Designer of high-speed cars - in the USSR a rare profession

Car racing is very popular in Western countries. Firms-manufacturers traditionally invest part of their profit in order to demonstrate their technological capabilities, and prize-winning places serve as the best advertisement for famous brands.

Such a profession as a designer of high-speed cars, in the USSR did not exist. Need for such a spectacular competition was not, the mass consumer was constantly in cramped conditions. When cars were sold freely, the population did not have the money, and as soon as the necessary funds for a part of the people appeared, cars disappeared somewhere, despite the constant growth of their production. And yet the enthusiasts were.

The first record car Agitov

Eugene Agitov, the first designer of high-speed cars in the USSR, decided to create a car that, no matter how many, could break the record. The design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant was headed by Andrei Lipgart in 1938, he fervently supported this undertaking. As a result of the hard work of two talented engineers, a miracle was born, called a record car, because there was no sense in arranging races for the lack of worthy rivals. The official GAZ-GL1 index was deciphered as "Racing Lippartha". Agitov did not object.

The basis for creating the car was the serially produced "Emka" GAZ-M1, but with significant design changes. Initially, the engine was forced, adding 15 "horses" by increasing the working volume, and then it was replaced by a more powerful, stoic. Externally, the car was completely different, its aerodynamics, it resembled the fuselage of the aircraft. The speed reached almost 168 km / h, which, of course, was a good result, but by no means a record. In 1940, the GL-1 was dismantled in the hope of doing something better, but soon the war began, and it was not until the sport.

Our "Star" Peltzer - the fastest!

After the Victory in the USSR, trophies began to arrive, including samples of the former enemy equipment. This circumstance was successfully used by Alexander Peltzer, another designer of high-speed cars. In the USSR, based on the engine of a sports motorcycle company DKW was built car "Star". This happened in 1946 at the then created Central Design Bureau Glavmotoveloprom, later renamed NAMI. The German motor was later replaced by the domestic one, and five years later, Zvezda-M-NAMI installed nine world speed records in different categories. This achievement was facilitated by the ability to quickly replace the engine with another one, with a volume of 250 to 500 cubic meters. See Bolide was accelerated to 215 km / h (at 350 "cubes").

"Kharkov" designer Laurent

In the fifties, when our country entered the international auto federation of the FIA, Eduard Osipovich Laurent, a talented designer of high-speed cars, showed himself. In the USSR and beyond, this name became famous in 1960, when it was accelerated to 286 km / h from the course on a kilometer distance, built on its own car "Kharkiv-L2", which is still considered an unsurpassed achievement.

The son of Laurent Valery, also a car designer, also broke several international records on the L-2 and created other high-speed models, such as Kharkov-L3, the first in the USSR "dragster" (class of racing cars starting from the place and competing At short distances), and "Kharkov-L4" (formula class).

"Golden Age" of Soviet cars

The sixties and seventies became the "golden age" of Soviet racing cars built in the factory. Excellent results showed in 1976-1978 the car "BPS-Estonia", managed by V. Barkovsky, his designer. The USSR once again demonstrated to the whole world its technological capabilities. True, in single copies ...