length 4562 mm, width 2085 mm

Still looking for specs on the Pink Pig...

[Bob Brzezinski]

Some more: Per "Excellence was Expected", Vol. 2, the 917/20 was "87 inches wide at its extremes." 87 inches = 2209.80 mm.

Also, per "Legendary Porsche" by Randy Leffingwell, the 1970 917 Long Tail "In bodywork as before first Le Mans trials" had a length of 4660 mm and a width of 2032 mm. The 1982 956 had a length of 4770 mm and a width of 1990 mm. The 1969 908LH, however, had a length of 4839 mm and a width of 1830mm...

[sandy]

Size sure, but why not heaviest and noisiest also? And for a subjective element why not the most beautiful? Here are my beauty contenders:

Bugatti 59
125 Mercedes Benz
158 Alfa Romeo
1955 BRM
1957 Maserati 250F

Ferrari P4
Ferrari 750 Monza (Oh, to hell with it, most Ferraris).
1956 Maserati 300S
100S Austin Healey side on.

And most brutally handsome:
450S Maserati
375+ Ferrari
1956 Lancia Ferrari

[Bob Riebe]

The March 707 was built to the maximum width allowed in the Can-Am, (actually it was due the 707 that a width limit was set, I believe)
Goodyear was contracted to build 23 inch wide tires for the car also.

Bob

[Racecar]

The longest competition car ... I doubt there's anything that will beat a AA/F rail for length.
Most beautiful? P3/P4, no question.

The largest car? If one was ever used in competition, the Bugatti Tipo 41, at 22+ feet, has got to be a contender.

[Rob Semmeling]

Originally posted by Bob Riebe
The March 707 was built to the maximum width allowed in the Can-Am, (actually it was due the 707 that a width limit was set, I believe)
Goodyear was contracted to build 23 inch wide tires for the car also.

Bob

707 Dimensions:

Lenght: 3960 mm
Width: 2356 mm

[fausto]

Maserati MC12:
Length: 5143 mm
Width: 2096 mm
Height: 1205 mm
Wheelbase: 2800 mm

[Muzza]

OK, I just tabulated the numbers so far received and this is what we have got:

Lenght
1st. Maserati MC12 5143 mm
2nd. Porshce 908LH, 1969 4839 mm
3rd. Porsche 917 Langheck 4780 mm
4th. Porsche 956, 1982 bodywork configuration 4770 mm
5th. Porsche 917 Langheck (original, pre-Le Mans trials) 4660 mm [note: probably a prototype, not a racing car]
6th. Porsche 917/30 4562 mm
7th. Porsche 917K 4120 mm
8th. March 707 3960 mm
[Porsche 917/20: no data yet]

Width
1st. March 707 2356 mm
2nd. Porsche 917/20 2210 mm
3rd. Maserati MC12 2096 mm
4th. Porsche 917/30 2085 mm
5th. Porsche 917K 2080 mm
6th. Porsche 917 Langheck (original, pre-Le Mans trials) 2032 mm [note: probably a prototype, not a racing car]
7th. Porsche 956, 1982 bodywork configuration 1990 mm
8th. Porsche 917 Langheck 1880 mm
9th. Porshce 908LH, 1969 1830 mm

Whelbase
Maserati MC12 2800 mm
[no data for other vehicles yet]

Height
Maserati MC12 1205 mm
Porsche 917/30 730 mm

Lenght x width (not footprint, but close)
1st. Maserati MC12 10.78 m2
2nd. Porsche 917/30 9.51 m2
3rd. Porsche 956, 1982 bodywork configuration 9.49 m2
4th. Porsche 917 Langheck (original, pre-Le Mans trials) 9.47 m2 [note: probably a prototype, not a racing car]
5th. March 707 9.33 m2
6th. Porsche 917 Langheck 8.99 m2
7th. Porshce 908LH, 1969 8.86 m2
8th. Porsche 917K 8.57 m2
[Porsche 917/20: no data yet, lenght not yet known]

Keep them coming!

Cheers,


Muzza

[David McKinney]

I thought we were talking about racing cars?
What's a Maserati MC12 doing on the list?

But thatnks for the helpful list - I was about to do one of my own

[David McKinney]

I thought we were talking about racing cars?
What's a Maserati MC12 doing on the list?

[David McKinney]

Some random additions:

Length
Maserati 8CL - 4710mm
Maserati 450S - 4350mm

Wheelbase
Mercedes-Benz SS - 3746mm
1914 GP Fiat - 2860mm
Mercedes-Benz W125 - 2800mm (and many others the same)

Height
Fiat S76 - 1525mm (bonnet-line)
Maserati V4/V5 - 1230mm

[conjohn]

Originally posted by David McKinney
I thought we were talking about racing cars?
What's a Maserati MC12 doing on the list?

A car that races is a racing car to me, and as the MC12 raced in the FIA GT Championship last year, that makes the MC12 a racing car to me.

[Paul Taylor]

What about that strange long thing that attempted to qualify for the 1984 (?) Indy 500? The driver was sitting right at the front...and I'm sure it had more than four wheels.

[VAR1016]

Parry Thomas's Babs with its 27-litre Liberty engine is a fair size and was used as a track car at Brooklands so can be classified as a genuine racing car.

PdeRL

[eldougo]

If your talking about Big cars of the modern era you can't go past the Alfa-Romeo 78/01 .It was Sooooooooooooooo big that when they took it out of the transporter we wondered when it would end .Poor Bruno disappeared in the cockpit when he first jumped in.





Some even had trouble getting by this monster.;)

[Martin Krejci]

Originally posted by Muzza
OK, I just tabulated the numbers so far received and this is what we have got:

Lenght
1st. Maserati MC12 5143 mm
2nd. Porshce 908LH, 1969 4839 mm
3rd. Porsche 917 Langheck 4780 mm
4th. Porsche 956, 1982 bodywork configuration 4770 mm
5th. Porsche 917 Langheck (original, pre-Le Mans trials) 4660 mm [note: probably a prototype, not a racing car]
6th. Porsche 917/30 4562 mm
7th. Porsche 917K 4120 mm
8th. March 707 3960 mm
[Porsche 917/20: no data yet]

Muzza

Not sure if Maserati is largest car ever but I miss in this list (perhaps they are not considered a racing cars) Ford Capri Zakspeed Turbo Gr.5 (from 1979-1981) and Jaguar XK220C (from 1993). Both cars were I believe longer than 5 meters, I don't remember their actual size exactly.

I think it is senseless to list cars shorter than 4800 and narrower than 2 meters as these were sizes given for group C cars and most of them just fit with these numbers.

And I think P917 were nowhere near the largest cars ever. Pehaps 917 Langheck was comparable with usual group C cars and 917/20 was rather wide but also rather short.

[TheStranger]

Originally posted by Paul Taylor
What about that strange long thing that attempted to qualify for the 1984 (?) Indy 500? The driver was sitting right at the front...and I'm sure it had more than four wheels.

The "Eagle" unrelated to Dan Gurney but entered by Ken Hamilton for qualifying in the 1982 Indy 500, I assume. Very, very bizarre car.

It did only have four wheels though...

[D-Type]

What about NASCAR? Some of them were seriously large - Chevrolet Impala, Ford Galaxy, or the 'batmobile' with the wing hanging out at the back, was it a Pontiac?

And before someone dismisses these as 'track cars' remember that NASCAR have raced at the Glen and at Riverside amongst other road courses.

Edited by D-Type, 27 October 2011 - 14:52.

[2F-001]

Speaking of Nascar, I should think the Plymouth Superbird or Dodge Daytona would beat most things we've mentioned so far in terms of length and wheelbase. - they were close on 18' long weren't they?

[Paul Taylor]

How 'tall' was the JS5 with that grotesque airbox?

[John B]

"Those bloody things will have to be articulated just to get around the hairpin."

-Stirling Moss on the 1982 Ligier's debut at Monaco

[Bob Riebe]

Originally posted by D-Type
What about NASCAR? Some of thoem were sriously large - Chevrolet Impala, Ford Galaxy, or the 'batmobile' with the wing hanging out at the back, was it a Pontiac?

And before someone dismisses these as 'track cars' remember that NASCAR have raced at the Glen and at Riverside amongst other road courses.

NASCAR vehicles also competed at LeMans; it would have been interesting if the Mopar winged cars had competed there.
Bob

[rjl850]

I don't know if it's been decided yet what kind of cars will be included, but for comparison at least, here's what I was able to find on the roadgoing version of the Plymouth Superbird. I can only assume the racing version was quite similar:

Length (in.) 221.0 (5613 mm)
Width (in.) 76.4 (1941 mm)
Height (in.) 61.4 (1560mm)

Full specs here:
http://aerowarriors.com/sss.html

-Bob

[giacomo]

I think the 'skateboard' Brabham BT55 had a wheelbase of more than 3 metres.

[john aston]

Widest racing car - easy- anything being driven by Michael Schumacher when about to be overtaken.....

[sterling49]

Originally posted by john aston
Widest racing car - easy- anything being driven by Michael Schumacher when about to be overtaken.....

It took up the width and length of the track (IIRC)

[David Pozzi]

Originally posted by djellison
Depends if Thrust SSC counts - as that is HUGE

Doug

I have a poster of Thrust SSC that shows the length at 54 feet! that's 16.49 Metres.
Width, 12 feet 3.66 Metres.

I don't see a spec for height, but the wing was higher than I could reach, it's probably 8 feet tall at the tail.
Here's a pic of me standing next to it after it broke the sound barrier, Craig Breedlove's Spirit Of America is below it.

[Tomas Karlsson]

We had a couple of huge cars here in Sweden in the Rämen races in the thirties. Both were built on lorry-chassis. One Reo with a Mercedes aero-engine, that was a non-starter at Rämen, but made the startline for a couple of other smaller races. The other was based on a Studebaker and had a racing-body. It weighed over 3000kg with it's 700 kg ballast and made it to the finish in 1932.
The Rämen races was real road races (with parts of the track laid out on frozen lakes).