Spyker 60 HP

The 1903 Spyker 60HP was the world's first petrol-fuelled 4WD car. (Louwman Museum, The Hague, Netherlands)

The Spyker 60 HP racing car, probably built in 1902,[1] but presented in 1903, was the world's first petrol-fuelled four-wheel drive car.[2]

Known as "the car of three firsts",[3] with a top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h)[4] to 90 mph,[3] it was manufactured by the Dutch carriage and automobile maker Spyker, set up in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, and also featured the first application of a six-cylinder engine[5] (an 8.8-litre inline design),[6] (straight-six engine)[4] as well as the first four-wheel braking system.[7]

The 60 HP was commissioned by Jacobus Spijker for the 1903 Paris–Madrid race[5] (although Bill Boddy, in a 1995 article for Motor Sport, states the Gordon Bennett race,[8] the fore-runner of the Grand Prix that would be staged at Le Mans in 1906). The Belgian engineer Joseph Valentin Laviolette already had a design for an engine with six separate cylinders,[5] and he designed a transmission that drove the front as well as the rear wheels,[5] by extending the cardan-shaft from the gearbox extend forward,[8] as well as fitting a transmission brake.[5]

However, the car was not ready in time for the race in May and was not launched until December 1903, in Paris,[5] going on display two months later at The Crystal Palace in London.[5]

The Spyker 60 HP racing car only raced twice; at Blackpool, in 1904, where it finished third, and at Birmingham, in 1906, where it won.[9]

The model on show at the Louwman Museum, in The Hague, Netherlands, was acquired in 1993 after having been housed at various Dutch museums. It was restored over a five-year period to its original condition as displayed at The Crystal Palace in 1904.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Spyker 60-HP Four-Wheel Drive." Louwman Museum. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  2. ^ McKay, Malcolm (March 2008). "The Knowledge: "Four-wheel drive"". Octane. Archived from the original on 2009-05-03. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Automobile Quarterly". Automobile Quarterly. 44 (1). 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b The Car Book: The Definitive Visual History. Dorling Kindersley Ltd. 2022. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-241-59629-6.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Spyker 60-HP Four-Wheel Drive Racing Car." Louwman Museum. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  6. ^ "1903 Spyker 60HP". Car and Driver. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  7. ^ Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal, 1985.
  8. ^ a b "The Superlative Spyker", June 1995. Motor Sport. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Spyker." Guide Automobiles Anciennes. Retrieved 3 December 2022.