Porsche has a countless number of victories in the most varied disciplines of the wide universe of automobile competition. The Stuttgart firm also holds numerous speed, time or performance records in different disciplines and scenarios. The efficiency and competitiveness of its racing cars and its powerful and performance street models have contributed to these achievements throughout the company’s history.
But not all of the German brand’s attempts to achieve a goal, challenge or unique challenge have always been successful. This is the case of the bicycle world record attempt, undertaken in 1978.
45 years ago, French cyclist Jean-Claude Rude, 23, wanted to become the fastest man in the world on the handlebars of a bicycle. He set out to reach 240 km/h in the slipstream of a powerful vehicle that would act as an aerodynamic “screen”. The objective was to beat previous records achieved pedaling in the wake of a car or motorcycle.
Also French, José Meiffret became, in 1962, the first person to exceed 200 kilometers per hour (204.778 km/h) on a bicycle. He did it behind a Mercedes Benz 300 SL on a German highway. American doctor Allan Abbott, alias “The Flying Doctor”, raised the bar once again on August 25, 1973: against the impressive backdrop of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States, he reached a speed of 223,466 km/h behind a 1955 Chevrolet.
These records fueled Rude’s imagination, who set out to surpass them. To do this, the team leader of the French track professional contacted his French compatriot Henri Pescarolo, one of the most prominent and successful racing drivers of the 1970s and who after his retirement accumulated an impressive career that includes 33 appearances – and four victories – in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pescarolo, who was initially skeptical about this experimental and reckless arrangement, finally agreed to participate because of the passion and enthusiasm shown by Jean-Claude Rude.
With a great cyclist and a good driver, a powerful car was missing to achieve the record; and that’s where Porsche came into play. An 800 horsepower 935 Turbo, from the Martini Racing team, with an ingenious hood-roof design, was specially prepared for the attempt to achieve such an ambitious record. It was exactly the right car to set the pace for this world record thanks to its trapezoidal screen that extended across the back to ensure maximum slipstream. Even with this additional structure, the Porsche 935 Turbo had enough power to reach the desired speed.
A roller was also installed along the rear bumper which allowed the front wheel of Jean-Claude Rude’s bike to effectively ‘stick’ to the rear of the Porsche, ensuring it stayed in the wake without risk of an accident. The bicycle used was not an ordinary model either. The front wheel sprocket was almost the same circumference as the wheel itself, while the rear wheel sprocket was only about two centimeters in diameter.
This gave the bicycle an exceptionally large gear ratio: Rude was able to cover a distance of up to 27 meters with just one revolution of the chain ring. However, this also meant that the bicycle had to be pushed by a motorcycle with a sort of “spear” to begin with, since the rider alone could not generate enough starting force.
While Meiffret and Abbott’s previous attempts had been on long straights (Meiffret attempted it on an unfinished highway in Germany, and Abbott on the salt flats of Bonneville), Pescarolo and Rude faced difficult conditions. Racing on a highway, as initially planned, was not possible.
Volkswagen’s test track in Ehra-Lessien near Wolfsburg offered an alternative, but also presented additional challenges: “We realized right away that it would be difficult,” recalled Henri Pescarolo. “There was a curve at the beginning and end of the straights.” Conditions that would make starting more difficult. Jean-Claude Rude had to gradually increase speed on his bike, but at the same time, the Porsche had to drive slowly enough to ensure that Rude stayed in the slipstream, which was not easy with an 800 horsepower turbo engine. power.
This meant that there was a huge amount of pressure on Henri Pescarolo behind the wheel of the Porsche. “His life was in my hands,” said the former pilot. Rude had to rely on Pescarolo to find the ideal starting speed, control the turbo boost of the Porsche 935 while making sure he stayed in the wind-protected zone.
At 10:30 in the morning of Wednesday, August 23, 1978, the operation began after a couple of warm-up attempts, “Jean-Claude Rude had incredible power in his legs to start the bike and then find his rhythm. . He was a professional cyclist, he knew the effort it involved, but for anyone else he would have been a superhuman feat,” Pescarolo recalled.
At 150 km/h speed he left the steep slope on the roller and had a seven kilometer stretch to the measuring section to reach 240. Pescarolo began to gradually accelerate when suddenly the unexpected happened: Rude lost control of his bike. The rear tubular tire came off and became tangled between the wheel and the frame, causing the wheel to lock and the rim to fly onto the pavement.
Rude managed to regain control of the skidding bike ‘like a skier’ and managed to slide down the track on the verge of falling, until he lost speed and stopped after a few hundred meters, without injury… “That was the end of the attempt to achieve the new record, but we felt extremely relieved that nothing had happened to him,” Pescarolo recalled years later.
Unfortunately, there was never another attempt at the record; Jean-Claude Rude died in a tragic accident the following year. Dutchman Fred Rompelberg currently holds the absolute speed record on a bicycle. Like Allan Abbott, he attempted the record at Bonneville, and in 1995 achieved a speed of 268.8 kilometers per hour.
