Racing cars of the USSR. The USSR. pursuit of speed. Sports car "Pobeda-Sport"

It is generally accepted that in the USSR cars were very simple, utilitarian and slow-moving. But in reality this is far from the case. The review presents the first Russian and Soviet cars created specifically for racing and speed records.
Most of them have a difficult history of creation and a difficult path to success.

Racing cars from the Russo-Balt plant

In the 1910s there were very few cars in Russia, but the first races were already held. As in Europe, rallies became the main type of competition. In those years, racing tracks were not yet built, and competitions were held on ordinary roads over long distances. Cars for competitions were also often made on the basis serial models. The first racing car in Russia can be called the Russo-Balt S24, which existed in several versions.

And if the first modifications looked like ordinary two-seater cars, then the C24/58 became the first special prototype. The large, sleek, green car was nicknamed the “Russian Cucumber.” Its 4.9-liter engine developed a record 58 hp for that time. The maximum speed of the car is 120 -130 km/h.
The car was prepared for one-mile racing. The acetylene lights, fenders, bumpers, running boards, spare tanks, and canvas folding top were removed from the car - and the weight was almost halved.
Russo-Balt cars performed well at competitions both in Russia and abroad. After particularly successful races, sales of new cars increased noticeably.

For many years, a situation developed in the country where there was no time for motorsport. And then amateurs took on the cars. In the late 1930s, several enthusiasts assembled their own versions of racing cars. In 1937, on the Zhitomir highway near Kiev, they staged a kilometer race, where Girel's GAZ-A, Tsypulin's GAZ-TsAKS, Zharov's GAZ-A and Kleshchev's GAZ-A met. These were all cars on outdated GAZ-A chassis, with old 4-cylinder engines. As a result, the all-Union speed records they set did not even reach the record of Tsarist Russia: 142.5 km/h.

ZIS-101A-Sport

In 1938, in the experimental workshop of the Moscow Plant named after Stalin, three young workers began proactive development sports car mobile They took the best Soviet limousine ZIS-101 as a basis. True, it's not best base for a sports car - after all, it weighs 2.5 tons, but Komsomol members can’t handle that much.
The in-line 8-cylinder engine ZIS-101 was boosted. With an increase in displacement from 5.8 to 6.1 liters, power increased by one and a half times - from 90 to 141 hp.
The car was shown to I.V. Stalin. He, like other members of the Politburo, liked the car. The ZIS-101A-Sport was tested on the highway, its maximum speed is 168 km/h.

Pobeda-Sport (GAZ-SG1)

The design of his own Soviet car for setting speed records was entrusted to aviation engineer A.A. Smolin. Under his leadership, the new Soviet car M20 Pobeda underwent a number of transformations. The new body was made of duralumin, the roof was lowered, and the tail was made pointed. “Nostrils” appeared on the hood lid for better air intake. The bottom of the car turned out to be completely flat. As a result, it turned out to be very light - only 1200 kg.
The car was equipped with a 2.5-liter GAZ engine. In the most productive version, with a Roots compressor, the maximum power increased to 105 hp and the speed increased to 190 km/h.
A total of five cars were built, which set new all-Union speed records for long-distance driving.

Star

“Zvezda” is the first car in the USSR built specifically for sports. A car with a 350cc motorcycle engine. cm accelerated to 139.6 km/h. Reasons for success: lightweight aluminum body with very good aerodynamics and an unusual Zoller engine with 30.6 hp. Subsequently, the machine was improved, prototypes “Zvezda”-2, 3, 3M, M-NAMI, 5, 6 were created, which repeatedly set all-Union and world records in different classes.

Sokol-650

In the 1940s, immediately after the war, a Formula 2 racing car was developed at a joint Soviet-German enterprise. The engineers who created the Auto-Union racing cars, which conquered European tracks before the war, worked on it. The Sokol-650 model made its first trips in 1952. Vasily Stalin himself supervised the development of the machine. Two completely ready car delivered to Moscow to participate in the race. But local mechanics were unable to service such complex equipment, and the Sokol-650 did not prove itself on the track. Although the 12-cylinder 2-liter engine was capable of accelerating the 790-kilogram car to 260 km/h.

GAZ Torpedo (1951)

After experiments on creating a sports car Pobeda-Sport, the next project of GAZ engineer A. Smolin was “Torpedo” (SG2) - a car of a completely original design. The teardrop-shaped body, 6.3 meters long, was made of aviation materials: duralumin and aluminum. Thanks to this, the weight turned out to be small - only 1100 kg. The Torpedo was distinguished from other sports cars of the 1950s by its ease of control and maneuverability.
The engine was taken from the Pobeda M20: 4-cylinder, bored out to 2.5 liters of displacement. A Roots compressor was also installed on it. At a rotation speed of 4000 rpm, the engine produced 105 hp. Thanks to good aerodynamics, the GAZ Torpedo car showed maximum speed 191 km/h.

GAZ-TR

The SG3 car, also known as TR (“turbojet”), was built at the Gorky Automobile Plant in 1954. The development of engineer Smolin was aimed at setting a new world record for maximum speed among cars. With an engine from the MiG-17 fighter with a power of 1000 hp, GAZ TR, according to the project, could reach 700 km/h. Testing of the vehicle ended in an accident due to the lack of tires with the required qualities in the USSR.

ZIS-112

Looking at the success of the sports cars of the Gorky Automobile Plant, the ZIS plant in Moscow also decided to make their own version. The resulting car amazed everyone. Made in the spirit of American dream cars, the six-meter car was dubbed the “Cyclops” for its characteristic appearance - a round radiator grille and a round headlight in its center. As in the case of the ZIS-101A-Sport, the car turned out to be very heavy, weighing as much as 2.5 tons.
Instead of the base 140-horsepower engine, engineers installed an experimental 8-cylinder in-line engine. Gradually improving it, by 1954 the power was increased to 192 hp. With this engine, the maximum speed of the car increased to a phenomenal 210 km/h. The car that took part in the race turned out to be a complete failure: Axle weight distribution and handling were considered unsatisfactory. Soviet Union more maneuverable vehicles were required.

In 1957, the Moscow plant introduced new versions of its racing cars - ZIL-112/4 and 112/5. They had a body made of fiberglass, with suspension from a ZIS-110 limousine. Engine from ZIS-111 with power up to 220 hp. accelerated the car to 240 km/h. In 1957-1961 “Zilovsky” racers won many awards, including the national championship and vice-championship.

In the early 1960s, the ZIL-112S was manufactured. Its elegant fiberglass body followed the contours of the most modern European racing cars at that time. 6 liter carburetor engine The V8 developed 240 hp, and the improved 7.0-liter version was boosted to 300 hp. The car was equipped with modern disc brakes, which quickly slowed down the 1330 kg car from a top speed of 260-270 km/h. In 1965, racer Gennady Zharkov, driving a ZIL-112S, became the champion of the USSR.
One of the ZIL-112S cars has survived to this day and is now on display at the automobile museum in Riga.

Moskvich-404 Sport

Looking at the success of the sports GAZ and ZIS, the management of the Moscow Small Car Plant could not stand aside. Their serial cars, "Muscovites", were low-powered and quite heavy. But even on their basis, sports prototypes were built. In 1954, Moskvich-404 Sport was created. The 1.1-liter engine with four carburetors produced a modest 58 hp, which accelerated the car to 150 km/h.

KD

A car called KD Sport 900 is not the work of Italian designers, but just a homemade product. In 1963, a team of enthusiasts began work on a series of five cars of their own design. The fiberglass body hid the units of the “humpbacked Zaporozhets” ZAZ-965. 30 horsepower engine air cooling accelerated the car to 120 km/h. This is a modest result by today's standards, but considerable speed for a car of those years.

Cars of the Kharkov Automobile and Road Institute

In 1951-1952, a small group of HADI students began designing a sports car. The task was to build a car with maximum use units of existing equipment. The car was made according to the “formula” model - open wheels, a body made of welded pipes, a 30-horsepower M-72 motorcycle engine. The first car of the famous Kharkov University reached a speed of 146 km/m.

In 1962, the HADI High-Speed Car Laboratory developed a project for the world's smallest racing car. In a car weighing only 180 kilograms, the pilot could sit lying down, which ensured very good streamlining. It was planned that the 500 cc engine with small dimensions and weight would allow it to accelerate to 220 km/h. Unfortunately, when testing the prototype on the plain of the Baskunchak salt lake (the Soviet analogue of Bonneville), the “maximum speed” was only 100 km/h. Turned out to be vicious new technology tireless wheels.
Year after year, new experimental technology was developed at the HADI Sports Car Laboratory. Some of the samples turned out to be successful and set republican and all-Union speed records; tests of others resulted in the identification of deficiencies or accidents. The work of students and teachers of Kharkov University on new machines continues to this day.

Racing cars "Estonia"

The history of Soviet formula cars began with the 1952 Sokol-650 model. But these were one-off samples, moreover, built to order in Germany. But already in 1958, at the Tallinn Experimental Automobile Repair Plant, they began to build their own open-wheel racing cars from domestic components. Each subsequent model became better than the previous one, reliability increased, aerodynamics improved, power and maximum speed of Estonia cars increased. Most lucky cars were built in series of dozens and even hundreds of copies.

Rally Moskvich-412

The Moskvich 412, produced since the 1960s, has become one of the most famous Soviet sports cars in the world. The car had phenomenal survivability and unpretentiousness. From 1968 to 1973, the compact sedan competed in many international rallies. High places in the London-Sydney (16 thousand kilometers) and London-Mexico City (26 thousand kilometers) races they created good fame for the Soviet Moskvich, confirming its high reliability.

These cars were original analogues of the European “Alfa Romeo”, “ Aston Martin”, “Porsche” and others. And so let's get to the fun part.

1911 "Russo-Balt S24-55"

Initially, the Russo-Balt company was engaged in the production of railway equipment. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the company's management decided to start producing cars. It was at Russo-Balt that the first Russian sports car was made. The basis for it was the serial passenger car model “S24-35”. It was equipped with boosted up to 55 hp. engine with a displacement of 4.5 liters. It was the world's first engine with aluminum pistons. The innovation was kept in the strictest confidence.

By the standards of that time, the car was fast at 116 km/h. And in 1912, Andrei Nagel, who participated in the Monte Carlo Rally, showed very good results in the prestigious competition. good result 9th place in the general classification. From St. Petersburg to Monte Carlo he was supposed to travel with his partner Mikhailov, but he broke his arm with the starting handle right at the start - the engine backfired. Such incidents happened often before the introduction of electric starters. Be that as it may, Nagel single-handedly drove the car to the Cote d'Azur and became one of the main heroes of the Monte Carlo Rally. In 1913, the only copy of the Russo-Balt S24-55 was converted into a purely racing car with a streamlined body. The car performed successfully in various competitions, but then disappeared in the confusion of the revolution and the Civil War.

1913 “La Buire-Ilyin”

At the IV International Automobile Exhibition of 1913 in St. Petersburg, a small sports car debuted. Its two-seater body resembled a cigar, for which it immediately received the nickname “Havana.” The car had “dual citizenship”. The chassis and engine are from the French company La Buire, and the body was manufactured by private order from the Moscow carriage and automobile factory of P. Ilyin. the small company was the Russian dealer of La Buire and often built exclusive bodies for these cars. Havana had nothing to do with auto racing. It was a car for high-speed country walks and parades along city streets.

1932 "NATI-2"

The Scientific Automotive and Tractor Institute (NATI) was the forerunner of the current NAMI. He was involved in technical developments in automotive sector. In 1932, its specialists sharpened six prototypes of the NATI-2 small car. all cars had different bodies. One sported a sporty two-seater roadster. For its time, NATI-2 was a fairly advanced car. The basis was the spinal frame. The economical four-cylinder engine (1.2 liters) developed 22 hp. Suspension rear wheels– independent, which was then rare in small cars. Alas, in a workers' and peasants' country, sports cars were considered a bourgeois whim. And the NATI-2 roadster went to scrap metal

1937 "GAZ-A Sport"

This car was made by enthusiast Anton Girel. He was quite an old man and had memories of the brief heyday of Russian motorsport in pre-revolutionary times. It was they who pushed him to create a sports car. Girel took the GAZ-A as a basis, which was then the most popular passenger car in the USSR. All work was carried out at one of the motor depots in Leningrad. The design of the GAZ-A Sport was partly naive. So a small aerodynamic fin stuck out in the chassis - a completely useless thing, since the car was slow-moving. Despite boosted to 55 hp. engine, the car could only reach 129 km/h. By European standards, this is a ridiculous figure for a sports car. However, by the standards of the USSR, this is an all-Union speed record, which was officially registered by Anton Girel.

1937 "GAZ-TSAKS"

The GAZ-A Sport, made in Leningrad, caused another “duel” between the serene capital and Moscow. In the official capital, they also decided to create their own sports car in accordance with the resolution of the council of the Central Automobile Sports Club (CASC). The project was headed by engineer V. Tsipulin. He also took the mass-produced GAZ-A as a basis, but its design was seriously redesigned. The suspension has become stiffer and much lower. Under the panels of a specially created streamlined body hid a souped-up engine. TsAKS entered this car into racing more than once. When she drove to the starting point, her headlights and fenders were strengthened, and immediately before the race they were removed. The car was driven by A. Kulchitsky, a well-known tank tester in those years. He was known as a brave man, but he could not reach speeds of more than 130 km/h - for some reason the engine worked intermittently. It's amazing that GAZ-TSAKS survived the war. In the 40-50s, the car could sometimes be seen on the streets of Moscow. Then his traces are lost. In any case, the car far outlived its creator - Tsipulin was shot in the same 1937.

1939 "ZIS-Sport"

1950 “Victory-Sport”

The two-seater sports car was designed by A. Smolin, a former designer at an aircraft factory. Hence the “passion” for the duralumin from which the body is made. The official (according to the drawings) name of the model was GAZ-SG1. There were three of these cars made. Each one is based on serial “Victory”. Under the hood was a Pobedov engine, whose displacement was increased to 2.5 liters and power to 70 hp. In 1951, the engine was equipped with a supercharger, and it began to produce 105 hp. The speed of the Pobeda-Sport compressor reached 190 km/h. It was with this car that Mikhail Metelev became the first USSR champion in auto racing in 1950.

1951 "GAZ-Torpedo"

Under this name, this sports car appeared in many publications. Its real name is GAZ-SG2. The index shows that the model became the successor to the Pobeda-Sport and was designed by the same aircraft engineer Smolin. The supercharged engine developed 105 hp. The speed ceiling of the GAZ-Torpedo exceeded 191 km/h. When designing his second-generation sports car, Smolin no longer relied on the supporting frame of the Pobeda. He designed a completely new, beautiful cigar-shaped monocoque body. The car weighed 1,100 kg. Fortunately, this car has almost survived to this day, and now the GAZ Museum is busy restoring the GAZ-Torpedo.

1951 "ZIS-112"

The appearance of the car created a real sensation. In appearance, it was not inferior to the best American “dream-cars” (“dream-car” - translated as “dream car” - this is how conceptual developments used to be called). The design of the car belongs to the artist Rostkov, the author of the above-described ZIS-Sport. And the overall design of the car is also the work of his hands and mind. The chassis of the serial ZIS-110 limousine was taken as the basis. They also borrowed a huge engine from it - eight cylinders, six liters of displacement. Various tricks were used to increase the power to 182 hp. The maximum speed of the ZIS-112 amazed everyone - 205 km/h! However, attempts to use the car in circuit racing were not successful. The car, as engineers say, turned out to be a “tadpole”: the nose is too heavy and the tail is too light. Therefore, the coupe easily slipped into a skid. To improve handling, the wheelbase was soon shortened by a full meter. The removable hard top was also later abandoned - during the 300-kilometer race, there was nothing to breathe in the cockpit. The only copy of the ZIS-112 has not survived to this day.

1951 "Moskvich-403E-424E Coupe"

The capital's automaker, known to most of us under the name AZLK, was originally called MZMA - Moscow Small Car Plant. In 1951, it produced six samples of the promising Moskvich model. One of them was a two-seater sports coupe. A new engine with a displacement of 1.1 liters was intended for the car. and power 33 hp. The monocoque body frame was retained from the previous 400 model, but all the outer panels were new. This machine did not go into mass production. The factory workers, remembering that their first model “400” was a copy of the “Opel Cadet”, sarcastically dubbed the experimental new product “Sergeant”. The sports modification of “Sergeant” has started racing more than once. The maximum speed of the car reached 123 km/h. Three years later it was converted into an open car with a very low body.

1954 "Moskvich-Sport-404"

The sports car made its racing debut in the spring of '54. During its construction, the lower part of the body from the 1951 Sergeant was used. The car was equipped with an experimental engine model “404” (1.1 l, 58 hp). In 1959 it was replaced by more perfect motor“407G” (1.4 l., 70 hp). The first version weighed 902 kg and reached a speed of 147 km/h. After installing the new engine, driving a sports Moskvich could reach 156 km/h. This car won the national automobile racing championship in 1957, 1958 and 1959.

1957 "GAZ-SG4"

The next generation of GAZ sports cars created by A. Smolin. Four copies of SG4 saw the light at once. The car had an advanced design. Note the supporting body made of aluminum (as on modern production Audis and Jaguars!), aluminum crankcase final drive and boosted to 90 hp. GAZ-21 engine. one of the engines was equipped with an injection system with electronically controlled! The car reached speeds of up to 190 km/h. In 1963, the USSR championship was won there. In 1958, GAZ sold three SG4s and two earlier SG1/56s to the Moscow taxi fleet No. 6. Until 1965, all five cars could regularly be seen at circuit races, where the taxi company's sports team participated.

1961 “KVN-2500S”

Six such cars were manufactured according to V. Kosenkov’s design. One of the models - KVN-3500S - was equipped with a forced engine from the representative GAZ-12 (3.5 l. 95-100 hp). The rest of the cars were absolutely identical, bore the designation KVN-2500S and had engines from the GAZ-21 Volga with a power of 90-95 hp. KVNs weighed 900 kg. The maximum speed reached from 185 to 190 km/h. Not a single car has survived.

1961 "Kyiv"

This beautiful coupe was designed and built at the Antonov Aviation Design Bureau. The project was carried out by engineer V. Zemtsov. The car was boosted to 90 hp. engine from Volga. The maximum speed of the Kiev was 190 km/h.

1961 "KVN-1300G"

The next generation of the KVN model, also designed by engineer V. Kosenkov. The light sports car was built based on the mechanisms of the serial Moskvich-407. The forced engine developed about 65 hp, allowing the car to reach speeds of up to 155 km/h. The KVN-1300G won the USSR auto racing championship. In 1963, instead of the Moskvich engine, a Volga engine with a power of 90 hp was installed. In the rear suspension, the rigid axle was replaced by an independent mechanism. Improved handling.

1962 "ZIL-112S"

The capital's ZIL plant produced this magnificent supercar in two copies. Designer V. Rodionov used rare solutions. For example, the rear axle gearbox was made so that the gears in it could be changed “on the knee,” quickly adapting the transmission parameters to the characteristics of a particular race track. And the wheels were also changed quickly thanks to the fastening on a single central wing nut. The source of movement was V8 from executive ZILs. One with a volume of six liters and a power of 230 hp. The other is respectively seven liters and 270 hp. Depending on the type of engine, the lightweight supercar (weight - 1,300 kg) developed either 260 or 270 km/h. Driving a ZIL-112S, racer G. Zharkov became the national champion in 1956. Both cars have been preserved and are on display at the Riga Automobile Museum.

1962 "Moskvich-407 Coupe"

An experimental sports car, designed by Lev Shugurov, based on the serial Moskvich. There were only two such cars. Under the hood was a forced engine of the “403” model (1.4 liters, 81 hp). For the first time in the history of the Russian automotive industry, two horizontal twin Weber carburetors were installed on this engine. The speed of the sports Moskvich reached 150 km/h. Alas, not a single copy has survived.

It is generally accepted that in the USSR cars were very simple, utilitarian and slow-moving. But in reality this is far from the case. The review presents the first Russian and Soviet cars created specifically for racing and speed records. Most of them have a difficult history of creation and a difficult path to success.

Racing cars from the Russo-Balt plant

In the 1910s there were very few cars in Russia, but the first races were already held. As in Europe, rallies became the main type of competition. In those years, racing tracks had not yet been built, and competitions were held on ordinary roads over long distances. Competition cars were also often based on production models. The first racing car in Russia can be called the Russo-Balt S24, which existed in several versions.

And if the first modifications looked like ordinary two-seater cars, then the C24/58 became the first special prototype. The large, sleek, green car was nicknamed the “Russian Cucumber.” Its 4.9-liter engine developed a record 58 hp for that time. The maximum speed of the car is 120 -130 km/h.

The car was prepared for one-mile racing. The acetylene lights, fenders, bumpers, running boards, spare tanks, and canvas folding top were removed from the car - and the weight was almost halved.

Russo-Balt cars performed well at competitions both in Russia and abroad. After particularly successful races, sales of new cars increased noticeably.

ZIS-101A-Sport

In 1938, in the experimental workshop of the Moscow Stalin Plant, three young workers began the proactive development of a sports car. They took the best Soviet limousine ZIS-101 as a basis. True, this is not the best base for a sports car - after all, it weighs 2.5 tons, but Komsomol members can’t handle that much.

The in-line 8-cylinder engine ZIS-101 was boosted. With an increase in displacement from 5.8 to 6.1 liters, power increased by one and a half times - from 90 to 141 hp.
The car was shown to I.V. Stalin. He, like other members of the Politburo, liked the car. The ZIS-101A-Sport was tested on the highway, its maximum speed is 168 km/h.

Pobeda-Sport (GAZ-SG1)

The car was equipped with a 2.5-liter GAZ engine. In the most productive version, with a Roots compressor, the maximum power increased to 105 hp and the speed increased to 190 km/h.

A total of five cars were built, which set new all-Union speed records for long-distance driving.

Sports cars continue to be produced in the post-Soviet space.

Strange as it may seem, sports cars have been and are being made in Russia, yes, but of course few have seen them, much less driven them. Back in Soviet times, they were made by both large auto giants and small sports clubs and other single enthusiasts. These cars were original analogues of the European “Alfa Romeo”, “Aston Martin”, “Porsche” and others. And so let's get to the fun part.

The Russo-Balt S24/55 is perhaps the first domestic production car professionally prepared for rallying. In general, in fact, this car, which existed in a single copy, was created for one single race - the 1912 Monte Carlo rally. The initiator of the construction of the sports car was Andrei Platonovich Nagel, editor-publisher of the St. Petersburg magazine "Automobile", and he also piloted it in the rally.
Since 1910, the editor-in-chief himself owned the “engine” C24/30 series III, number 14. Driving this car in the summer of 1910, at the St. Petersburg-Kyiv-Moscow-St. Petersburg rally (3000 km), Nagel won gold medal. In the autumn of the same year, he toured European countries, visiting Berlin, Rome, Naples, crossed the Alps and climbed Vesuvius. Thus, Europe saw a Russian car for the first time. Then came the 1911 rally St. Petersburg-Moscow-Sevastopol. Again A. Nagel was awarded a gold medal for his performance in the same car "RBVZ" N14. In short, by the end of 1911 the publisher had the reputation of one of the most famous racers in the Russian Empire.
The typical design of the C24/30 model is a spar frame with dependent spring suspension of the rear wheels, a worm steering mechanism, a cone clutch, mechanical brakes, and magneto ignition. Power unit - 4501 cm3, lower valve distribution mechanism, non-removable cylinder head. Brakes - drums at the rear, none at the front!
But this Russo-Balt S24/55 (nee S24/30) series III number 9, naturally, was “brought to mind.” The engine capacity was increased to 4939 cm3. back in 1910 to participate in the Kiev run, but then its creator, chief designer Julien Potter's RBVZ did not achieve significant success (although it took revenge on the same car in the mileage races in Riga on June 7, 1911, showing a maximum speed of 120 km/h when starting on the move, and an average speed of 105 km/h). For that race, the compression ratio was raised from 4.0 to 5.5 units, which made it possible to squeeze out 55 hp. Specific power - about 35 hp. per ton of weight! As many as 11 Horse power per liter of volume! This is now when tuners are pulling out ten times more funny, but in 1911 - a huge achievement!
The car was prepared even more thoroughly for the "Rallye-Automobile-Monaco" - torque was transmitted to the axle through cardan shaft, not a chain, but pistons... oh, those pistons! Pistons, for the first time in the history of the automotive industry, were made of aluminum! They were received from Riga plant"Motor", where engineer Theodor Kalep in mid-1911 began experiments on the use of aluminum pistons in aircraft engines. In addition, the latest French Zenith carburetor was installed, gears with reduced gear ratio, thanks to which it was planned to reach a speed of up to 105 km/h (for the serial C24/30 - 70 km/h), powerful acetylene headlights "Fraconia" with a three-section acetylene generator, electric lighting from the dynamo and batteries. The body was made as light as possible - even the windshield was removed! But they installed an additional 50-liter tank. The engine spark plugs were hermetically sealed with caps invented personally by A. Nagel.
The "shoes" matched the car - best tires factories "Provodnik" - "Columbus"! Considering the features weather conditions, chains were put on the rear wheels, special skis were provided for the front wheels (the creators believed that skis would make it easier to control on snowy road). Pure alcohol was poured into the cooling system instead of water.
The radiator was decorated with brass letters Russo-Baltique in French. The emblem of the Imperial Russian Federation was placed on the front of the body. automobile society, and signs were installed in front and behind, where it was written in red letters on a white background: “Rallye-Automobile-Monaco”. The white, blue and red Russian flag and the red and white flag of Monaco were placed in front.
The start was not entirely successful - the engine backfired (such incidents happened often before the introduction of electric starters), and Vadim Mikhailov broke his arm. Mikhailov flatly refused to stay in St. Petersburg, and set off on the journey with only one working hand - his left.
A. Nigel and V. Mikhailov in a Russo-Balt S24/55 car III series. 1910
The race conditions were inhumane - storms, snow drifts, and sometimes you had to literally move by touch. Lanterns, even as powerful as the Fraconia, could not cope. “Only a white spot was illuminated” - in the words of Nagel himself. Mikhailov more than once acted as a guide, wandering through the snow with a lantern in his hand. A car was following him. At different sections, the journalist either trudged at a snail's pace, or drove as fast as he could - all 105 km/h! On the territory of France, a car drove into a strip of fog, thick as cotton wool. But this obstacle was overcome with honor.
But the next thing almost forced me to give up the race. The car with a small gear ratio in the rear axle did not handle the icy ascents and descents of Belfort. The chains were worn and torn and were of no use. A trip to the nearest village helped. But no one could sell them chains - there were none. Finally, someone suggested contacting a local winemaker. He allegedly carries wine for sale in barrels and ties them with chains when he carries them on a cart. The winemaker was stubborn for a long time, but he sold the chains. They were very helpful on icy climbs. (According to another legend, A. Nagel shod the wheels with leather belts with nails, inventing the first studded tires).
And finally, after 195 hours 23 minutes from the start, having passed 3257 kilometers from average speed 16.7 km/h, having consumed about 600 liters of gasoline (18 l/100 km), having made the entire journey without a single breakdown and bringing “Pererburg” air with it in its tires, Russo-Balt finished in Monte Carlo. First! The second participant finished only 6 hours later. A total of 59 crews out of 83 that started finished.
The scoring has begun - as in any rally, it is far from the easiest thing. A. Nagel received the 1st prize for routes (as he had calculated!), the 1st prize for endurance and the 9th prize for the general classification (since the commission took into account the number of comfortable seats on the car and amenities, the amount of luggage carried, elegance, cleanliness and etc. - nonsense!). The award according to the general classification can hardly be considered awarded correctly, since the organizing committee of the rally, when determining the norms and running time, did not take into account the difficulties winter journey in Russia, whose roads are noticeably inferior to the roads of Western Europe.
After the announcement of the results, awards, banquet and official closing of the rally in Monaco, A. Nagel and V. Mikhailov rode on the Russo-Balt for about 1000 miles in the south of France and Italy. And in Lyon they packed the car in a box and went by rail to St. Petersburg.
Racing Russo-Balt S24/55 III series. 1913
A. Nagel received a higher award in Russia. According to the report to Tsar Nicholas II of the vice-president of the IRAO, adjutant V. Svechin, Andrei Platonovich from the “height of the Throne” was awarded the Order of St. Anne, III degree. This was the first state award received for sports success in motorsports! For its part, the IRAO, wanting to celebrate the victory won by A. Nagel, presented him with an honorary gift and arranged a friendly dinner on February 23, 1912.
RBVZ also got its way - car sales jumped sharply! Two Russo-Baltas (landaulets models "C24-40" (N270, XIII series) and "K 12-20" (N 217, X series) were even purchased by the imperial garage! The principle voiced somewhat later by Henry Ford worked: on Sunday win, sell on Monday.
Andrei Nagel's victories do not end there! In 1912, the tireless journalist in his Russo-Balt took second place in the San Sebastian international rally and received a special prize for endurance. In August 1913, Nagel drove car No. 14 with a Grand Tourism body for 7 thousand km along the roads of Central and Southern Russia, and in December he went on a trip to the countries of Southern Europe and North Africa. By the beginning of 1914, that is, in less than four years of ruthless operation, his Russo-Balt covered 80 thousand km without major repairs! Not every modern motorist manages to do an average of 20 thousand km a year.
The story of the unique specimen No. 9 does not end there! On May 14, 1913, at about two o'clock in the afternoon in St. Petersburg, on the Volkhov Highway, a car race took place over a distance of one mile on the move. The time taken to cover the distance was recorded using a device called a telechron, invented by the engineer and passionate motorist P.B. Postnikov. The finish line was recorded by Dr. Vsevolozhskoy, a member of the St. Petersburg Automobile Club. The winners were counted in seven categories.
Among the Benzes, Mercedes, Opels and other participating cars, a green car with a streamlined body stood out. Yes! It was Russo-Balt-S24-55 III series (instance No. 9) - the same one that brought victory to A. Nagel in 1912 in the “Rallye-Automobile-Monaco”! This time it was piloted by the 24-year-old RBVZ brand racer, Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov.
Not only the pilot has changed, but also the car itself. Extras such as acetylene flashlights, extra batteries, generators and fuel tanks they were simply not needed at mileage races, and they got rid of them. As well as from many body parts - bumpers, fenders, canvas convertible top. As a result, the weight of the car was reduced by almost half! The body itself received a characteristic streamlined shape, for which (naturally, and for the color!) it received the nickname “Russian Cucumber”. Unfortunately, the designers at that time did not yet know about vortex air disturbances arising from the spokes of rotating wheels, otherwise, it is quite possible that the result of I.I. Ivanov would be higher.
And so - second place. The best result was shown by Mr. Herner in a Benz, setting the last speed record in the history of Tsarist Russia - 189.5 versts per hour (about 201 km/h), covering a mile on the move in 19 seconds (for comparison, the Lambotghini Diablo SV overcomes first kilometer in 25 seconds). However, the jury, taking into account the exceptional qualities of his car, singled Mr. Hoerner out of competition.
Thus, Mr. Donier was declared the winner in a Mercedes, reaching a speed of 134 miles per hour and covering the mile in 26.8 seconds. The prize, having been won three times in a row, became the property of Donier. Second place was awarded to I.I. Ivanov on "Russian Cucumber".
On May 26, 1913, the first circuit races in Russia took place. However, that “ring” is very far from this concept today. The route passed through Volkhovskoye Highway, Aleksandrovna, Krasnoye Selo and Litovskoye Highway, forming a “circle” 37 miles long. According to the regulations, it was proposed to go through this ring 7 times, so the total distance was 230 versts or 276 kilometers.
Applications for participation were submitted by 21 crews, including such eminent racers of those years as Mr. Slupsky in the most powerful of the participating cars, Excelsior; Mr. Suvorin in a BENZ car; Mr. Rene Nothomb in the beautiful Metallurzhik car, called the “Red Demon”, and, of course, the RBVZ factory pilot Mr. Ivanov in the “Cucumber”.
Unfortunately, for the weather, unlike motorsports fans, this day meant absolutely nothing, and at the very beginning of the race there was heavy rain and strong wind, almost sweeping the car off the road. As a result, of the 19 starting crews, less than half reached the finish line - only 9. To the credit of RBVZ, copy N9 was among them, taking second place, and behind the prize-winner - G.M. Suvorin on the Benz - by only 2 minutes and 6 seconds.
Yes, even if Russo-Balt did not take first places so often, the importance of this car is difficult to overestimate both for the plant and for domestic motorsports. RBVZ cars received wide recognition not only among civilian buyers - they received both military and government orders, and the engineer and designer of the plant had such a high reputation that the development of the first domestic hydroplane was entrusted to Russo-Baltic Wagonny.
In addition, the N9 copy became the first domestic sports car, professionally prepared for competitions by the manufacturer. The path of the first, as you know, is not easy, but others follow in their footsteps
Unfortunately, during the dark years of the revolution and the Civil War, the car disappeared without a trace, and what now stands in the Riga Museum is nothing more than a copy, and even that is not entirely accurate.

Sports modification of the NATI-2 model assembled by a designer K. Sharapov. Design features: air-cooled engine, independent rear wheel suspension. Cylinders - 4, engine displacement - 1211 cubic meters. cm., power - 22 l. With. at 2800 rpm, number of gears - 3, curb weight - 730 kg, speed - 75 kilometers per hour.
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The entire production of sports cars was reduced to single samples of amateur athletes, assembled in makeshift conditions literally on the knee. All work to prepare cars for competitions boiled down to making a streamlined body without wings based on the GAZ-A or GAZ-M1, moderately boosting the engine, and sometimes installing short exhaust pipes and several carburetors.
57-year-old Leningrad Lensovet driver Anton Girel also took this path. As a donor, he chose the “people's” car of those years - GAZ-A, mass-produced from 1932 to 1936. He lengthened the base of the car by 300 mm and made a streamlined body without protruding parts (fenders, headlights, etc.), reducing the weight of the car to 950 kg. On the tail of the car there was a keel, similar to the one on Malcolm Campbell’s record-breaking “blue birds”, which set new speed records almost every day.
A. Girel immediately dismissed the GAZ-A engine as hopelessly outdated and having virtually no prospects for increasing power, installing on his car the four-cylinder in-line power unit GAZ-M1, which, by the way, was a copy of the Ford-BB engine, also not the first freshness . Leaving the engine volume unchanged (3282 cm3), the designer increased the compression ratio to 5.5 units, installed two carburetors and a direct-flow exhaust system - four short exhaust pipes, increasing engine power to 55 hp. at 2800 rpm. The figure is funny, considering that in Europe there have long been devices with a power of more than 100 hp. But for a homemade motor it’s an excellent indicator! True, it becomes bitter if we remember that the Russo-Balt C24/55 engine, which won the Monaco Rally in 1912, had the same power.
During road trials in July 1937, the GAZ-A-Sport with a three-speed gearbox and reduced gear ratio showed a speed of 127.6 km/h. Let me remind you that the last speed record in Tsarist Russia was approximately 142.5 km/h.
And so, on September 30, 1937, four (!) domestic supercars met on the Zhitomir highway near Kiev: Girel’s GAZ-A, Tsypulin’s GAZ-TsAKS, Zharov’s GAZ-A and Kleshchev’s GAZ-A. Speeches from the heroic pilots, “hurray” and so on, and then the race began, as a result of which, by the way, the USSR record races per kilometer were born on the move. Girel's GAZ-A-Sport showed a speed of 129 km/h, falling short of the 24-year-old record by more than 10 km/h. But old records did not count in those days. Another country - another sport, and for A.I. Girel officially registered an all-Union speed record.
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The choice of donor was not original - the same GAZ-A, model 1932. But the chassis has undergone a thorough redesign. The frame at the rear has been noticeably curved upward to reduce total height body Rear suspension remained unchanged - on a transverse semi-elliptic spring, but the front one - on four longitudinal quarter-elliptic springs. Plus - GAZ-M1 hydraulic shock absorbers on all four wheels. Due to the change in body height, the steering column received a greater angle than on the serial GAZ-A. The open two-seater streamlined body, made of steel sheets on a wooden frame, was more ergonomic and aesthetic than the GAZ Girel body. Tsipulin was familiar with the work of A.O. Nikitin, and the bottom of the car received a streamlined tray. The gas tank is located behind the driver's seat.
In-line four-cylinder power unit with a volume of 3285 cm3. was borrowed from the GAZ-M1, but with an experimental aluminum cylinder head and a compression ratio increased to 6.0. Pre-revolutionary records finally gave up - the power of this engine was already 60 hp. at 3100 rpm. With a rear axle gearbox with a gear ratio of 2.9, a three-speed gearbox all from the same GAZ-M1, the estimated speed of the GAZ-TsAKS was 135 km/h.
The dimensions of Tsipulin's car were slightly different from Girel's GAZ: length - 4200 mm, width - 1670 mm, height - 1200 mm; base 2930 mm; tire size - 28X4.75", weight - 50 kg less - 900 kg. Removable headlights were provided for driving the car to competition venues.
Since Vladimir Ivanovich built the car under the auspices of the Moscow Central Automobile Sports Club, the car was called GAZ-TsAKS (sometimes in the press you can find GAZ-TsAMK or GAZ-TsAMKS). The car was driven by Viktor Kulchitsky, a well-known tank tester in those years. He was known as a brave man, but the best result he managed to achieve in the GAZ-TsAKS was 131.1 km/h. Then for some reason the engine worked intermittently. On September 30, 1937, on the Zhitomir highway, TsAKS let even the cars of Zharov and Kleshchev pass ahead, and they were generally assembled from decommissioned tins with a mileage of about three hundred thousand kilometers. Perhaps V. Tsipulin would have been able to bring his creation to fruition, but in the same year of 1937 he was arrested, and in 1940 the outstanding designer passed away.
GAZ-TSAKS has long outlived its creator. What is surprising is that the car even survived the war, and in the 1940-1950s it was repeatedly seen on the streets of Moscow. His further fate is unknown.

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One of the most serious sports cars created in the USSR. In terms of temperament, it competed with the road-going Bentleys and Mercedes of those times. The elegant two-seater car was designed by a group of young ZIS designers led by A. Pukhalin. The design was developed by the artist Rostkov. ZIS-Sport was made specifically for the anniversary of the Komsomol. At the House of Unions, where the celebration took place, the car was literally carried into the hall by hand before the opening.
It didn’t take long to choose a chassis - it was decided to use the latest modification of the most modern car - the ZIS-101, mass-produced since 1936. Everything would be fine, but the “one hundred and first” is a limousine! A huge limousine - almost 6 m long, almost 2 m wide, weighing 2.5 tons! Only a madman could make a roadster out of such a car. Or a Komsomol member.
Work was in full swing. Pukhalin created the general layout, redesigned the ZIS-101 suspension: both, in particular, received stabilizers lateral stability, a vacuum brake booster appeared. Rear axle with a hypoid transmission (by the way, the first in the USSR) was designed by Kremenetsky, and Pullmanov took care of the engine. He noticeably boosted the engine of the 101st, increasing the number of revolutions, the compression ratio, and changing the valve timing. In-line eight-cylinder (!) engine with a volume of 5766 cm3. was increased to a volume of 6060 cm3, received a cylinder head, pistons, connecting rods made of aluminum alloy, other crankshaft and camshaft, intake manifold, two MKZ-L2 carburetors without an air filter. Power increased by one and a half times - from 90 to 141 hp. at 3300 rpm. The redesigned gearbox now features bevel synchronizers and an overdrive gear. The gearbox is standard from ZIS-101A.
The approach to car design was fundamentally different from everything that had come before. It didn’t even occur to enthusiasts to make a two-seater streamlined body based on the ZIS-101 body. It was too easy! So they brought in bodybuilder Valentin Rostkov to work. Luckily, he turned out to be a good designer, and, in addition, he was an excellent watercolor painter. So sketches of the car were placed on the “technical council” table, from which the best one was selected.
Because the power point was very long and very heavy, in order to improve the balance along the axles and load the drive wheels, the two-seater cockpit was moved far back. In addition, the ZIS-101A-Sport received a removable awning, an air intake on the hood and head optics built into the fairings of the front wings. The car's wheelbase was huge for a two-seater coupe - 3750 mm, length - 5750 mm.
But this is on paper, but in reality.... It was not possible to embody the idea in metal. To make casting models, dies for fittings, equipment, a wooden block for the body - for single enthusiasts such a task was practically impossible. It’s easier to “pull out” another 51 from a 90-horsepower engine.
The authorities reacted to the request for help, at least, coolly. The quality of the ZIS-101, to which increased demands were placed, left much to be desired. The State Commission headed by E.A. Chudakov, who at that time was the head of the department of wheeled vehicles of the VAMM RKKA, where the well-known Nikitin A.O. worked, identified a number of shortcomings (in particular, the necessary reduction in the weight of the ZIS-101 vehicle by 600-700 kg), and gave the necessary recommendations. But making recommendations is one thing, but implementing them is another. Moreover, every morning in the workshops there were not enough employees arrested at night. Pukhalin’s company was lucky that few people knew about their work, otherwise one not-at-all-fine morning they might have been missed.
ZIS-101A-Sport. 1939
Helped, as often happened in Soviet times, by another high-profile anniversary - the twentieth anniversary of the Komsomol. The long list of gifts from the plant to the Mother Motherland, along with the above-planned cars through the efforts of Kremenetsky, also included the ZIS-101A-Sport. On October 17, 1938, Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article “Sports Limousine” with one of Rostkov’s sketches. The country found out about the gift, they started talking about the gift, it was too late to retreat. How, after all, fate can turn around! Just yesterday, guys would have been shot like pests for working on a sports car, but today they would have been shot if the car had not been ready on time. There was nowhere to retreat, and on December 11, 1938, Likhechev issued order N11, which detailed who, what and when should be manufactured for the sports limousine.
For the first time in the history of the USSR, development of the design of a sports car was controlled at almost the highest level. After all, a lot depended on the ZIS-101A-Sport, and everyone understood this very well. The car, still without a body, was driven around the plant territory, defects and “childhood diseases” of the design were eliminated. Finally, the first drive took place with a fully assembled, painted, polished car. Pukhalin was driving, and Pukhalin was sitting next to him. Kremenetsky looked at what their creation looked like from the outside. Young Komsomol members did not yet know that this was not only their first, but also their last car...
And so, the presentation of the car to the country's top leadership took place. A piece of the wall of the House of Unions, where the show was scheduled, was dismantled overnight, a two-ton car was carried into the foyer by hand, and the facade was put in order before dawn. They knew how to work when necessary! The operation was personally led by ZIS director Ivan Alekseevich Likhachev. In the morning, not one of the delegates and guests of the Moscow party conference passed by the car without paying attention to it. But the main thing is that Stalin himself, and after him other members of the Politburo, not only examined, but also approved the unusual car.
But the young designers were primarily concerned with sea trials. So far it has only been possible to reach 168 km/h, but in test mode, and not in official competitions, so the result was not counted. In 1940, the ZIS-101A-Sport on the 43rd kilometer of the Minsk Highway accelerated to 162.4 km/h; in the same 1940, the open ZIS-102 showed a result of 153 km/h. However, the design speed of 180 km/h was quite realistic.
The car had enormous prospects, but in Likhachev in 1939 he was appointed People's Commissar of Medium Engineering (although in 1940 he was removed from this position by Stalin and again became director of the plant, but the Great Patriotic War began), and the new director of the ZIS-101A-Sport was not was needed. Life also led to enthusiastic designers: Kremenetsky remained at the plant, but was engaged in equipment for machining, Pulmanov went to full-time graduate school at the Auto Mechanical Institute, and Pukhalin went to the rocket industry. Only Rostkov continued to work with cars: he worked for a long time at ZIS (later ZIL), then at NAMI, and participated in the creation of many post-war ZIS and ZIL cars, including sports cars.
The experience gained in creating the most serious domestic pre-war sports car, capable of competing with the road-going Bentleys and Mercedes of those times, was of almost no use to the country. Only some of the post-war ZIS-101A were equipped with aluminum cylinder heads, increasing the power to 110 hp. With. V. Rostkov’s design discoveries were also not useful - the ZIS-110 was ordered to be copied from American models.
The fate of the ZIS-101A-Sport itself is unknown. According to some sources, it rotted in the factory backyard, but others... others claim that someone saw the dark green roadster somewhere in the 1960s. However, the first statement is more realistic - such was the fate of most domestic prototypes.
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The Gorky Automobile Plant also made attempts to create a high-speed car, but without E. Agitov, things did not progress until in 1950, the chief designer of the aircraft plant, a leading specialist in the hydrodynamics of floating car hulls, the design of water and air propellers, was transferred from the Gorky Aircraft Plant N21 to GAZ. aerodynamics of high-speed car bodies, forty-three-year-old Alexey Andreevich Smolin. He already had such developments as: a two-seat snowmobile (1934), a KSM-1 aircraft with a GAZ-M engine (1935), a six-seat glider (1937), an aircraft with a six-cylinder car engine GAZ-Avia (1938), snowmobiles GAZ-98 and GAZ-98K (1939-1940), amphibious all-terrain vehicle with a GAZ-Avia engine (1943). The person, as we see, is active and talented.
And he got down to business thoroughly. The standard M20 body has undergone significant changes: the roof was lowered by 160mm, fairings appeared at the front and rear, but not made of steel, as on the pre-war GAZ-A-Aero and GAZ-GL1, but of light alloy. The wheels received shields, and the tail, in the best traditions of Nikitin, turned into a long elongated cone. In addition, additional “nostrils” appeared on the hood to cool the engine. The bottom was covered with a smooth tray.
And there was something to cool. The volume of the serial lower-valve Pobedovsky engine was increased to 2487 cm3, the compression ratio increased to 7.0 units, and two K-22A carburetors appeared. As a result of these changes, engine power increased to 75 hp. at 4100 rpm. Transmission and chassis There were no significant changes, except that the driveshaft now consisted of two parts, with an intermediate support.
Given its dimensions (length - 5680 mm, width - 1695 mm, height - 1480 mm, wheelbase - 2700 mm), the car did not weigh that much - 1200 kg. Of course, Pobeda-Sport (according to the GAZ-SG1 drawings) owed such a mass to aviation material - duralumin. By the way, SG1 is the first Soviet sports car not made in a single copy. A total of five of these cars were built.
"Pobeda-Sport" (GAZ-SG1) with an open body. 1955
In the 1950 sports season, one of the GAZ-SG1 (N11) competed as part of the Gorky Torpedo sports club. Two other Torpedo cars (N20 and N27) also stood out among the vehicles of other participants - the roofs were lowered to the bottom, the rear windows and doors were eliminated. But, nevertheless, they remained homemade, assembled under far from ideal conditions.
The best of the forty-three crews was GAZ tester Mikhail Metelev (Torpedo-GAZ) on Pobeda-Sport N 11. He set new all-Union speed records at distances of 50, 100 and 300 km, respectively 159.929 km/h, 161.211 km/h and 145.858 km/h.
But the work didn't end there! Smolin brought all projects to completion, to a perfect, ideal, from his point of view, state.
In 1951, three cars were equipped with Rutz rotary superchargers, two carburetors were replaced by one, but two-chamber - K-22. Thus, the maximum power increased to 105 hp, and the speed - to 190 km/h!
Another car, in the same 1951, was equipped with an experimental four-cylinder 2.5-liter NAMI engine with an aluminum cylinder head designed for a compression ratio of 9.5, upper intake and lower exhaust valves, and two serial carburetors mounted on the intake manifold ( NAMI designs). The power of such an engine was already 94 hp. at 4000 rpm, but the maximum speed increased by only 2 km/m - to 164 km/h.
In the same year A.A. Smolin began work on more promising car SG2, so we can assume that the installation of different engines is just one of the steps in developing the design of a new car, no longer tied to the production chassis.
In 1952, the only one remaining with the “native” Pobeda-Sport engine was equipped with an experimental cylinder head with two spark plugs per cylinder. The compression ratio was increased to 7.4, but there was no increase in power. And in 1955, an open version of the SG1 with a GAZ-21 engine appeared.
In total, three USSR championships were won with Pobeda-Sport cars (1950, 1955 and 1956). It was the first truly successful domestic sports car. However, this is not surprising - after all, it was designed by an aircraft engineer. In addition, the experience gained during the creation of the GAZ-SG1 was not wasted, but was useful to Smolin when creating the GAZ-Torpedo (SG2) car in 1951, and, later, the SG3 (with a MIG-17 jet engine) and SG4.
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Experience in creating sports cars gradually accumulated. Of course, this process did not go as smoothly as we would like - many designers of pre-war sports cars were either repressed (V. Tsipulin) or repurposed to design military equipment (A. Nikitin, A. Pukhalin). There was a catastrophic shortage of specialists. And yet, on the flagships domestic auto industry there were already people who participated in developments of this kind: V. Rostkov at ZIS and A. Smolin at GAZ.

Creating new car, the aircraft engineer no longer relied on the M20 supporting frame - he created a new body with clean slate. Using the same aviation materials: duralumin and aluminum, A. Smolin built a teardrop-shaped streamlined body 6300 mm long, 2070 mm wide, 1200 mm high, which turned out to be much lighter than the previous one - 1100 kg.

While working in parallel on the modernization of the GAZ-SG1, the designer had the opportunity to test various power units on the old chassis before installing it on the GAZ-Torpedo. After a series of tests, the choice fell on the “Pobedovsky” engine with its displacement increased to 2487 cm3. volume and supercharger "Roots", used in the second modification of SG1. Its characteristics remained unchanged - 105 hp. at 4000 rpm. In addition to the engine, the SG2 used some other solutions developed at Pobeda-Sport, in particular a three-speed gearbox without synchronizers and a two-part driveshaft with an intermediate support.

But in terms of its characteristics, the GAZ-Torpedo was inferior to the ZIS-112 created in the same year: the speed limit was 191 km/h. Although the handling of the SG2 was incomparably better. By the way, the GAZ-Torpedo is one of the few sports cars of those years that have almost survived to this day. Now the GAZ Museum is busy with restoration.
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A centralized economy implies the absence of competition in general and between car manufacturers in particular. However, the theories of Marxism-Leninism are one thing, but practice is completely different. And even more so in sports. The plant named after J.V. Stalin himself simply could not help but respond to the appearance of the GAZ-SG1 (Pobeda-Sport) with its own sports car. So in 1951 the ZIS-112 appeared.
Fortunately, the plant still had a person with experience in creating sports cars on limousine chassis, one of those who built the ZIS-101-Sport in 1939 - Valentin Rostkov. It was he who developed the design and general layout of the new sports car on the ZIS-110 chassis.
The design of the car was truly avant-garde - in the spirit best traditions dream cars ("dream-car" - this is what concept cars were called in the mid-twentieth century): a huge, almost six-meter three-seater with a round radiator grille and a single headlight. At the factory the car was called “Cyclops” or “one-eyed”. By the way, it was on the ZIS-112 that the combination of white and blue colors first appeared, which later became traditional for the factory team.
Initially, the car was equipped with a serial 140-horsepower ZIS-110 engine. But for a sports car weighing almost two and a half tons (2450 kg), it was, to put it mildly, rather weak, and in the same year an experimental engine developed by Vasily Fedorovich Rodionov was installed on the ZIS-112. New eight-cylinder engine with a volume of 6005 cm3. with upper intake and lower exhaust valves, which made it possible to retain the old cylinder head, but with increased diameters of the intake valves, with two MKZ-LZ carburetors, it developed a power of 182 hp. at 3500 rpm. In addition, the following were provided: an oil cooler, two oil pump, manual control of ignition timing. The maximum speed was... 204 km/h!
However, a number of unresolved problems remained. First of all, the engine. Like the ZIS-101-Sport, the eight-cylinder unit of the ZIS-112 was... in-line! And therefore monstrously long. The weight distribution of the car was far from ideal; the sports car turned out to be, as the designers say, a “tadpole” - that is, with a very heavy front end, which contributed to a skid.
The ZIS-112 went to the start of linear racing on the Minsk highway, but very soon it became clear to the racers and designers: this car is not even suitable for such competitions.
In 1954, the car's wheelbase was reduced by 600mm (from 3760 to 3160mm), and the overall length was reduced from 5920 to 5320mm. The changes also affected power unit: the compression ratio increased from 7.1 to 8.7 units, two more carburetors appeared, thanks to which it was possible to remove 192 hp. at 3800 rpm. The maximum speed increased to 210 km/h - an unprecedented figure for a domestic sports car! The last problem the hood became streamlined - the thermal stress of the engine was such that there was nothing to breathe in the cabin!
The 1955 season showed the complete failure of this version. The USSR championships began to be held on the ring track in Minsk. The ring, however, was very unique: two highways were connected by transverse roads, creating a circle 42 km long - perhaps the longest “autodrome” in the world! Nevertheless, more maneuverable vehicles were required here than on linear racing tracks, and the ZIS-112 still had problems with maneuverability. The time has come for other competitions and other cars, and the Soviet dream-car ended its life in the factory backyard.

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At the end of the 1940s, domestic industry developed by leaps and bounds. This is not surprising - the party did not sleep. Not the least place was given to the automotive industry in general and motorsport in particular. GAZ took a strong position on the country's tracks, and Muscovites with ZIS were hot on the heels of the Gorky residents.
But... there is a black mark in a family, and such a freak at that time was the former KIM plant, recently renamed MZMA (Moscow Plant Subcompact Cars, later - AZLK, now - JSC "Moskvich"). The MZMA did not achieve significant results in sports competitions by the end of the first half of the century. It was time to take revenge.
It is worth noting that MZMA in those years had a very weak technical base. The body of the KIM-10-50, for example, was stamped on molds made in the USA, and the Moskvich-400, in fact, was not even a copy of the pre-war Opel-Kadet, it was one! The body parts stamps were taken from Germany as trophies! And it is not surprising that by the end of the 1940s, the appearance of the Moskvich-400 turned out to be hopelessly outdated. The situation had to be saved, and in 1949 an experimental batch of Moskvich-403E-424E cars appeared (it is believed that only six of them were built, but the figure requires clarification). The lack of design experience was evident - the power frame and chassis remained unchanged, the main difference was the new hinged body panels, a gearbox with a shift lever on the steering column and a horizontal arrangement of the spare wheel. Simply put, the candy wrapper has changed - the candy remains the same. To introduce the new body (424), new dies were required, which MZMA could not produce on its own, the currency for their purchase abroad was also not allocated, and the new body did not go into production.
However, as often happens, what did not find application in the civilian automotive industry found a place in motorsport, and in 1950 Moskvich-403E-424E went to the first USSR auto racing championship. Instead of the outdated Moskvich-401 engine, the car was equipped with an experimental in-line four-cylinder Moskvich-403E engine, with an aluminum cylinder head and top-mounted intake valves. Power unit with a volume of 1074 cm3. produced 33 hp. at 3900 rpm. These figures were enough to accelerate a car weighing 880 kg to 110 km/h. But no more. It is not surprising that Moskvich-403E-424E did not achieve success in 1950. But the story doesn't end there.
Already in 1951, Moskvich-403E-424E appeared in a new reincarnation - a two-seater coupe (two of the six cars were redone). The power unit also underwent changes - now it was a forced in-line four-cylinder engine from the 400 model with an increase in cubic capacity to 1190 cm. working volume and compression ratio increased to 6.5. In addition, the engine was equipped with an aluminum cylinder head, an aluminum intake manifold and wider camshafts. Its power was 35 hp. at 4200 rpm. The figure is ridiculous for a sports car, but given that the weight of the coupe decreased by 30 kg (to 850 kg), the maximum speed increased to 123 km/h, and this was enough for A.V. Ipatenko to win the 1951 national championship in a Moskvich-403E- The 424E-coupe took second place.
But the story doesn’t end on this note! The spirit of competition was already firmly entrenched in the hearts of MZMA designers, and in 1954, based on one of the coupes, a roadster with a low body was built, called Moskvich-404-Sport, which differed favorably from its predecessors. First of all, thanks to the smaller drag area, the aerodynamics of the car have significantly improved. In addition, the then experimental overhead valve engine “404” with a hemispherical combustion chamber was installed on the Moskvich-404-Sport. With a volume of 1074 cm3, a compression ratio of 9.2, the engine produced 58 hp. at 4750 rpm, and the maximum speed was 147 km/h. The indicators are not God knows what, but it was enough to win the USSR championship, not just once, but three times in a row - from 1957 to 1959!
To be fair, it is worth noting that in the 1959 championship Moskchiv-404-Sport already competed with a new engine - the “407” model, with a volume of 1358 cm3, a compression ratio of 9.0, and a power of 70 hp. at 4600 rpm. The speed increased to a quite serious 156 km/h
The further fate of the car is unknown, and the only Moskvich-403E-424E that has survived to this day is exhibited in the Riga Museum.
But in terms of its characteristics, the GAZ-Torpedo was inferior to the ZIS-112 created in the same year: the speed limit was 191 km/h. Although the handling of the SG2 was incomparably better. By the way, the GAZ-Torpedo is one of the few sports cars of those years that have almost survived to this day.
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Sport car based on an experimental passenger model. Designed in 1954 by I. Gladilin. Design features: overhead valve engine, four carburetors. Cylinders - 4, engine displacement - 1074 cm3, power - 58 hp at 4800 rpm, gears - 3, length - 4.13 m, in running order - 902 kg, speed - 150 km/h.
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GAZ-Sport (GAZ-SG4), built in 1959, became the last sports car designed by the well-known aircraft engineer A.A. Smolin. No, with the designer himself, thank God, everything was in order - the “installation” from above had changed - Smolin now had to start designing hovercraft. By the way, in fairness, it is worth noting that the aircraft engineer only owned the body of the car. The engine, transmission, suspension and other components are the work of craftsmen from the N6 car park in Moscow. But, again, first things first.
Already in 1956, it became completely clear that the GAZ-SG1, which the factory team raced, was hopelessly outdated. Yes, at the 1956 championship “Pobeda-Sport” took the gold medal, but not thanks to the perfection of its design, but rather to the design flaws of its competitors. The SG1, nevertheless, remained a production car, although it was thoroughly modified for participation in sports competitions. "Pobeda" was heavy, clumsy, with an outdated suspension and a high center of gravity. In 1956 A.A. Smolin, having gathered all his accumulated experience into a fist, once again sat down at the drawing board.
As a result of sleepless nights, the GAZ-SG4 with a load-bearing aluminum body appeared, air suspension all wheels, GAZ-21 engine, aluminum crankcases. It appeared, it should be noted, so far only on paper. In 1957, the implementation of the project “in metal” began - four car bodies were assembled in the GAZ experimental workshop. A lightweight aluminum body with a small drag area promised to become the basis of a pretty good sports car, but... leading engineer A.A. Smolin was transferred to another direction, and three of the four “blanks”, which had now become unnecessary, were sold to taxi company N6 in Moscow, where at that time there was a fairly strong sports organization.
Here the cars were equipped with GAZ-21 engines with a volume of 2445 cm3, thanks to an electronic injection system developed by specialists from the Leningrad Institute TsNITA, which developed 90 hp, coupled with low weight, this made it possible to reach speeds of up to 190 km/h. And thanks to the low center of gravity, GAZ-SG4 cars were famous for their excellent handling.
The GAZ-Sport taxi fleet N6 entered races until 1965, and, it should be noted, not without success. In 1962, Yuri Andreev took third place in SG4 at the USSR Championship, and in 1963 he took his first gold.
However, in 1967, when the class of sports cars in domestic motorsport ceased to exist, all GAZ-SG4 cars were scrapped. Blasphemy - yes, but, alas, it is far from an isolated incident in our history.
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Designer V. Kosenkov released this sports car for circuit racing in 1959. KVN-2500S was created on the basis of the GAZ-21 car. Design features include: aluminum body, spar frame made of pipes large diameter. Cylinders - 4, engine displacement - 2445 cm3, power - 90 hp at 4600 rpm, gears - 3, length - 4.5 m, curb weight - 800 kg, speed - 160 km/h. This car won the USSR championship in circuit racing four times.
Six such cars were manufactured according to V. Kosenkov’s design.
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This sports car was designed by A. Zemtsov in 1959 based on GAZ-21 units. Design features: rising doors. Engine displacement - 2445 cm3, power - 80 hp at 4000 rpm, gears - 3, length - 4.4 m, curb weight - 1000 kg, speed - 160 km/h.
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Perhaps there is hardly a racing driver who has never heard the name of Lev Shugurov. Even today, readers of the magazines “Za Rulem”, “Fifth Wheel” and many others know his name from his publications. It was written by L.M. Shugurov owns the majority of sports and racing Muscovites. One of them is Moskvich-407-Coupe, built in 1962.
When building the car, the Moskchich-407 base was used, with a coupe body. It is worth noting that the base remained unchanged, as did the front part, only the middle part of the car changed, which is why the trunk looked, to put it mildly, unsightly. In addition to appearance, such a transformation had another significant disadvantage: since rear seats was missing, as well as parts of the superstructure, the weight distribution along the axles also changed, and far from better side. To load the drive wheels, as well as prevent a skid, it was necessary to carry ballast weighing 100 kg in the trunk.
The car's suspension remained virtually unchanged, with only a rear stabilizer added. The engine, borrowed from the 403 model, has undergone more thorough development. It received dished pistons, a cylinder head with a reshaped combustion chamber (9.5 compression ratio), a special racing camshaft and four K-99 racing motorcycle carburetors. Engine power was 77 hp. at 5500 rpm.
Two years later - in 1964, the place of the "403rd" was taken by the new engine of the "408" model with a volume of 1358 cm3, for the first time in history domestic automotive industry equipped with two twin "Weber-40DCO" racing carburetors. This did not give a significant increase in power (81 hp at 5600 rpm), but it worked without failures at low speeds. The maximum speed of the Moskvich-407 coupe was 145 km/h.
In general, the car was built for winter racetrack racing, but it also took part in road racing. In 1962, E. Lifshitz became the bronze medalist of the USSR Championship.
Unfortunately, both existing copies of the Moskvich-407 coupe did not survive to this day - they were scrapped, which, alas, was common practice in those years.
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Specifications:
KD cars 1969
Engine: power 30 hp. at 4000 rpm.
Working volume: 887 cm3
Weight: 500 kg.
Speed: 120 km/h.
By the mid-60s, a paradoxical situation had matured in our country, when from high stands managers and production workers reported on the activities of giant factories, and the population still only dreamed of owning their own car.
Under these conditions, the phenomenon of amateur automobile construction arose. Individually and in groups, enthusiastic designers created the cars of their dreams from available factory units. Most failed at the level of welding a frame made of rusty pipes, some actually managed to get behind the wheel, but these lucky exceptions have sunk into history. In memory of this passion of domestic car enthusiasts, one unusual exhibit remains in the “Museum of Crews and Automobiles”.
In 1963, a small team of enthusiastic home-made workers began creating their own series of five identical machines, called KD. The cars had a sporty 2+2 coupe style. The fiberglass body was based on a spatial frame made of pipes. It was equipped with components and assemblies from the serial Zaporozhets ZAZ-965. The rear-engine layout was also retained four-cylinder engine air cooling with a power of 30 hp, which provided the car with a maximum speed of 120 km/h.
The group of machine creators included six people. The date of completion of construction of the series is considered to be 1969. With their style and swift lines, KD machines were the complete opposite of mass-produced industrial products. The uniqueness of this case is not only in the professional level of design and workmanship, but also in the fact that the homemade car was put into production.
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Artists brothers Anatoly and Vladimir Shcherbinin set out to build a sports car based on Volga components. The car was equipped with a two-seater Gran Turismo type body (hence the name - GT Shcherbinykh). The GTSh was more powerful and faster than home-made products were then required by law. How the brothers registered their brainchild with the traffic police is a mysterious story... The car weighed 1,250 kg. Thanks to a fairly strong Volga engine (70 hp), it could reach speeds of up to 150 km/h. The history of the creation of the machine is interesting. The Shchebinin brothers welded the frame that served as the basis right in their yard. Then they took her to the apartment on the seventh floor, where they glued the fiberglass body. Then the entire structure was lowered from the balcony on ropes to the ground, where the GTSH acquired an engine, chassis, interior and everything else that a full-fledged car needs to have.
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In Soviet times, buses on route N666 freely plied around Moscow, and citizens, standing at the bus stop, probably didn’t even ask themselves where, other than the Novye Cheryomushki metro station, they could go on such transport. Maybe that’s why self-made motorists with the telling surname Algebraistov, seeing that their car turned out to be “damn beautiful”, took it and called it “Satan”. That's right, in Russian. So as not to be confused with Volkswagen Santana, which did not yet exist, or with Carlos Santana, who recorded his first record in 1969.
Today, the “Satanist” Algebraistov is over sixty, and most of this time he has been designing and building cars. “We have a dozen people like me for every kilometer,” says Yuri Ivanovich. Once upon a time it was like that. There was a computer program on TV, which decent people deciphered as “you can do it”, and indecent people as “oh, your mother!”, Kulibins were adorned on the pages of newspapers, car rallies of homemade products were organized through the streets... Reasons for which Algebraistov took up this difficult task, there were two. The first, in his words, was to find out “if I can or can’t.” Secondly, people waited in line for cars in the USSR for decades, in case anyone has forgotten.
As children, Yuri and his brother Stanislav built model airplanes. And they got so carried away by it that they grew up imperceptibly, and at the same time won the USSR championship in aircraft modeling. From the models, of course, they were drawn to real airplanes. Stanislav trained to be a pilot, but Yuri, alas, did not qualify as a pilot due to health reasons. And then he chose the profession of a driver. And the driver, according to Algebraistov, differs from the driver in that he also repairs cars, and is well versed in this.
Algebra, as you know, is used to verify harmony. That is why the Algebraistov brothers simply could not help but get acquainted with the Shcherbinin brothers, respected graphic artists who were fond of car design. The emerging creative team immediately began building a sports car. Even though the GAZ-24 was chosen as the “donor,” the design promised to be advanced, and the body was planned to be made of fiberglass. It was 1969.
The Algebraists worked on the technical content of the project, the Shcherbinins worked on the forms. The car rolled out of the garage within a year. The brothers christened their firstborn “Satan.” The car really turned out to be devilishly beautiful - a chiseled sports coupe with streamlined lines, the hood and wings formed a single whole and opened up access to the “insides” when lifted. The headlights were covered with electrical panels, and the only windshield wiper had a sweep over the entire area of the glass. During one of the runs, some foreigners were fussing around the car with movie cameras. Years later, Yuri Ivanovich saw a “windshield wiper” of his design on windshield"Mercedes" in the 124th body.
"Satan" worked out his nickname to the fullest. A refrigerator truck driving behind hit him so that the exclusive sports car went under the truck in front, its hood dived under the rear axle, and the cargo colossus rose up! For a piece of hardware from the assembly line it would be fatal accident, as well as for passengers. And the fiberglass body only had to “treat” a couple of cracks and scratches. All this was sealed, painted over, and the fear of the passengers was cured in the traditional Russian way.
In fact, “Satan” was considered Stanislav’s car, and Yuri always wanted his own. He built it, taking into account practical tests, as well as the mistakes that he and his brother made during the design. He decided to make the hood separately from the wings - this way the body received even greater rigidity. And Yuri Ivanovich changed a lot of other things. But three days before the All-Union Automobile Rally in 1982, the Yuna car, named after himself, Yuri, and his wife Natasha, rolled out of a cramped garage.
What the driver got was not a car, but a masterpiece: the fit of the body panels, as the author says, would make Rolls-Royce jealous - the gaps are minimal. Again, the appearance is catchy! Hence the fame. In the 80s, “Yuna” was repeatedly invited to star in domestic feature films. Both Boris Shcherbakov and Nikolai Karachentsov were driving it. Pilot-cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov drove the Yuna during one of the homemade car rallies, so much so that he later persuaded Yuri Ivanovich to give the car “to show off in front of his people in Star City.” It was his acquaintance with the “greats,” as well as participation in television shows and films, that helped Algebraistov resolve the issue of registering a car.
Today "Yuna" has already traveled more than half a million kilometers. With such age and mileage, it is difficult for a car to remain fresh. And Yuri Ivanovich decided to restyling. The inline six from the BMW 525i dived under the hood. The glass doors and mirrors received electric drive. The exhaust system was tuned for a sporty roar. The headlights have become rising - this is done by one electric motor and a pair of drives. Algebraistov also did a fair amount of magic with the body: he reduced the thickness of the rear pillars, tilted the front pillars greatly - he even had to cut the door frames. The trunk lid began to open from the bumper, also updated, and the hood became even smaller - so you often look under it, if now everything is “serious” there. The rear axle, although it remains from the GAZ-24, has received a “Tchaikovsky” gearbox - it now holds 200 km/h without problems or noise. Everything in the cabin has changed: leather, Alcantara... The front seats are, of course, Recaro. The instrument panel is homemade, and the instruments themselves are a hodgepodge: something from Opel, something from Ford... But the car looks like a single, integral, complete and perfect product. Fresh bright red paint was applied to the body. Passers-by look around: “Probably a Ferrari, a beautiful devil.”
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In January 1982, in a small workshop on the outskirts of Leningrad, two young people decided to create a car of their own design. These were Dmitry Parfenov and Gennady Khainov.
The very fact of constructing a home-made car would not be so significant and would not attract everyone’s attention if the designers acted according to the usual scheme: using factory components and assemblies as much as possible. This time, a completely different task was set - to independently design and build cars that would not be inferior in technical specifications foreign models
The task was complex, and the designers had to overcome a lot of difficulties, which, however, did not affect the final result. Cars first appeared on the streets of Leningrad in 1985. Front-wheel drive, on-board electronics and an excellent design idea instantly distinguished these cars from other representatives of the “samauto” movement.
“Laura” - this is the name of one of the new cars - received recognition from M.S. Gorbachev, at that time the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and became the plenipotentiary representative of the Soviet automobile industry at various international exhibitions, where she won numerous awards.

car track kart rally

Technical progress in the automotive industry, as the history of the development of this industry shows, owes a lot to sports. The construction of special cars for participation in competitions, especially in racing, constantly requires the search for original constructive solutions, new materials and scientific concepts. Therefore, the design of racing and sports cars, as a rule, anticipates technical innovations that may appear several decades later. For example, about thirty years ago, disc brakes were rare even in racing cars, and today almost all passenger cars are equipped with them. Improvements in aerodynamics, engine power, tire design, and handling characteristics quickly transferred from racing designs to mass-produced models.

Once the automotive industry reaches a certain level of development, it is faced with the need to start working on special machines for racing.

Our Automotive industry in the mid-thirties, it had already created an experimental base, launched scientific research, began to develop new technical directions, and create samples of racing cars. The first cars capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 km/h were built at the Moscow and Gorky Automobile Plants: the sports ZIS-101A-Sport and the GAZ-GL1. In those years, not a single domestic production car went beyond the speed limit of 125 km/h. The phenomenon of “shimmy” steering wheels at high speeds had not yet been deeply studied; there was not even a little experience in the practical application of aerodynamics to the design of automobile bodies.

The role of racing and sports cars for technical progress was most fully appreciated by the engineers of our automobile factories only in the post-war period. ZIS (now ZIL), GAZ, MZMA (now AZLK), the leading research institute of the industry - NAMI built a large number of interesting sports models in the period 1949-1959. The experience gained during their manufacture, development and testing was directly or indirectly used in the future in the development of serial passenger cars. Thus, the creation of an overhead valve engine of the Moskvich-407 car, which replaced the lower valve engine"Moskvich-402" was preceded by numerous experimental engines with overhead valves, tested on the sports "Moskvich-404-Sport", racing "Moskvich-G1-405" and "Moskvich-G2-405".

During these same years, the GAZ racing car with a jet engine and the Zvezda-M-NAMI cars with independent suspension all wheels, racing engines GAZ, "Zvezda-M-NAMI", "Salyut-M" with superchargers, cars with separate brake drive for front and rear wheels ("Moskvich-G1-405", ZIS-112/2), with body panels of a honeycomb structure (ZIS-112/2), with a rear-mounted power unit (Zvezda-M-NAMI, Moskvich-G1-405, Salyut-M).

Sports and racing models were not an end in themselves for our factories. They were used to participate in national automobile racing championships and to set all-Union and international speed records. Their opponents in these competitions were cars (built by individual enthusiasts and sports teams); "Kharkov-L2", "Kharkov-Z", HADI-5, "Avangard", "Pioneer-2", GM-20 and others. Some of them had many interesting technical solutions. Let us note, in particular, the Kharkov-L2 engine with two camshafts, the Pioneer-2 gas turbine engine, original system fuel injection on HADI-5, wheels cast from electron alloy on Kharkov-L2. The struggle of design ideas to achieve ever higher speeds contributed to the creation of highly advanced designs.

Since 1960, in addition to races to set speed records and races on highways, racing on ring tracks began to be cultivated in our country. This type of competition is one of the most common abroad, although it requires special racing cars. Therefore, in subsequent years, the ZIL, MZMA, and NAMI institutes focused their research and experimental work in the field of high-speed automobile manufacturing on machines of this type. This is how the ZIL-112S, Moskvich-GZ, Moskvich-G4, NAMI-041M, NAMI-074, MAZ-1500 appeared.

But no matter how perfect they were in design, all these models remained prototypes, made in one, two or three copies. They could not become the basis for the widespread development of motor sports.

The first enterprise in the country where racing cars were produced in industrial batches for clubs and sports sections was the Tallinn Automobile Repair Plant (TARK). He produced the first batch of 36 Estonia-Z vehicles in 1960. Since then, this plant has been constantly mastering new designs, and as for the “circulation”, now it has approached the anniversary, thousandth machine.

At TARK they set a task: in terms of technical level, Estonia cars should not be inferior to the best racing designs of specialized car factories - otherwise the incentive for the development of motor sports would be lost. Therefore, from the very first models, they introduced a number of innovations that had not yet been seen in experimental racing models other domestic enterprises. These new products include, for example, a compact rack and pinion steering mechanism on the Estonia-Z (1960), high-performance disc brakes on the Estonia-15 (1968), and a lightweight and durable fiberglass body on the Estonia-9. (1966), wheels cast from electron on Estonia-16 (1970). The TARK designers pioneered the use of so-called rear wings and on-board radiators. They were the first to create a wedge-shaped body in our country. All this allowed Soviet racing drivers to achieve high results in competitions for the Friendship Cup of Athletes of Socialist Countries. They won first place in 1975 at Estonia-18, second places in 1978 at Estonia-18M and in 1983 at Estonia-20.

The latest development of TARK is the Estonia-21 model. For the 1984 sports season, three samples of this car were made with modern independent suspension on all wheels, a perfect aerodynamic body shape, which creates an additional vertical load that presses the wheels to the road.

Along with racing cars, specially prepared production passenger cars also take part in circuit racing. Work on the creation of such machines helps to accelerate technical progress in the industry and helps improve serial designs. In particular, VAZ-21011 cars, prepared for competitions by the Volzhsky Automobile Plant, are equipped with engines that develop almost twice as much power as production vehicles, and at the same time differ high reliability. The participation of such cars in racing is a kind of test of the reliability and endurance of both individual components and the entire car as a whole. Neither laboratory benches nor tests at the test site make it possible to so quickly and clearly identify weak spots cars, as the latter participate in sports racing.

The example of the Moskvich-412 model testifies to the rich possibilities inherent in serial designs that can be revealed in preparation for racing. In 1972, AZLK testers Yu. Lesovsky and N. Shevchenko set an all-Union speed record for a distance of 1000 km on this car, although significantly modernized. Their car with a serial body, steering, brakes, and wheel suspension moved for almost 6 hours at an average speed of 174.23 km/h!

Over the sixty years that have passed since the construction of the first Soviet cars, our industry has accumulated extensive experience in creating high-speed cars. Among them - special machines for setting speed records, racing single-seaters and sports two-seaters. Since the production of our first ZIS-101A-Sport and GAZ-GL1 racing cars, teams from automobile factories, other enterprises, as well as institutes and sports clubs have designed and built more than 90 models and modifications of racing and sports cars. These models not only contributed to the acceleration of technical progress in the industry, but also became the basis for the development of motor sports.

Racing cars from the Russo-Balt plant

ZIS-101A-Sport

Pobeda-Sport (GAZ-SG1)

Star

Sokol-650

GAZ Torpedo (1951)

GAZ-TR

ZIS-112

Moskvich-404 Sport

KD

Cars of the Kharkov Automobile and Road Institute

Rally Moskvich-412

Racing cars from the Russo-Balt plant

ZIS-101A-Sport

Pobeda-Sport (GAZ-SG1)

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