Vanderbilt race in Milwaukee, 1912. The later winner Ralph de Palma (starting number 22) with the Mercedes 140 hp Grand Prix model 1908. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: 2000DIG15)
Ralph de Palma won the Elgin Road Races with record averages of more than 110 km/h
- Ever higher speeds in races in the early days of the car
- Five years before that, Baron Pierre de Caters won the Ardennes Race with an average speed of 92.6 km/h
- Both drove Mercedes racing cars
Early motor racing successes: on 30 and 31 August 1912, 110 years ago, Ralph de Palma won the Elgin Road Races in Elgin/Illinois, USA, in a privately entered Mercedes 140 hp Grand Prix model 1908, followed by Erwin Bergdoll in a Benz 150 hp. With an average speed of more than 110 km/h, Ralph de Palma set a record there. The 1912 race report states: “Driving a Mercedes, he won the Elgin National Trophy Race and the free-for-all in the best time ever made on the Elgin course.” By comparison, five years before that, Baron Pierre des Caters won the sixth Ardennes Race over 600 kilometres on 27 July 1907 in the Mercedes 120 hp Grand Prix racing car developed by Paul Daimler after 6:29:10 hours. Its average speed was 92.6 km/h
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