formula143

Grand Prix History in Scale Models

1925, Brian Phipps, Formula143 Special, Karl Sponer, Tatra

1925 Tatra 11 Sponer

The Tatra 11 was a small road car developed by Hans Ledwinka, which the Tatra factory in Kopřivnice (German: Nesselsdorf / Moravia) brought out in 1923. The vehicle had an overhead  air-cooled two – cylinder boxer engine with a displacement of 1056 cm³ and an output of 12 hp. In 1925 Tatra presented a racing car, the Tatra 11 Targa Florio . The displacement of the engine remained unchanged; the maximum output was increased to 27 hp at 5000 rpm. This enabled the 560 kg monoposto to reach a top speed of 120 km/h. The engine had two intake valves per cylinder and the vehicle had brakes on all four wheels. The tank was behind the seat.

The 1925 race was the 16th Targa Florio and was staged to free formula regulations. The entries were split into four: Category I for cars up to 1100 cc, which had to do only three laps or 324 km. The same distance had to be covered by category II cars from 1101 cc to 1500 cc. Category III from1501 cc to 2000 cc and category IV over 2000cc had to complete five laps of the 108 km circuit equal to 540 km. The two new Tatra cars were independently entered in Category I by the Industrialist Fritz Huckel and Karl Sponer, both members of the Morovia-Silesia Automobile Club in Czechoslovakia. Huckel won the Category I which had only three cars, while Sponer finished second about 5 minutes behind.

SeasonSeriesEvent
1925Formula LibreTarga Florio
Driver No.Entrant
Karl Sponer6K. Sponer
Scale ManufacturerCollection
1:43Brian Phipps
Cat. No.QualityRarity

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