From Russia with passion
With the valuable support of Prof. Massimo Grandi’s depth of knowledge and illustrative talent
Photo credit: Some images are taken from the book Asi Service "Quando le disegnava il vento" by Massimo Grandi
It is very hard, nowadays, to imagine what Soviet Russia must have been like in the 1930s. The regime’s five-year plans for economic development were designed to boost its industrial strength with the aim of turning it into a solid military, as well as ideological, power.
The automobile had no place in this scenario. Communism did not allow private ownership along Western lines, and the few vehicles on the roads were reserved for the authorities, or, like taxis, had to serve a practical purpose. In this setting, Alexei Nikitin, a young man little over 30 years old and a scholar of aerodynamics at the Russian Military Academy, developed a passionate interest in the functional as well as formal analysis of racing cars from all over the world, studying their efficiency in a small self-built wind tunnel. He was so convinced of the value of his research that he decided to build a car truly capable of exploiting his findings. He took a GAZ-A (an awkward, USSR-built model similar to the old Ford Type A) as his starting point.
The result was a magnificent vehicle, elegant in shape, carefully studied in every detail, and extremely functional, with a carefully rounded front and tapered tail that served a useful functional purpose, enhancing the car’s fluid aerodynamic lines.
Unfortunately, given the reality of the local setting at the time, which included terrible roads, Nikitin’s project had no chance of being developed further. The car was built, but it remained a one-off — a common fate in the pursuit of aerodynamics!
