1909 Benz 200HP 'Blitzen Benz' Record Car w/ 21.5-litre 4-cylinder: Accelerations & Hillclimb Action
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- You understand you are getting old when at an event a certain type of cars that had never fascinated you before begins to interest you and, sometimes, makes you more excited than most modern cars out there. That's the case of the fascinating Benz 200HP Record car which I was lucky enough to see not once but three times in the last few months (in chronological order at the Festival of Speed, Kilomètre Lancé 2022 and Bernina Gran Turismo hillclimb revival).
At the beginning of 1909, engineer Julius Ganss was given permission to design a car which could reach a speed of over 200 km/h. Initially Carl Benz was against the project, failing to see the relevance of building a land speed record car when the aim of his company was to build robust and reliable touring cars. But then his attitude changed and he came to the conclusion that the company couldn't ignore the tricks of modern market mechanisms.
Based on the 1908 Benz 150HP racer, the four-cylinder engine was bored out from 15.1-litres to 21.5-litres with an output of 184 hp at 1,500 rpm, which was later increased to 200 hp at 1600 rpm after some development. It was the largest-displacement engine ever to be used in a racing or record car produced by Benz and its weight was 407 kg (the car's total weight was 1,450kg). The development and the task of competing with this monster were assigned to Victor Hémery e Victor Demogeot.
At that time the car was still fitted with the 'short' body of the Benz Grand-Prix car and it entered competitions under that name.Victor Hémery took the wheel of the car for the first time during a sprint race in Brussels, where he outclasses the competition, even though the aim of the Benz 200HP was still the land-speed record. For this purpose engineers were also working to develop a new, more aerodynamic body. They made the car as narrow as possible in order to reduce wind resistance to a minimum, introducing a sharp-pointed front with a smaller radiator and a more streamlined body and tail.
The first record attempt was made at Brooklands oval, in England. Victor Héméry covered the 1km distance from a flying start at an average speed of 202.7 km/h, breaking the all-important 200 km/h mark for the first time in Europe. However this attempt revealed that racing tracks in Europe were no longer adequate for these speeds and this led Benz to concentrate its '200HP' activities in America.
The first Benz 200HP was shipped to America in January 1910 and it was bought by event manager Ernie Moross. The businessman nicknamed the car 'Lightning Benz', painting it on the side of his new purchase too. With almost no preparation, Moross’ driver Barney Oldfield broke the existing world record by reaching a speed of 211.97 km/h at Daytona Beach in Florida on March 17, 1910. However, the record wasn't recognized since the Benz had not covered the distance in the opposite direction as well, as specified in the competition guidelines.
After that, the car was used in exhibition events and races. The Benz was decorated with the imperial eagle and it was given the name 'Blitzen-Benz', the German translation of 'Lightning Benz'. In 1911 Ernie Moross engaged Bob Burman, former Buick factory driver, as its new driver. Burman finally succeeded in setting an official record for the German monster: on April 23, 1911 at Daytona Beach he set a new best mark of 225.65 km/h average speed and a new land speed record of 228.1 km/h, over one kilometer from a flying start. This made the 'Blitzen Benz' the fastest vehicle on Earth. It was twice as fast as an aircraft and 17.51 km/h faster than the fastest rail vehicle. These records remained unbroken until 1919.
It's thought that a total of six cars were built. The one you see in this video is from Technik Museum Speyer and it has recently undergone a long restoration work. This particular example could be fitted with both the streamlined and the 'short' body which was used for GP races or hillclimbs. In fact, due to the small radiator used for the record attempts, the former turns out to be quite unfavourable for hillclimb or racing use. The conversion work from one version to the other takes about two days. Depending on the situation, another important change that has to be done is the correct choice of the two chain sprockets, with smaller ones for hillclimb or race tracks and the biggest for reaching the highest speeds.
I'm really happy to have been lucky enough to see this 'Blitzen' in both its shapes and feel the ground shaking at each throttle blips. Hope you like it!
0:00 Bernina Gran Turismo
5:52 Kilomètre Lancé
9:04 Goodwood Festival of Speed
#Benz200hp #BlitzenBenz #RecordCar
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Hard to imagine someone doing 140mph in that thing especially on those wheels and tires, incredible stuff!
The mad lad ... driving that walking museum like he stole it 🤣
🥺
Well its not very fast..i will be more scared to not crash with those tiny tires:)
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was so pissed off they removed all the older cars like this from the last Goodwood run. They had the nerve to call them slow and boring. Can you believe it?
It had some serious pull out of the corners and the squeals with the drifting wasn't boring. What a bunch of twats.
cant believe they called them boring, just wow!
I would like to see them try to drive this car. Slow and boring, yeah, sure, whatever they say.
Slow? Maybe. But boring? Hell nah in my opinion
No, they actually cut the shootout into two runs. Though for some reasons unknown to us, and probably even science, they decided to start the shootout for the faster, newer cars, first... I thought, why?
What they should've done, if they were to split the shootout into two parts, is to put these cars first. That way, everyone can see the progression in design and all that, plus, it would really make a big build-up for the faster cars, as everyone would be all primed up and waiting for the faster cars to take their runs int he second part of the shootout!
Edit: also, the camera direction last year is also sub-par, on both the "faster" and "slower" shootouts, the camera work is all over the place in the livestream. Several cars got missed entirely. I for one, is looking forward to watch Julian Majzub's run in his Alfa Romeo 308C, as he is really ripping into much newer cars in his pre-war GP racer. And yet, his run is completely missed by the cameras, and I have to look for the live timing on the internet just to at least find out his time (he actually did a sub-60 second run in a pre-war car!).
I like the tyre squeal pulling off the lawn 😁
One of your best...mesmerising.
You do a tremendous job at collating these.
Thanks a lot! Glad you liked it
I like the sang froid and savoir faire of the feller who disdains to wear a helmet driving it, but just clears a cloth cap and shades 😎
Enough torque to rip doors off
And this is, at one point, the fastest *vehicle* on Earth
In 20th Century
this was really great! and I loved your long description / info with nice details
Fantastic machines!! Thank you for sharing 👍
Wunderbar! 🙂👍
Big fun. Thanks.
Whole Ford V8 in one cylinder.
Many V8 inside:)
What a beauty! 😍
Wonderful 😊
The brains behind the first engines were so extraordinary that even after all these years and today’s technology the concept of the gas emigren is still pretty much the same, even electric cars were already being used as taxis in 1943 it’s amazing to see these late cars still taking the lead today 👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Very nice, even got the steering wheel in the right place!
lmao from the very beginning he's kicking up grass and chirping tires. Love car owners that drive these cars the way they were intended.
It makes over 1000 ft lbs of torque and redlines below 2000 rpm. Making most of that torque right from clutch release, i doubt he has any option but to look badass.
Beauty
Beauty ❤️
Todo un GT para su epoca , Fantastico!!
Proper hill climb. Why can’t we have such a venue in the UK ?
Für einen brachialen Fahrspaß ist meine Brieftasche noch zu klein, aber eines Tages werde ich auch so ein ähnliches Fahrzeug besitzen :) Schauben kann ich schon, da muss nur noch die Gelegenheit kommen. Mercedes z.b. bietet ja die Möglichkeit viele Bauteile in Orignalqualität zu erstehen (das kostet natürlich ne Menge) Aber wenn es sein muss baue ich so ein Fahrzeug Stück für Stück selbst zusammen nach Orginalplänen, und DANN eines Tages gibts Fahrspaß pur :)
Tja Träume halt, aber sie können wahr werden :).
What a Monster.....
Snap Crackle PoP !
It is also raced in vintage races!
Wow, when the guy at the start of the video revving at iddle it seems like the engine wants to come out of the car and have a run for itself
long hood (bonnet)... Front/Mid-Engine placement well behind the front axle... driver's seating position at the back... it's the original AMG GTR "Black Series".
"Bored it to 21.4 liters" how thick was the block before??
There is definitely something transcendent about these cars...no stopwatch can measure it...
200hp in 1909 is kinda nuts lol
So is the estimated 1000 ft lbs torque i saw in an article. Its just a guess cause it doesn't hook up on a dyno and most don't go high enough to read it anyway.
darracq v8 had 200hp in 1905, just look at it to see how nuts people were back then.
Anyone know what size wheels they had?
5.375L per cylinder is insane. It must be all torque
Drift weapon
Sounds almost like a plane
Sounds like Volvo truck:):)
It feels like nerfet Brutus with plane engine.
3:58/4:22 Also what is those cars behind him?Sounds wayyy more cooler!
The car following at 3:58 is a Bugatti Type 51.
There were two cars following it in 4:22, "GV 602" is a 1903 Mercedes 60HP, owned by the driver of the Blitzen Benz himself. The car next to that seems to be a late 1920s Mercedes Benz SS
@@jcgabriel1569 Thx a lot!
4 cylinders. 21.5 litres. that means each cylinder is 5.3 litres. so, basically, this 4 cylinder engine is 4 350cubic inch Chev V8 engines combined.
Salut my friend super car super video subscribe subscribe . . .
You literally can see the massive torque at no rpm
engine specs ???
Lotsa horse-torques right there.
Hell yeah brother!
✌️😎🇺🇲🦅🦒
Found an article estimating 1000 ft lbs but doesnt hook up on a dyno and most dont go high enough. Pretty cool for a four banger. Albeit one the size of a small tank engine.
Imaging trying driving the benz that's capable of 140 mph with skinny little tyres in the wet
Squeals the tires/tyres!
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💪💪💪💪💪👀🙏🙋♂
I wonder what the torque is of this monster! 1300-1400 NM maybe? (1000ftlb)
Like 200lbs lol. It's 1909 and goes maybe 100mph
@@tomgillman9555it goes over 235 kph, or almost 150 mph.
It looks like a soap box car with a big ass engine strapped onto it when driving around those hills😂
Что то не похож на тот самый blitzen benz у него вроде двигатель другой рядная восьмëрка без выпускного коллектора и более узкий и длинный моторный отсек с корпусом радиатора из латуни с таким шпилем
did this thing have 200hp in 1909?
Yep..only 200hp for that big engine...
@@joe125ful I mean, at this point they've made cars for what, 20 years max. I'd call 200hp great, since they'd have 4hp, sometimes not even, on horse drawn carriages.
@@Kronikman07 Agreed but all that power feels halved with all that ancient things.
Iam sure 25 years later Auto Union with relative small V16/V12 made true scary cars,wheel spin in 160km?Why not:)
630Hp in 825Kg car seems great in modern cars and it was 1936-37 when normal cars barely move 130km..race cars reach 340Km!
200 hp at 1600 rpm !!
And 10000 ft/lb
ခုချိန်ထိကားလေးကချစ်စရာကောင်နေပါသည်စက်သံကလဲပေါ့ပေါ့ပါပါနဲတောင်တက်ပြသွားတာချစ်စဘဲ
More cubic inches in one cylinder than a Mustang GT
Отвези машину бертоне пока сменьщик бобби не вернулся