- 257
- Deep inside
- N1Spandel
This, my friends, is nothing less than the very first Mercedes, and often regarded as the first 'modern' car.
As I am sure many of you know the origins of the Mercedes name, I will focus more on the car itself.
On March 30 1900, Emil Jellinek signed up two Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) Phönix race cars for the Nice-La Turbie race. Sadly, DMGs chief mechanic Wilhelm Bauer was killed when his Phönix turned over in the first corner, leading to DMG cancelling all its motorsport activities.
Jellinek however was persistent and suggested revolutionary changes for a new racing car, called the Mercedes. He specified that the new car should be longer, lower and wider than the narrow, top heavy previous motor vehicles, with an engine firmly fixed near the ground. Paul Daimler, son of Gottlieb, and Wilhelm Maybach were responsible for the new vehicles design. Jelliknek ordered 36 cars with a total worth of 550.000 Marks, roughly € 3.53 million in todays money.
The new engine was a cast grey iron inline-4 with a total displacement of 5918cc and an output of 35hp, hence the name. The valves were now controlled by two gear-driven camshafts instead of being actuated by vacuum pressure inside the engine. Each cylinder pair also had its own carburetor. The improvements of the engine resulted in much smoother operation, more stable idling and better acceleration, as well as a 90kg weight reduction over its predecessor.
Maybach narrowed the front frame section ahead of the pedals, enabling the engine to be bolted directly to the frame, which was now made out of pressed sheet steel. The much longer wheelbase and wider track compared to the Phönix resulted in greatly improved stability.
Another completely new design was the highly compact and automatically adjusting clutch, a coil spring made of spring steel, which with the help of a small drum was attached to the transmission shaft and fastened inside the flywheel. A conical cam regulated the spring tension during declutching. The four forward gears and the reverse gear were operated by a lever in a shift gate. This feature was as new as the improved, light steering with its worm gear - a unit installed further to the rear and at a relatively steep angle. The steering axles were moved further toward the outside, closer to the wheel hubs, thus significantly reducing the impact of road shocks on the steering. Adapting to the higher engine output, the 'Mercedes' was fitted with 300mm drum brakes at the rear.
One of the most important innovations of the Mercedes was the cooling system. Maybach achieved a major breakthrough with his honeycomb radiator. He had as many as 8,070 small square tubes, each six by six millimeters in size, soldered together into a novel, rectangular radiator. Cooling efficiency was considerably increased and water consumption reduced by half to a mere nine liters by the square tubes' larger passage cross-section and the smaller gaps between the tubes. A small fan behind the radiator improved cooling efficiency at slow speeds. The honeycomb radiator had been born.
The new car debuted at the 1901 Pau Grand Prix, however all the cars had to retire due to technical complications. The car showed its true performance in the 1901 Nice-La Turbie race, dominating it from start to finish, raising the record average speed from 31.3kph (19.4mph) to 51.4kph (31.9mph) and reaching top speeds as high as 86kph (53mph), outclassing all competing cars by a fair margin. The race cars could be converted to a 4-seat road car in just a few minutes by simply adding a rear bodywork element. Talk about a race car for the road ^^.
The automotive world was astounded by the new DMG car, which turned out to be so successful that DMG registered the Mercedes trademark on September 26 1902. Many of the 35 PS' innovations were subsequently used in most cars that followed ever since, such as the general chassis design and honeycomb radiator.
Given that it is probably the most influential car of all time, it certainly deserves being digitally immortalized in the GT series.
Specifications:
5918cc Inline 4, 35hp @ 950rpm, ??? torques
4-speed manual gearbox, rear wheel drive
1200kg
Top speed: 70-75 kph (4-seater), 85+ kph (race version)
As I am sure many of you know the origins of the Mercedes name, I will focus more on the car itself.
On March 30 1900, Emil Jellinek signed up two Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) Phönix race cars for the Nice-La Turbie race. Sadly, DMGs chief mechanic Wilhelm Bauer was killed when his Phönix turned over in the first corner, leading to DMG cancelling all its motorsport activities.
Jellinek however was persistent and suggested revolutionary changes for a new racing car, called the Mercedes. He specified that the new car should be longer, lower and wider than the narrow, top heavy previous motor vehicles, with an engine firmly fixed near the ground. Paul Daimler, son of Gottlieb, and Wilhelm Maybach were responsible for the new vehicles design. Jelliknek ordered 36 cars with a total worth of 550.000 Marks, roughly € 3.53 million in todays money.
The new engine was a cast grey iron inline-4 with a total displacement of 5918cc and an output of 35hp, hence the name. The valves were now controlled by two gear-driven camshafts instead of being actuated by vacuum pressure inside the engine. Each cylinder pair also had its own carburetor. The improvements of the engine resulted in much smoother operation, more stable idling and better acceleration, as well as a 90kg weight reduction over its predecessor.
Maybach narrowed the front frame section ahead of the pedals, enabling the engine to be bolted directly to the frame, which was now made out of pressed sheet steel. The much longer wheelbase and wider track compared to the Phönix resulted in greatly improved stability.
Another completely new design was the highly compact and automatically adjusting clutch, a coil spring made of spring steel, which with the help of a small drum was attached to the transmission shaft and fastened inside the flywheel. A conical cam regulated the spring tension during declutching. The four forward gears and the reverse gear were operated by a lever in a shift gate. This feature was as new as the improved, light steering with its worm gear - a unit installed further to the rear and at a relatively steep angle. The steering axles were moved further toward the outside, closer to the wheel hubs, thus significantly reducing the impact of road shocks on the steering. Adapting to the higher engine output, the 'Mercedes' was fitted with 300mm drum brakes at the rear.
One of the most important innovations of the Mercedes was the cooling system. Maybach achieved a major breakthrough with his honeycomb radiator. He had as many as 8,070 small square tubes, each six by six millimeters in size, soldered together into a novel, rectangular radiator. Cooling efficiency was considerably increased and water consumption reduced by half to a mere nine liters by the square tubes' larger passage cross-section and the smaller gaps between the tubes. A small fan behind the radiator improved cooling efficiency at slow speeds. The honeycomb radiator had been born.
The new car debuted at the 1901 Pau Grand Prix, however all the cars had to retire due to technical complications. The car showed its true performance in the 1901 Nice-La Turbie race, dominating it from start to finish, raising the record average speed from 31.3kph (19.4mph) to 51.4kph (31.9mph) and reaching top speeds as high as 86kph (53mph), outclassing all competing cars by a fair margin. The race cars could be converted to a 4-seat road car in just a few minutes by simply adding a rear bodywork element. Talk about a race car for the road ^^.
The automotive world was astounded by the new DMG car, which turned out to be so successful that DMG registered the Mercedes trademark on September 26 1902. Many of the 35 PS' innovations were subsequently used in most cars that followed ever since, such as the general chassis design and honeycomb radiator.
Given that it is probably the most influential car of all time, it certainly deserves being digitally immortalized in the GT series.
Specifications:
5918cc Inline 4, 35hp @ 950rpm, ??? torques
4-speed manual gearbox, rear wheel drive
1200kg
Top speed: 70-75 kph (4-seater), 85+ kph (race version)
