This 120-year-old Darracq 200hp is still racing

This unique machine sports the world's first V8. Not the aero engine you might expect (the Wright Brothers’ 12PS (9kW) motor wasn’t quite be up to the task), it was built by hooking two Darracq four-cylinders to a common crank to create a goliath that pumps out a lot more horsepower than the '200' the name suggests. It's the torque that's the real kicker, though, a hefty 1,355Nm (1,000 lb ft) produced by an engine that revs to no more than 1,500rpm. Be in no doubt, this is a seriously quick machine.

French racing driver Victor Hemery broke the outright land speed record with the car in December 1905, hitting the flying kilometre at 109.065mph on a dirt road outside Paris. Three weeks later at Florida Speed Week, the fiery Frenchman, thinking he’d broken another record, had his time deleted due to a jump start. Incandescent with rage, Hemery swore at the American officials and was promptly banned from the meet. 

As a result, American racer Louis Chevrolet (co-founder of Chevrolet cars) picked up the reins, setting a flying kilometre speed of 117.65mph before Darracq mechanic Victor Demogeot hit 122.4mph the following day. 

Six months later, Algie Guinness – 3^rd Baronet of the famed brewing family – purchased the car, competing (and often winning) sprints and setting an English speed record before selling it to Gerald Ferkins, the last person to own the car before Walker. 

"The only rule in 1905 was that the car had to weigh under a thousand kilos. So what you've got here is a small car with a massive engine,” said Walker, when we caught up with him just after he’d taken pole on Saturday morning. Bubbling with energy despite having just finished telling his car’s story to two other event-goers, Walker was somewhat underselling the motor cradled in his car’s chassis.

“Everything about it is unique. The engine is similar to the four-cylinder racing cars, but it's like two four-cylinder engines on a common crankcase. [It’s] one of the earliest V8s, possibly the oldest running V8 in the world."

Born to a farmer father and a Lego-loving mother, Walker credits the latter for a mechanical understanding – "she could have been an engineer" – that saw him restore his first car 30 years ago, before he moved to a Grand Prix Panhard he described as "the same sort of flavour [as the Darracq], but only half capacity and heavier. But with a full-speed gearbox." 

But it was the Darracq that Walker always had eyes for. 

"Ever since I was a child, it's one of those cars I thought was one of my favourite cars, but like 99 per cent [of them] I thought it wouldn't [still] exist. And I was amazed to discover in the early ‘80s that it still did exist. Then I ended up buying it from Gerald Ferkins and rebuilt it as a driving car because I was pretty convinced that actually, it will be drivable."

Walker's idea of drivable is different to most people's. Not much more than a chassis with an engine and two gears (and no differential) bolted on top, the Darracq's safety features amount to limb-saving chicken wire guards above the exposed UV joint and a tiny digital speedo. "I thought it might be quite amusing if I could take my eyes off the road and see how fast I'm going,” the emphasis very being on ‘if’. 

With around 300PS (220kW) and a weight of just 1,000kg, the Darracq boasts a Caterham-like power-to-weight ratio that made it the fastest car on the S.F. Edge Trophy grid. That is, once it gets going.

"The harder you try to get off the line, the more clutch slip you get, so the best way off the line is to let the clutch in on tickover. And when it's hooked up, then nail it," says a matter-of-fact Walker. Sadly, that isn't an option on track because of the high risk of stalling while waiting for the ‘off’.

It's also worth noting that the Caterham-like power-to-weight ratio does not translate to Caterham-like handling on the lofty thin-tyred Darracq.

"If I could go sideways," said Walker, "I'd be going sideways. I just have to be terribly careful. But I think I can outdrag anyone from the chicane to the start line, which is obviously extremely entertaining. Skinny tyres and dodgy brakes, that's why it's exciting."

Of course, the Darracq's defining feature is the 25-litre V8. “It's the ultimate. I think it's the greatest car in the world, I mean, if you don't think this is the greatest car in the world you can tell me what you think is.

"Your average modern car is much heavier with an engine a 20^th of the size. So you've got this big engine, a massive clutch, no gearbox. But you've got a two-speed back axle, no reverse gear, no differential. I can only reach the gear lever [under the steering wheel] by putting my hand under my leg because the steering wheel's in the way."

Such unique driving characteristics might lead you to think this Edwardian machine would be saved for heydays and holidays. Not a bit of it; Walker's driven the car an astonishing 10,000 miles over his stewardship, going as far afield as Bordeaux and Lyon, where “we went around the circuit a few times [and] drove home again. That's probably the biggest trip we've done.”

Could Walker ever be tempted into something better suited to long-range touring? The surprising answer is 'yes', but the car he has in mind probably isn't what you expect.  

"If I had to swap it, I wouldn't mind an Auto Union. That wouldn't be bad!"

A Darracq and an Auto Union? Now, surely that's the kind of two-car garage Goodwood dreams are made of. 

Photography by Joe Harding