Camille Jenatzy (1868,

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

– 8 December 1913, Habay la Neuve) was a Belgian race car driver. He is known for breaking the

land speed record The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de M ...

three times and being the first man to break the 100 km/h barrier. He was nicknamed ''Le Diable Rouge'' ("The Red Devil") after the colour of his beard.

Record setting

On 17 January 1899 at Achères, Yvelines near

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, he reached the speed of over one kilometre, driving a CGA Dogcart. That same day, the record was broken by

Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat Count Charles-François Gaston Louis Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat (7 June 1866 – 20 November 1903

, topped on 27 January 1899 when Jenatzy achieved . This record was again broken by Chasseloup-Laubat, who applied rudimentary streamlining to his Jeantaud. Jenatzy replied with his third land speed record on 29 April 1899, reaching in the electric CITA Nº 25 '' La Jamais Contente'', the first purpose-designed land speed racer, and the first record over . In 1902, he lost the land speed record to Léon Serpollet. Jenatzy won the 1903 Gordon Bennet Cup in

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, at the wheel of a Mercedes. Auto racing was a deadly sport at the time and at some point Jenatzy predicted he would die in a Mercedes.

Death

Jenatzy died in 1913 in a

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

accident. He went behind a bush and made animal noises as a prank on his friends who were hunting with him. Alfred Madoux, director of the journal '' L'Etoile Belge'', fired, believing it was a wild animal. When they realised it was Jenatzy, they rushed him to hospital by car; he bled to death en route, fulfilling his own prophecy he would die in a Mercedes. He is buried at the Laeken Cemetery in Brussels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenatzy, Camille 1868 births 1913 deaths Deaths by firearm in Belgium People from Schaerbeek Belgian racing drivers Hunting accident deaths Burials at Laeken Cemetery Accidental deaths in Belgium Firearm accident victims Racing drivers from Brussels