October 22, 2008

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Circus Daredevil Leaps Fifty Feet in His Miniature Auto (Jan, 1931)

Filed under: Entertainment — @ 10:53 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1931
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Circus Daredevil Leaps Fifty Feet in His Miniature Auto

VISITORS to the Alexandria Palace, in London, are furnished with thrills by a death-defying stunt which the side show barker calls the “Leap of Death.” Seated in a diminutive auto resembling a roller coaster, Rene Fumy, the daredevil performer, shoots down a precipitous track at a breakneck speed of 100 miles per hour, leaps into the air and across a space of fifty feet, and lands on an inclined platform, which if missed, would probably bring death.

The car used in performing the feat is equipped with small wheels that fit the tracks on the incline which gives the impetus for the leap.

4 Comments »

1. “Jack@$$” the early years.

   Comment by Mike — October 22, 2008 @ 11:03 pm

2. 100 miles per hour? How high is that track?
   And if he was going that fast, the G force when he hit the curved portion at the bottom would probably kill him.

   Comment by slim — October 23, 2008 @ 1:41 pm

3. That photo looks suspiciously fake.

   Comment by John M. Hanna — October 23, 2008 @ 7:55 pm

4. I think the illustration’s reversed. I think he’s supposed to shoot down the roller-coaster track and then land on the straight ramp. The cart he’s on looks like a bobsled and unless he’s really contorted, his legs have to be on the left, so the cart’s going from right to left. In theory. In reality, I don’t think Rene made that many trips down the ramp before his hospital stay.

   Comment by David Moisan — October 23, 2008 @ 9:15 pm

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