La Jamais Contente

La Jamais Contente (The Never Satisfied) was the first vehicle to go over 100 km/h. It was an electric vehicle with light alloy torpedo shaped bodywork (although the high position of the driver spoiled much of the aerodynamics). Chassis number was n°25. The land speed record was established, according to sources, on April 29 or May 1 1899 at Achères, Yvelines near Paris, France. The vehicle had two direct drive Postel-Vinay 25 kW motors, running at 200 V drawing 124 Amperes, and was equipped with Michelin tires.

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Pilot
The pilot, Belgian Camille Jenatzy, was son of Constant Jenatzy a manufacturer of rubber tires, which were still a novelty at the time. Camille studied as an engineer. He was interested in electric traction automobiles, an interest which he put to use around 1898.

Motivation
Desiring to carve a place in the promissing Parisian electric carriage market, Jenatzy started a manufacturing plant which would produce many electric carriages and trucks. He fiercely competed against carriage maker Jeantaud in publicity stunts to see which made the fastest vehicles. In order to assure the triumph of his corporation, Jenatzy built a bullet shaped prototype, conceived by the carriage maker Rothschild in partinium (an alloy of laminated aluminium, tungsten and magnesium).

Speed Record
He reached 105.882 km/h (65.792 mph); pulverising the previous record by Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat which had attained 92.78 km/h (57.65 mph) on March 4 1899.

After this exploit the combustion engine using gasoline would suplant electric tecnology for the next century.

The vehicle is in the automobile museum at Compiègne (Oise).