What if Messerschmitt had built a bigger Me 209 racer?

[cherry blossom]

What if Messerschmitt had chosen a brute force approach to gaining the world speed record by asking for a bigger engine rather than designing a very small Me 209 racer?
We can imagine Messerschmitt talking to Nallinger of Daimler Benz in 1937 and deciding/ being persuaded that the DB 603 will be available for at least a record attempt. He then designs something very similar to the Me 209V5, starting from the Bf 109 rear fuselage with a new engine, wings and tail section. Probably the wings are smaller for the racer than the v5 and perhaps he will be using different ideas for cooling. Historically the DB 603 was being prepared for a land speed record attempt in late 1939 and was expected to give 3000 hp. as compared to 2300 hp. from the DB 601 used for the Me 209 and He 100 racers. There are advantages in using a small aircraft for a record attempt as the propeller is smaller and the tips don't have to move so fast. However, on the other hand, there no way to scale down the pilot, so the big engine brute force approach also has an advantage. If we want Messerschmitt to have the best chance of taking the record, perhaps he imagines designing a radiator to give thrust and boosts the thrust by pumping water/methanol onto the radiator to cool it so that the steam is expelled backwards.
The two effects on WW2 would be that it might be possible to modify the racer back towards a Me 209 V5 fighter and that the development of the DB 603 as an aeroengine is pushed one to two years ahead. Of course the other question is could he get the speed record?

 

[Shortround6]

While it would have been an interesting racer and perhaps advanced the the 603 a bit (or not) the airframe would much more likely to have been totally useless to try and base a fighter off of.

See a British contemporary: Napier-Heston Racer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Napier Sabre in airplane with a wing smaller than a 109's.

These record setting airplanes were usually evil handling brutes with poor visibility, small fuel tanks, no space for armament and in some cases, questionable cooling.
To set the record the plane had to do several high speed passes through a speed trap. The engine only had to run at full power for a few minutes so cooling systems didn't have to be able to cool the engine for extended periods of high power (like climbing).
They also weren't built to withstand the "G" loading of fighter.
By the time the airframe is redesigned to accommodated military requirements there is precious little of the original racer airframe left or performance has deteriorated to little difference to an airframe designed to be a military plane to begin with.

 

[davebender]

RLM did approve funding for a larger engine. During 1937 they funded development of the Jumo222 V24 engine while withdrawing funding for DB603 V12 development.

RLM bet on the wrong horse.

 

[johnbr]

How about the Me 209 2 with a db603q.