Today, it seems natural that speed records should be set by cars with huge gasoline engines. But at the dawn of the automotive era, the opposite was true. On April 29, 1899, on a straight stretch of road in Achères, northwest of Paris, Belgian Camille Jenatzy drove an electric car to 105.88 km/h over a flying kilometer.
The car was called La Jamais Contente — “The Never Content.” It was shaped like an artillery shell, powered by batteries, and became the first car specifically built to set a land speed record.
Jenatzy became the first person to drive a land vehicle faster than 100 km/h. And this happened not with gasoline, but with electric traction. The chronology of records confirms: until this moment, all the first results also belonged to electric vehicles.
An electric duel that started at 63 km/h
The first recognized land speed record appeared just a few months before Jenatzy's famous run. On December 18, 1898, Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat, in an electric Jeantaud, reached 63.15 km/h in Achères. This result became the first officially recorded record. But the Count did not hold it for long.
On January 17, 1899, Camille Jenatzy, in an electric CGA Dogcart, showed 66.66 km/h. On the same day, Chasseloup-Laubat reclaimed the record, reaching 70.31 km/h.
Ten days later, Jenatzy raised the bar to 80.35 km/h. On March 4, the Count responded again — his Jeantaud with a pointed front reached 92.78 km/h. In four months, the record increased by almost 30 km/h:
- December 18, 1898 — 63.15 km/h;
- January 17, 1899 — 66.66 km/h;
- January 17, 1899 — 70.31 km/h;
- January 27, 1899 — 80.35 km/h;
- March 4, 1899 — 92.78 km/h;
- April 29, 1899 — 105.88 km/h.
Jenatzy had practically no ordinary cars left that could be further refined. So he took a different path: he decided to build a car from scratch, designed exclusively for achieving maximum speed.
La Jamais Contente was not built for the road
La Jamais Contente became the first car designed from the outset as a record-breaking vehicle. Its 3.8-meter body was built by coachbuilder Rothschild. For it, a light alloy called partinium, based on aluminum, tungsten, and magnesium, was used.
Inside were two Postel-Vinay electric motors, operating at 200 V. The total power was approximately 68 hp. Each motor drove the rear axle via a chain drive. Michelin supplied the tires, and the total weight of the car reached 1450 kg. Most of this weight was made up of batteries.
And here a curious paradox emerges. The designers tried to make the car as streamlined as possible, but the driver himself sat almost on top of the body, in an upright position. His body was directly in the airflow and partially negated the advantages of the unusual aerodynamic shape. Nevertheless, the car coped with the task. On April 29, 1899, La Jamais Contente broke the 100 km/h barrier and showed 105.88 km/h. This was the first time a land vehicle officially exceeded this symbolic mark.
Electricity remained ahead for almost three years
Jenatzy's record was far from a one-day achievement. 105.88 km/h remained the absolute record for almost three years.
Moreover, the first automotive type to surpass it was again not gasoline-powered. On April 13, 1902, in Nice, Léon Serpollet, in the steam-powered Gardner-Serpollet Œuf de Pâques — “Easter Egg” — reached 120.80 km/h. Only a few months later, on August 5, 1902, the absolute record for the first time went to a car with an internal combustion engine.
William K. Vanderbilt II, in a Mors Z Paris-Vienne in Ablis, showed 122.438 km/h. This paints a rather unusual picture of the early years of automotive records: electric cars and steam cars for some time outpaced gasoline cars. For early electric vehicles, this was a short but very noticeable period of technical superiority on the straight.
Why the electric car could be so fast
Here it is important to understand the specifics of the task itself. La Jamais Contente was not supposed to travel hundreds of kilometers. It needed to cover one measured kilometer as quickly as possible.
In this mode, the electric powertrain had a clear advantage: two motors directly drove the rear axle via chains, and energy came from a heavy battery. The entire car was essentially built around one goal — maximum speed.
This fundamentally distinguished it from a car that had to simultaneously provide range, carry people, overcome climbs, stop, accelerate again, and drive on ordinary roads. That is why comparing La Jamais Contente directly with a modern production car would be incorrect. It was a technical experiment on wheels.
Jenatzy also won a major race
Camille Jenatzy went down in history not only for his speed record. On July 2, 1903, he was again at the center of automotive events — at the Gordon Bennett Cup race in Ireland.
This was the first international competition held on a closed track. The distance was 527 km, and the route itself passed along roads in the Athy area. Jenatzy competed for Germany in a Mercedes and won with an average speed of about 79.2 km/h. The car's history turned out to be no less interesting than the driver's.
The Mercedes cars prepared by the factory for the competition were destroyed by a large fire at the Cannstatt plant in June 1903. Therefore, the team had to use 60-hp Mercedes instead of the planned 90-hp cars. The car Jenatzy drove belonged to American Clarence Gray Dinsmore, who provided it to Mercedes for the race.
As a result, a Belgian driver, driving an American car provided to the factory team after the destruction of more powerful vehicles, brought victory to Germany. Jenatzy covered 527 km in 6 hours 39 minutes and beat his closest rival René de Knyff in a Panhard by more than ten minutes. The victory meant that the next Gordon Bennett Cup race in 1904 was to be held in Germany. Jenatzy finished second there.
Where did the nickname “Red Devil” come from?
For his contemporaries, Jenatzy was a prominent figure not only because of his results. He had a large red beard, for which the English press nicknamed the racer Le Diable Rouge — “The Red Devil.”
The name stuck with him and accompanied Jenatzy in subsequent performances, including the Vanderbilt Cup and the French Grand Prix. He came from a family of Brussels rubber manufacturers. Later, Jenatzy himself headed the family business and sold tires under his own name. But the end of his life was not connected with racing.
The “Red Devil” died in a Mercedes
Camille Jenatzy died in December 1913 during a hunt in Habay-la-Neuve in the Belgian Ardennes. The story of his death seems almost incredible.
According to a story published by the New York Times shortly after the incident, Jenatzy hid behind a bush and began to imitate a wild animal to scare his hunting companions. Alfred Madou, director of the newspaper L'Étoile belge, mistook the sounds for a real beast and fired. When it became clear that Jenatzy was under fire, they tried to rush him to the hospital. But the racer lost too much blood and died on the way.
He was being driven there in a Mercedes. Hence the legend that Jenatzy allegedly predicted his own death in a Mercedes car. It is impossible to confirm such a prediction documentarily, so this story remains part of automotive folklore. Jenatzy is buried in Laeken Cemetery in Brussels.
The electric car did not lose to gasoline due to lack of speed
The history of La Jamais Contente is interesting not only as an episode from the past of motorsport. It shows that the electric powertrain was not doomed to lose to the internal combustion engine in terms of dynamics.
Over a short distance, the electric car was able to be the first to cross the most important psychological barrier — 100 km/h. The problem was elsewhere. La Jamais Contente was created exclusively for a speed run. It had to quickly deplete its batteries and cover one kilometer.
Vanderbilt's Mors was a much more versatile machine. It was designed as a road racing car capable of covering significant distances. And here the fundamental limitation of early electric vehicles became apparent: there was little energy in the batteries compared to how much fuel a car with an internal combustion engine could carry. Therefore, an electric car could have impressive power and dynamics, but it lost in terms of energy reserve and duration of movement.
Why Jenatzy's record is important today
Today, electric vehicles regularly demonstrate enormous power and the ability to accelerate very quickly. But the historical problem has not completely disappeared: high power alone does not determine the practicality of a car.
La Jamais Contente showed that a battery can provide high speed. However, energy storage technologies took decades to approach the requirements of mass transport. Therefore, Camille Jenatzy should be seen not as a person who “predicted the modern electric car,” but as a racer who was the first to practically prove: an electric car can be faster than any other car — even if only for a very short distance.
This is the true historical paradox of La Jamais Contente. The first car to exceed 100 km/h was electric. But within a few years, the absolute record passed to cars with internal combustion engines and remained with them for a long time.
La Jamais Contente is now kept in France, at the Château de Compiègne. And Jenatzy's name remained in the history of Belgian motorsport, along with his grave in Laeken and the nickname “Red Devil.” In 1899, the battery already allowed speeds over 100 km/h. The technology that limited the electric car was then not so much in the motor as in the energy source.