AutoCult Laurin & Klement FC (1907) (Czechoslovakia)

About the Original:

In a ‘Coffin’ to Victory

The model ‘Voiturett A’, which was first offered in April 1905, began the four-wheeled era of Laurin & Klement. In the course of this development, the interest in racing events also grew.

In 1907, the engineers developed a racing car whose chassis consisted of riveted together U-steel profiles. A 2.4-litre four-stroke engine accelerated the car to almost 90 km/h. The racing car got the abbreviation FC. In this era of rising racing engagement, the employment of the young German design engineer Otto Hieronimus proved to be a great stoke of luck within a short time. With his victory in the long-distance race from St. Petersburg to Moscow and his record at Brooklands in England in 1908, he proved his extraordinary driving talent and at the same time helped Laurin & Klement to establish its reputation in motorsports. But despite those successes, Otto Hieronimus saw potential for improvement. Under his decisive direction, the FC was improved, which was mainly the installation of a much stronger engine. Instead of the 2.4-litre engine, a four-stroke, water-cooled engine with exactly 5,672 cc, which developed a remarkable output of 100 hp for that time, was built. As far as is known, the drive of the rear axle was maintained by a cardan shaft, like the chassis of the predecessor type. The successor of the FC got the name FCR and was on the starting lines from 1909. Due to its extraordinary performance, the car reached a top speed of almost 130 km/h – this was considered an absolute peak at the time.

In addition to the successful design engineer Otto Hieronimus, there was a second driver who steered the FCR to success: Count Alexander “Sascha” Kolowrat-Krakowska. Hieronimus, the ‘Count’ and Paul Draskovich formed the successful factory team of Laurin & Klement and brought home, for example, one gold medal each from the Austrian Alpine Rally.