70 Years Ago, Renault’s Shooting Star Lit Up Bonneville at Over 300 km/h
- Published on 04/09/2026 15:30
In September 1956, Renault made history with its incredible Étoile Filante turbine by surpassing 300 km/h on the Bonneville salt lake.
Seventy years ago, Renault set out to break speed records at Bonneville, in the United States, with a machine that seemed straight out of a science fiction movie. Its name was already an invitation to travel: the Étoile Filante.
And the strangest thing is that there is actually a conflict over the date of this record! According to FIA records, the performances were logged as early as September 4, 1956, while Renault officially notes September 5 as the great record day for its amazing prototype. But seventy years later, it doesn’t matter.
The Étoile Filante was hardly a traditional automobile. Directly inspired by aeronautics, its long polyester body rested on a tubular structure and ended with two massive fins. Even more astonishing was what lay behind the driver: no piston engine, but a Turboméca Turmo turbine developing 270 hp at 28,000 rpm, powered by kerosene. All of this weighed around 950 kg.
A driver-engineer
At the wheel, engineer and driver Jean Hébert unleashed the machine on the vastness of the salt lake. Renault homologated several spectacular performances, including 306.9 km/h over one kilometer, 307.7 km/h over one mile, and 308.85 km/h over five kilometers.
Ultimately, the turbine would not meet the automotive fate some had imagined at the time. Complexity, heat, and consumption made this technology difficult to align with a production car.
But Renault’s goal was elsewhere. The feat of the Étoile Filante at Bonneville provided the French manufacturer with a remarkable spotlight in the United States, at a time when the Dauphine was also trying its luck in the American market.
Seventy years later, the Étoile Filante remains one of the most extraordinary prototypes in Renault’s history: a French turbine car launched at over 300 km/h in the middle of a salt desert.
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This page is translated from the original post "Il y a 70 ans, l’Étoile Filante de Renault illuminait Bonneville à plus de 300 km/h" in French.
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