| La Jamais Contente | |
| Manufacturer: | French: Compagnie Internationale des transports automobiles électriques |
| Aka: | The Never Satisfied |
| Production: | 1899 |
| Engine: | Electrical |
| Length: | 3.8m (12.5feet) |
| Width: | 1.56m (05.12feet) |
| Height: | 1.4m (04.6feet) |
| Weight: | 1450kg (3,200lb) |
La Jamais Contente (pronounced as /fr/; English: The Never Contented) was the first road vehicle to go over . It was a Belgian electric vehicle with a light-alloy torpedo-shaped bodywork and batteries. The high position of the driver and the exposed chassis underneath spoiled much of the aerodynamics.[1] The light alloy, called partinium, is a mixture of aluminium, tungsten and magnesium.[2]
The land speed record was established on 29 April or 1 May 1899 at Achères, Yvelines near Paris, France. The vehicle had two Postel-Vinay 25 kW motors, each driving the rear axle via a chain, running at 200 V and drawing 124 A each,[3] [4] for about 68 hp total, and was equipped with Michelin tires. The chassis was number 25.
Today, it is on display at the National Car and Tourism Museum in Compiègne.[5]
The vehicle was driven by the Belgian driver Camille Jenatzy. Camille was the son of Constant Jenatzy, a manufacturer of rubber products (rubber was still a novelty at the time). Camille had studied as an engineer, with an interest in electric-traction automobiles. He became known for his record-breaking speed runs and was nicknamed French: Le Diable Rouge ("The Red Devil") for the colour of his beard. He died in 1913, after being shot in a hunting accident.
Wishing to carve a place in the then promising Parisian electric carriage market, Jenatzy started a manufacturing plant, which would produce many electric carriages and trucks. He competed fiercely against the carriage-maker Jeantaud in publicity stunts to see which of them made the fastest vehicles. In order to ensure the triumph of his company, Jenatzy built a bullet-shaped prototype, conceived by the carriage-maker Rothschild in partinium (an alloy of laminated aluminum, tungsten and magnesium).
Jenatzy reached the speed of, besting the previous record, held by Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat driving a Jeantaud, who had attained on 4 March 1899. After this exploit the gasoline-fuelled combustion engine would increasingly supplant electric technology for the next century.
The Jamais Contente is now on display at the automobile museum in Compiègne, France.