 |
 Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Sony Playstation 3 PS3 2010 Racers Cops EA $10.50 (4 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 1m |
 Speed Racer Complete in Box Rare CIB Game Super Nintendo snes Cartridge is EUC $38.95 Time Remaining: 3d 23h 45m Buy It Now for only: $38.95 |
 Speed Racer Complete NM MINT for Playstation PS1 CIB PSX $39.99 Time Remaining: 29d 23h 45m Buy It Now for only: $39.99 |
 Speed Racer Super Nintendo Cartridge only $8.99 Time Remaining: 20d 17h 49m Buy It Now for only: $8.99 |
 Complete Speed Racer The Video Game Nintendo Wii Game $9.39 Time Remaining: 15d 21h 23m Buy It Now for only: $9.39 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 $4.95 Time Remaining: 21d 17m Buy It Now for only: $4.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $13.99 Time Remaining: 20d 4h 24m Buy It Now for only: $13.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 $3.98 Time Remaining: 7h 22m Buy It Now for only: $7.99 |
 SNES Super Nintendo Exertainment Mountain Bike Rally with Speed Racer NEAR MINT $1,499.00 Time Remaining: 28d 4h 9m Buy It Now for only: $1,499.00 |
 Speed Racer Most Dangerous Adventures Super Nintendo SNES Cartridge Only $17.95 Time Remaining: 1d 18h 16m Buy It Now for only: $17.95 |
 Speed Racer Playstation PS1 Complete GUARANTEED $25.00 Time Remaining: 18d 1h 33m Buy It Now for only: $25.00 |
 New Speed Racer WII Video Game $16.13 Time Remaining: 19d 4h 32m Buy It Now for only: $16.13 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Playstation 2 PS2 Game Complete $9.99 Time Remaining: 3d 22m Buy It Now for only: $9.99 |
 Speed Racer Playstation Game $7.99 Time Remaining: 14h 55m |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo Wii Complete $9.47 Time Remaining: 7d 2h 21m Buy It Now for only: $9.47 |
 SPEED RACER VIDEO GAME PS2 PLAYSTATION 2 GAME COMPLETE $5.97 Time Remaining: 19d 21h 41m Buy It Now for only: $5.97 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 Brand new factory sealed game $18.95 Time Remaining: 3d 17h 33m Buy It Now for only: $18.95 |
 SPEED RACER VIDEO GAME Wii Complete w Box + Manual $11.05 Time Remaining: 26d 14h 17m Buy It Now for only: $11.05 |
 Speed Racer The Game Nintendo DS DSi Complete $7.99 Time Remaining: 10d 16h 41m Buy It Now for only: $7.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 $3.99 Time Remaining: 23h 13m Buy It Now for only: $7.99 |
 Speed Racer Sony PlayStation 1 1998 DISK ONLY $14.95 Time Remaining: 23d 20h 57m Buy It Now for only: $14.95 |
 Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures SNES 1994 Cartridge Only $14.50 Time Remaining: 7d 19h 46m Buy It Now for only: $14.50 |
 Need For Speed Shift PS3 PlayStation 3 Game arcade car racer EA $11.77 Time Remaining: 26d 12h 16m Buy It Now for only: $11.77 |
 NEW UB FUNKEYS SPEED RACER CANNONBALL TAYLOR $5.99 Time Remaining: 24d 55m Buy It Now for only: $5.99 |
 SPEED RACER SNES SUPER NINTENDO GAME $17.99 Time Remaining: 15d 2h 3m Buy It Now for only: $17.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $7.00 Time Remaining: 23h 49m |
 Playstation One PS1 SPEED RACER complete and mint Free Shipping $19.99 Time Remaining: 16d 4h 49m Buy It Now for only: $19.99 |
 SPEED RACER PLAYSTATION COMPLETE GAME+CASE+BOOK PS1 $19.95 Time Remaining: 4d 19h 20m Buy It Now for only: $19.95 |
 Speed Racer The Game Nintendo DS DSi w Case $7.99 Time Remaining: 2d 20h 5m Buy It Now for only: $7.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 NTSC Not PAL Everyone $8.45 Time Remaining: 13d 37m Buy It Now for only: $8.45 |
 LEGO DROME RACERS PCJewel Case speed is under rated m $9.95 Time Remaining: 21d 17h 1m Buy It Now for only: $9.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 $8.99 Time Remaining: 29d 21h 20m Buy It Now for only: $8.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $8.00 Time Remaining: 1d 8m |
 SPEED RACER PS1 PS2 PLAYSTATION GAME $17.97 Time Remaining: 20d 21h 33m Buy It Now for only: $17.97 |
 City Racer PC Game Speed Action Style CD 2995 NEW $6.97 Time Remaining: 12d 23h 23m Buy It Now for only: $6.97 |
 Speed Racer The Video Game Playstation 2 Warner Bros Warner Bros 2008 09 16 V $7.86 Time Remaining: 26d 1h 59m Buy It Now for only: $7.86 |
 Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X PC 1992 35 Disks DOS Complete in Box $19.97 Time Remaining: 20d 1h 49m Buy It Now for only: $19.97 |
 Speed Racer for PS2 Sony Playstation 2 Video Game Brand New $19.32 Time Remaining: 9d 13h 28m Buy It Now for only: $19.32 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $8.50 Time Remaining: 1d 21h 21m Buy It Now for only: $12.00 |
 Speed Racer Nintendo Wii Low Prices FAST Shipping $10.69 Time Remaining: 11d 14h 47m Buy It Now for only: $10.69 |
 Speed Racer PlayStation 2 2008 PS2 Brand New Sealed $13.49 Time Remaining: 2d 19h 52m Buy It Now for only: $13.49 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame PS2 $8.99 Time Remaining: 28d 19h 30m Buy It Now for only: $8.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame PlayStation 2 PS2 game CIB complete FREE SH $10.65 Time Remaining: 13d 20m Buy It Now for only: $10.65 |
 NEW UB FUNKEYS SPEED RACER TRIXIE RARE $5.99 Time Remaining: 5d 2h 54m Buy It Now for only: $5.99 |
 SPEED RACER WII GAME GOOD CONDITION WITH INSTRUCTIONS $1.89 (3 Bids) Time Remaining: 2d 18h 52m |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 Brand New Sealed PS2 $10.48 Time Remaining: 23d 1h 16m Buy It Now for only: $10.48 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS Game $13.97 Time Remaining: 23d 23h 50m Buy It Now for only: $13.97 |
 New Speed Racer NDS Video Game $17.88 Time Remaining: 19d 5h 10m Buy It Now for only: $17.88 |
 SPEED RACER THE VIDEO GAME Complete Nintendo Wii $9.99 Time Remaining: 8d 22h 51m Buy It Now for only: $9.99 |
 Speed Racer PlayStation 1998 $31.49 Time Remaining: 9d 21h 43m Buy It Now for only: $31.49 |
 Speed Racer Sony PlayStation 1 1998 $5.00 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2d 19h 37m |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $13.49 Time Remaining: 19d 18h 28m Buy It Now for only: $13.49 |
 Speed Racer The Video Game PlayStation 2 PS2 System $10.50 Time Remaining: 24d 4h 46m Buy It Now for only: $10.50 |
 Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X PC Big Box 12314 $15.99 Time Remaining: 16d 23h 53m Buy It Now for only: $15.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 DISC ONLY $3.99 Time Remaining: 20d 17h 19m Buy It Now for only: $3.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $14.99 Time Remaining: 2d 17h 47m Buy It Now for only: $14.99 |
 Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero PlayStation PS2 Speeds up to 200 miles an hour $7.68 Time Remaining: 17d 22h 28m Buy It Now for only: $7.68 |
 Speed RacerThe Video Game Sony PS2 Video Game $0.99 Time Remaining: 2d 21h 32m |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 EUC Pre Owned Free Shipping $11.95 Time Remaining: 1d 17h 20m Buy It Now for only: $11.95 |
 SPEED RACER NEW SEALED PLAYSTATION 2 GAME FREE SHIP SEE MY STORE $19.90 Time Remaining: 17d 22h 57m Buy It Now for only: $19.90 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 Nintendo Video Game $11.66 Time Remaining: 14d 1h 7m Buy It Now for only: $11.66 |
 Ps2 Speed Racer 2008 Used Playstation 2 $2.16 Time Remaining: 11d 4h 20m Buy It Now for only: $2.16 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 dsl dsi new $17.95 Time Remaining: 5d 1h 3m Buy It Now for only: $17.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 $0.99 Time Remaining: 2d 21h 49m Buy It Now for only: $9.99 |
 New Speed Racer PS2 Video Game $15.40 Time Remaining: 19d 4h 32m Buy It Now for only: $15.40 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS Game $11.18 Time Remaining: 24d 22h 1m Buy It Now for only: $11.18 |
 Speed Racer Playstation Game PSX PS1 PS2 PS3 COMPLETE $24.99 Time Remaining: 14d 14h 29m Buy It Now for only: $24.99 |
 SPEED RACER WII GAME SEE MY STORE 1500 GAMES IN STOCK $16.56 Time Remaining: 17d 23h 16m Buy It Now for only: $16.56 |
 Speed Racer The Video Game Sony Playstation 2 PS2 GREAT $6.95 Time Remaining: 1d 13h 15m Buy It Now for only: $6.95 |
 Speed Racer The Video Game Nintendo Ds $0.99 Time Remaining: 3d 19h 57m |
 Speed Racer The Videogame PlayStation 2 PS2 $6.49 Time Remaining: 12d 4h 46m Buy It Now for only: $6.49 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame PlayStation 2 $19.99 Time Remaining: 26d 20h 49m Buy It Now for only: $19.99 |
 Speed Racer PLAYSTATION PS1 Game COMPLETE $14.97 Time Remaining: 11d 12m Buy It Now for only: $14.97 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 $9.95 Time Remaining: 22d 19h 26m Buy It Now for only: $9.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 $8.00 Time Remaining: 27d 17h 43m Buy It Now for only: $8.00 |
 UB Funkeys Starter Kit Speed Racer Chim Chim UBFunkey $14.99 Time Remaining: 4d 17h 55m Buy It Now for only: $16.99 |
 Speed Racer for Sony Playstation Complete Game PS1 $18.99 Time Remaining: 2d 6h 8m Buy It Now for only: $18.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame PS2 Free Shipping $9.49 Time Remaining: 7d 22h 32m Buy It Now for only: $9.49 |
 Speed Racer PlayStation 1998RARE COMPLETE GAME $24.95 Time Remaining: 2d 23h 9m Buy It Now for only: $24.95 |
 Speed Racer Playstation PS1 Complete MINT $35.95 Time Remaining: 1d 20h 48m Buy It Now for only: $35.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 $10.99 Time Remaining: 1d 14h 53m Buy It Now for only: $10.99 |
 SPEED RACER SNES Super Nintendo EXCELLENT $16.95 Time Remaining: 7d 14h 40m Buy It Now for only: $16.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 $0.99 Time Remaining: 4d 21h 33m |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS 2008 $11.96 Time Remaining: 16d 3h 41m Buy It Now for only: $11.96 |
 PS1 Speed Racer $19.99 Time Remaining: 10d 22h 1m Buy It Now for only: $19.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 $9.20 Time Remaining: 10d 18h 54m Buy It Now for only: $9.20 |
 Speed Racer COMPLETE GREAT Sony Playstation PS1 $44.95 Time Remaining: 27d 18h Buy It Now for only: $44.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Sony PlayStation 2 2008 $14.95 Time Remaining: 1d 13h 24m Buy It Now for only: $14.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $9.99 Time Remaining: 5d 14h 59m |
 NEW PS2 SPEED RACER VIDEOGAME SEALED $13.83 Time Remaining: 1d 22h 25m Buy It Now for only: $13.83 |
 Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures Super Nintendo SNES Game Cartridge $12.66 Time Remaining: 20d 23h 57m Buy It Now for only: $12.66 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $16.10 Time Remaining: 2d 20h 51m Buy It Now for only: $16.10 |
 EXCELLENT CONDITION SPEED RACER RATED EVERYONE 2 PLAYERS 2006 MILD LANGUAGE $8.99 Time Remaining: 23d 16h 18m Buy It Now for only: $8.99 |
 Speed Racer PlayStation PS1 Original Complete Vr Nice $24.95 Time Remaining: 24d 16h 16m Buy It Now for only: $24.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Wii 2008 $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 20h 16m |
 UB Funkeys Starter Kit Speed Racer Chim Chim UBFunkey $15.99 Time Remaining: 19d 23h 59m Buy It Now for only: $15.99 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame PlayStation 2 NEW $17.05 Time Remaining: 15d 14h 15m Buy It Now for only: $17.05 |
 Speed Racer PlayStation 2 PS2 $8.49 Time Remaining: 20d 10h 32m Buy It Now for only: $8.49 |
 Speed Racer COMPLETE WORKS Sony Playstation PS1 $36.95 Time Remaining: 25d 9h 30m Buy It Now for only: $36.95 |
 Speed Racer The Videogame Nintendo DS DSi new sealed $17.95 Time Remaining: 15d 19h 39m Buy It Now for only: $17.95 |
Speed Racer
The Deperdussin Racer
Although technically classified, like the Bleriot XI, the Hanriot Monoplane, and the Curtiss Model D, as a "pioneer aircraft," the Deperdussin Racer, in physical appearance alone, indicates that it does not belong to this category. Its completely covered, streamlined, bracing wire-devoid fuselage; single, razor-sharp wings; tiny tail surfaces, drag-reducing spinner; faired landing gear; and modern control wheel all reflect advanced technology and speed, placing the type in a "transition" category of its own, between the original, pioneer and later, World War I designations.
It owes its origin to Armand Deperdussin, who was neither an airplane inventor nor a pilot. Beginning his career as a cabaret singer in Belgium, he pursued several professions, none of which were remotely related to aeronautics, including luring customers into motion picture theaters operated by the Lumiere Brothers as a barker and selling fabric at wholesale prices to French department stores. In the fall of 1909, he agreed to supply the Bon Marche store of Paris with a Christmas display featuring an aircraft, but, despite his own interest in the budding science, he knew nothing of aerodynamics or design himself, thus forced to approach the Societe de Construction d'Appareils Aeriens to fill his needs.
Instrumental to this display, and Deperdussin's future, had been 32-year-old Louis Bechereau, graduate of the Ecole des Arts et Metiers d'Angers and chief engineer there. His reputation had reached "brilliance" stature.
Attracted by its canard aircraft, Deperdussin himself acquired the Societe de Construction d'Appareil Aeriens, located in Bethany, near Rheims, France, in 1910, and renamed it the "Societe de Production des Apppareils Deperdussin," or "SPAD."
The intended static display, appearing at the end of the previous year, resembled an Antoinette monoplane with a tailskid.
The flying version, based upon it and retaining the overall Antoinette configuration, particularly in the tailplane, was completed in 1910 and offered in several versions, which varied both by powerplant and number of seats.
The Deperdussin A, for example, had been powered by a three-cylinder Anzani, a 50-hp Clerget, and a 50-hp Gnome engine.
Featuring a long, slender, 24-foot, 11.5-inch spruce and ash frame and a 28-foot, 10.5-inch wingspan covered with oiled cotton, the Deperdussin B, the first version to receive significant attention, succeeded the initial variant in 1911. Powered by a 50-hp, seven-cylinder Gnome engine and weighing 551 pounds, it sported hinged elevator and rudder surfaces, the latter serving as the deflecting surface for vertical control and attached to the remainder of the fixed, stabilizing fin. Cables, actuating the aircraft's wing-warping mechanism, were routed down to a T-shaped lever, itself mounted on the rear cross member of the chassis, and then passed over pulleys on skids before branching out into two wire pairs which connected with an equal number of points on the wing's spars. Pilot control was achieved by means of a pinned crosspiece-mounted wheel, its direction of turn differentially deflecting each wing spar—that is, while one was pushed down, the other was pulled up, changing their angles-of-incidence and inducing a bank away from the increased one.
Resting on two wheels and a tailskid on the ground, the monoplane attained a maximum, 56-mph speed in the air.
The type notched up several records. Of the seven aircraft entered in the June, 1911, Circuit of Europe race, for instance, the one flown by Rene Vidart won third place, while the type demonstrated considerable performance capability in the Concours Militaire, held later in the year, between October and November, in Rheims. Indeed, two Deperdussin Monoplanes, along with a Nieuport, had been the only designs capable of meeting the French military's requirements.
The Deperdussin C, following in 1912, had been powered by a 100 hp Gnome engine and accommodated two persons, and the type, noted for its carrying capacity and speed with large payloads, held all of the world's records for up to five seats and distances of up to 30 miles until the end of 1911. The aircraft enjoyed widespread use in both France and England.
Separated by only two years, the Deperdussin Racer, which was alternatively known as the "Deperdussin Monocoque," appeared as if it should have been separated by two decades from its Monoplane predecessor.
As demonstrated by early, fixed-wing aeronautics, aircraft frames required three basic components:
1). The frame or fuselage, considered the common attachment point of its flight surfaces.
2). Supporting methods, such as trusses, cross beams, and bracing wires.
3). A covering or surface, then usually of fabric.
Although wood had traditionally been employed to build up airframe structures, it had, particularly by turn-of-the-century methods, been difficult to mold or bend in order to form a single unit integrally incorporating even two of these parameters until Eugene Ruchonnet, a Swiss pilot and engineer, who had previously worked at the Antoinette factory with Rene Hanriot, sublimated his boat construction experience into aeronautical design, covering a basic frame with mahogany and producing a light, but strong, minimal-drag fuselage concept which could carry high stress loads.
Louis Bechereau, the Deperdussin Racer's designer, further developed this concept, forming two halves of a fuselage by diagonally overlaying three thin strips of steamed, glued tulipwood, which was ordinarily used in cabinet building, in three cross-crossed layers, permitting them to dry before removing them from the reusable mold and assembling their two halves. The result, designated "monocoque"--from the Greek "mono," or "single," and the French "coque," or "shell,"--resulted in a radical departure from the wooden, trussed fuselages of aircraft such as the Bleriot XI, providing a circular, although decreasing-diameter, cross-section which tapered as it progressed from the nose to the tail, but which carried its own loads, integrally incorporating the three components of frame, support, and covering. Streamlined, strong, and aerodynamic, it obviated the need for external struts or bracing wires and became the standard of aeronautical design up to the present day.
The Deperdussin Racer, with a 20-foot, 1/8th-inch overall length, introduced this advanced construction technology, which represented a "step-change" in aeronautical design.
Equally deviating from the majority of both pioneer and World War I aircraft, it sported single, or mono, high-mounted, razor-sharp wings, which incorporated inverse taper on their inboard trailing edges, spanning 21 feet, 9 ¾ inches and covering 104 square feet of area.
Like its Deperdussin Monoplane predecessor, it featured both hinged elevators and rudders affixed to seemingly tiny, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, covered in proofed linen. The aircraft had a seven-foot, 6.5-inch overall height.
Powered by several successively higher-horsepower Gnome engines, the Deperdussin Racer employed rotary technology.
Engines, evolving from the steam to the internal combustion types, developed progressively more horsepower per pound of engine weight, and the latter, appearing at the dawn of heavier-than-air flight, can be subdivided into reciprocating and rotary categories. Designed by Laurent Seguin and his half-brother, Louis, (whose great-grandfather, Marc, had coincidentally been the nephew of the Montgolfier Brothers who themselves had made the world's first successful balloon flight in France in 1783) it had its origins in 1907 when they explored a new, light-weight configuration, designated the "Gnome," which evolved from the previous year's 34-hp static unit.
Built of solid, drop-forged blocks of steel, the powerplant featured a 13.5-pound crankshaft reduced from its original, 100-pound mass of raw material, and extremely thin piston walls.
Contrasted with the reciprocating engine, whose pistons turned the crankshaft on which the propeller itself was mounted, the rotary type featured a fixed crankshaft about which the cylinder block rotated. Nevertheless, it employed the standard, four-stroke, Otto cycle, although its valves were located in the pistons, and each cylinder, as with both types, experienced a different phase during this cycle.
During the intake stroke, for example, a vacuum formed in the cylinder, forcing the intake valve to open in order to draw the fuel-air mixture in from the crankcase, while it was compressed during the compression stroke, at the end of which its spark plugs fired, slightly before the top dead center position was reached. During the power stroke, the exhaust valves opened before the bottom dead center position, and this was followed by the exhaust stroke.
Featuring symmetrically mounted cylinders round a drum-shaped crankcase, the Gnome rotary engine revolved with optimum balance. The cylinders themselves were designed with head-located inlet and exhaust valves operated by rocker arms, fuel drawn in and burnt gasses expelled by means of centrifugal force, which itself was neutralized by counter-weighted valves. Fuel, entering at one end of this crankshaft, ultimately flowed into the carburetor attached to the other. Blipping the engine during descent cleared the cylinders of any accumulated raw fuel and oil.
A virtual design solution to the often-contradictory balance of power, weight, and reliability, the rotary engine offered several advantages.
1). Because its large, rotating block of cylinders effectively served as a flywheel and there were no engine mounting point-related reciprocating parts, it delivered power very smoothly.
2). The shorter crankcase and crankshaft reduced structure weight.
3). Because the entire block rotated, obviating the need for radiators, water pumps, fans, and cooling liquids, it featured its own integral, airflow cooling method, further reducing structure weight compared to that of water-cooled powerplants.
The rotary engine equally offered three disadvantages.
1). Since it had to be run at full throttle throughout all of its fight phases, it consumed a large amount of fuel.
2). The rotating block, of considerable mass, created a formidable gyroscopic effect, which augmented immediate, rapid right banks, but resisted those to the left. These were slow and sluggish.
3). Because centrifugal force expelled castor oil after a single flow through the engine, as contrasted with the recirculating method employed by the reciprocating type, the aircraft's range was, to a degree, limited by its oil capacity.
The 50 hp, seven-cylinder Gnome rotary engine, competing with the Antoinette and first appearing at the 1908 Paris Salon, featured a 172-pound structure weight, a 110-mm bore, a 120-mm stroke, and turned at 1,100 revolutions-per-minute.
A later version, offering improved maintenance access and turning at 1,300 revolutions-per-minute, generated 70 hp and followed in 1911, burning almost 90 pounds per hour of fuel as opposed to the 50-hp's 44.1, and it had a .5-to-1 gallon oil-to-fuel consumption ratio.
The first practical rotary available to aircraft builders, the Gnome, produced in copious quantities totaling 3,638 units between 1908 and 1913, achieved almost all of the world's speed, altitude, and endurance records for the airframes they powered, such as London-Manchester, Paris-London, trans-Alps, round the Statue of Liberty, and the Circuit de l'Est, becoming the dominant powerplant during the dawn of World War I. Credited with the first significant increase in performance, the rotary engine, like the monocoque fuselage, constituted a step-change in technology.
Powered by a 160-hp, 14-cylinder, two-row Gnome rotary, the Deperdussin Racer, driving a mahogany propeller and fronted by a large, but aerodynamic, drag-reducing spinner which appeared to be the forward, integral portion of the fuselage, achieved maximum, 127-mph airspeeds and feisty maneuverability. It was often dubbed "the flying engine."
The 992-pound aircraft was ground-supported by a twin-wheel undercarriage with a central skid.
The Racer, like its Monoplane predecessor, retained the latter's standard cockpit control wheel, whose left or right turn activated the wing-warping mechanism to control its lateral axis, wires stretching from its forward and aft spars routed to two, upper-frame, triangular-shaped king posts above and the lower landing gear assembly below. Pulling or pushing it deflected the elevators for pitch, or longitudinal, axis control, while a foot-operated rudder bar provided yaw control. A wheel rim-located blip switch interrupted engine power to induce descents.
Demonstrating and validating its superior performance characteristics, it notched up an impressive array of accomplishments.
On September 9, 1912, for instance—a swelteringly hot day—Jules Vedrines flew his Deperdussin Racer in a continuous circuit at low altitude during the fourth Gordon Bennett Race, winning the prize for the fastest aircraft, clocked at 105.5 mph, while Marcel Prevost, circling at 20 to 30 feet above the ground in his own aircraft of the same type that afternoon, placed a close second. They were the first to exceed the 100-mph mark. All the other entrants, with the exception of an engine-overheating Hanriot, had withdrawn from the competition the previous evening. The Hanriot itself only completed half the course.
On April 10 of the following year, a pontoon-equipped Deperdussin, again flown by Prevost, won the Schneider trophy at Monaco, the only time in the two-decade history, from 1912 to 1931, of the event that the French had succeeded in doing so.
During the fifth Gordon Bennett Race, held at Bethany Aerodrome, near Rheims, on September 29, 1913, four aircraft had competed, inclusive of two Gnome-powered Deperdussin Racers, one powered by a Le Rhone engine, and an Alfred Ponnier-designed monoplane, itself a development of the Hanriot Racer. Following Henri Crombez's 10:00 a.m. circuit, Prevost took off in his Gnome-powered, clipped-wing Deperdussin at 11:15 a.m., completing his second, third, fourth, and fifth laps in two minutes, 50 seconds each and covering the 20, ten-kilometer lap course in 59 minutes, 45 3/5 seconds at an average 204 kph, the first to ever do so in under an hour, and achieved an absolute world speed record of 126.67 mph.
The following month, on October 27, a Deperdussin flown by Eugene Gilbert won the Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe air race round Paris.
The Deperdussin Racer became the fastest, most maneuverable, pre-World War I design.
The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome example, the result of a 1974 trip to Paris during which Cole Palen and his wife, Rita, studied, measured, sketched, and photographed the aircraft on static display in the Musee de l'Air et de l"Espace, was built in his Florida home during that winter, at which time Cole completed two monocoque fuselage frames before destroying the mold he had created prior to them.
A later restoration, undertaken by Brad Adams, Ryan Cassens, Bob Mackenzie, John Nenadic, Paul Savastano, and Nick Ulfik, between 2000 and 2001, was prompted by engine cowl cracks, flat tires, rusty cable rails, peeling spinner and fuel tank paint, and the absence of its 160-hp Gnome powerplant.
After transfer from the hill-located Pioneer Building to the Fokker hangar on the field, the aircraft was fitted with a static engine assembled from spare parts and three wooden valves coated with epoxy glass resin and painted, while its other deficiencies were equally addressed.
In restored guise, it first appeared in the Westchester County Civic Center during the Westchester Radio Aero Modelers Show in February of 2001.
Because of the Deperdussin Racer's high speeds and minimal surface areas, Cole had decided to limit it to ground taxiing on the grass field which would have failed to offer sufficient length for safe, public-proximity operation, and today, it is often displayed in the courtyard immediately beyond the covered bridge entrance to the aerodrome, a sleek, aerodynamic, high-performance monoplane radically differing from its other pioneer counterparts embodying advanced, step-change technology. It proudly showcases those features which comprise it.
About the Author
A graduate of Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus with a summa-cum-laude Bachelor of Arts Degree in Comparative Languages and Journalism, I have subsequently earned the Associate in Applied Science Degree in Aerospace Technology at the State University of New York - College of Technology at Farmingdale. I have also earned the Continuing Community Education Teaching Certificate from the Nassau Association for Continuing Community Education (NACCE) at Molloy College, the Travel Career Development Certificate from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA) at LIU, the Art and Science of Teaching Certificate at Long Island University, and completed a Multi-Genre Writing Program at Hofstra University. At SUNY Farmingdale Aerospace I completed some 30 hours of Private Pilot Flight Training in Cessna C-152 and -172 aircraft.
Having amassed almost three decades in the airline industry, I managed the New York-JFK and Washington-Dulles stations at Austrian Airlines, created the North American Station Training Program, served as an Aviation Advisor to Farmingdale State University of New York, and devised and taught the Airline Management Certificate Program at the Long Island Educational Opportunity Center.
A freelance author, I have written some 70 books of the short story, novel, nonfiction, essay, poetry, article, log, curriculum, training manual, and textbook genre in English, German, and Spanish, having principally focused on aviation and travel, and I have been published in book, magazine, newsletter, and electronic Web site form. I am a writer for Cole Palen's Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York. I have made some 350 lifetime trips by air, sea, rail, and road.
In the show speed racer. What is the name of his rival racer who dresses in the red jumpsuit?
He was in several episodes. In the episode in Dexter's lab where they did a spin off of speed racer it was the chgaracter Mandark portrayed.
It is Racer X! Rex Racer was his name before he took on the role of Racer X. He is Speed's brother and because his father wasn't really supportive of him racing he ran away from home. 
Challenge of the Masked Racer Pt 1