This Outlandish Ferrari Was Designed To Smash A Nazi Speed Record

In 1938, Rudolph Caracciola drove a 5.6 liter, 753 horsepower Mercedes streamliner to 268.8 mph (432.7 km/h) on a public road, no less. Back in 1991, this bizarre Ferrari set out to beat that run.

The car is the one-off Testa D’Oro. It is a partnership between the thoroughly unhinged German tuning company Lotec (the guys who made this) and even more unhinged German designer Luigi Colani (the guy who made this). As ConceptCarz notes, Lotec twin-turbocharged the engine with 1.25 bar (18 psi) of boost, raising the five liter engine’s horsepower from 390 stock to 750. Torque grew to 900 nm (664lb-ft). They also gave the engine its gold engine work, or head, for which it is named. According to Colani in this video interview, the car remains street legal in Germany.

The car was first built in 1989 but Colani reskinned the car at least twice. In 1991, though, it made its attempt on Caracciola’s record for the absolute top speed of any street car. A German magazine (featured at the bottom of this web page) described the whole attempt, carried out in Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The car ultimately fell very short of its goal, hitting nothing more than 211 mph (340 kp/h). Why? It wasn’t the curious aerodynamics, proven on other Colani designs, but rather the tires. The 235/40/17s up front and 335/35/17s out back just couldn’t find grip on the salt.