Tomorrow a most interesting exhibition will open in the dutch Louwman Museum. Sculptures by Willem Lenssinck which are inspired by cthe relation Horse and Mankind in a very special way.
This gave our junior editor and Rosemarijn 'horses & crankhandles' Veenenbos the pedastal to write about horses, cars and HPs.
"We vintage car enthusiasts or automotive addicts love originality, right? So, time to go back in time, to the origins of the HP, where it all started… We don’t relate the power of the horse very much anymore to the HP of our cars. I believe though that it was the horse which, long ago, gave man so much freedom to travel. We know what HP means - horsepower - but do you know the exact story behind this definition? Actually it was the steam engine which gave us a reason to use the strength of a horse as a measurement. This term was an invention in the late 18th century of Scottish engineer James Watt.
He was looking for a definition to compare the power output of a steam engine, the machine which was to replace the horse, with the power of draft horses. Horses are strong, but not machines… and a machine would be so much more efficient compared to horses, which need to be replaced after a period of work. One metric horsepower is needed to lift 75 kg (avg. body weight of a person) by 1 meter (3.28 feet) in a second. 1 HP = 735,5 watts. The formula for kW = force (kilo-newtons) multiplied by speed in kmph, and this divided by 3.6
The horse was also a source of inspiration for some of the automotive legends, like Ettore Bugatti! He had a deep rooted love for the Pur Sang (check this Cassandre poster). He owned several great warm-blood horses and so do I ( editor: in fact Rosemarijn owns one HP too many, check!).
Molsheim was not only about the famed fast and furious Bugs… It was also an equestrian place which, in 1927, housed 16 of his horses. The mare Brouillard (thank you Jaap!) was Ettore's fave horse as well as the tallest, 1.74m. Ettore shared his Pur Sang passion with his daughter, Lidia (unlike my dad). Ettore didn’t stop by just having a couple of horses in his stables… He also collected about 40 horse-dawn vehicles of various ages and he actually built several horse-drawn carriages himself, all collector's items today. His love for carriages went as far as translating into the fiacre style coachwork on a number of Bugattis, see the T44 currently being offered for sale here. Ettore loved to invent and to design and beside carriages he even made his own leather work and harnesses in Molsheim. His genius to design such things was no doubt instigated by his father who was a furniture designer. There is one more legend about a car guy who loved horses… of course you know whom we are talking about.
Francesco Baracca was a heroic airman who flew in the First World War. He had a black horse painted on his fighter plane(video), which gave him luck in many of the worst situations. Later, in 1923, Enzo celebrated a very fine race victory at the Savio circuit for Alfa Romeo. This victory was witnessed by the parents of Francesco and they gave Enzo the special shield that had saved their sons life. And so Enzo painted this shield on his racing Alfas, which later resulted in the Ferrari logo. The shield was a bit modified by painting the background of the black horse in yellow, the color of Modena. One thing is still a mystery… Why did Enzo put the tail of the horse upwards, while the tail of the original Baracca horse is hanging downwards? Perhaps it was his own signature to the shield? Let me know in the comments what you think the reason might have been.
(photo "1 HP - Automatic" courtesy Louman Museum - Willem Lenssink; text Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos - Crankhandleblog)