Previous Features

Two 1910 Benz 'tourers' racing to Paris.

The Prinz-Heinrich Fahrt, first held in 1908, was a German road race in which only four-seater touring cars were allowed to take part. Three passengers were obligatory and racing cars were not allowed. Only three races were held, the last one in 1910 in which no less than ten Benz cars took part in a grueling 1,900 kilometer race across Germany and part of France. They had 80HP and 100HP engines with lubrication pumps, drive shaft transmission replacing the old chain system, and an elegant 'tulip' bodywork, seen here on one of the cars in 'street guise'. Note the small differences with the other versions (bullet headlamps for streamlining!), that looked more and more like proper racing cars, much to the dislike of the organizers. Fritz Erle, racing manager at Benz and winner of the 1908 event came in at 5th place in 1910. End of story. No, as only a few years ago two long dormant cars emerged from the storerooms of both the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Louwman Museum. They were intact in every respect except the bodywork and identified as 1910 'Prinz-Heinrich' cars. Both cars have been restored and will be displayed at Rétromobile opposite each other, one at the Mercedes Benz stand, the other at the stand of the Louwman Museum. We are sure curious to see the result!

More MB news: today it is 75 years ago that Rudolph Caracciola set a new - and up to this day never broken record - on the Autobahn Frankfurt-Darmstadt: 432,7 km or 268.4 mph (not mpg ;-)  (SpeedDoctor.net).  This is only 1 mph slower than a 2011 Bugatti Veyron... 

Monday, 28 January 2013

< Prev (early differential)		Next > (the clockwork riley)