1903 Gordon Bennett Race -- Camille Jenatzy Drives the Race of His Life

 

Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp wins the Gordon Bennett Race

Camille Jenatzy in Clarence Gray Dinsmore’s Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp won the 4th Gordon Bennett Cup race on 2 July 1903 in Ireland. Photo taken at the start of the race. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archive: 21568

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• The races for the Gordon Bennett Cup 120 years ago are regarded as the forerunners of the subsequent Grands Prix. Three weeks before the start of the race on 2 July 1903, a major fire at the Cannstatt factory of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) destroyed 90 vehicles that were almost finished or still under construction. The flames also destroyed three Mercedes Simplex 90 hp cars. They were scheduled to start in what was probably the most internationally renowned race at the time. American publisher and “New York Herald” editor Gordon Bennett gave his name to the competition. The 1903 edition took place in Ireland. Two circuits of 65 and 83 kilometres were to be driven alternately. In order to be able to contest the race despite the major fire, DMG borrowed and bought back three Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp from customers, one of them from American millionaire Clarence Gray Dinsmore. The three emergency stand-in vehicles make their way to Ireland. There, Belgian Camille Jenatzy (born 1868; died 1913) drove the race of his life: although Dinsmore’s car was inferior in terms of output, the competition stood no chance against it or Jenatzy’s fearless, spectacular driving style on that cool, cloudy day. He covered 592 race kilometres in 6:39 hours, corresponding to an average of 79.24 km/h. With this tremendous international success, the German Mercedes brand established itself in the circle of racing nations alongside England and France.

Victory in the Nice–La Turbie hill climb with the Mercedes Simplex 60 hp --- 120 years ago

 

Nice-La Turbie hill climb on 1 April 1903 as part of the “Nice Week” motorsport event, 30 March to 7 April 1903. Photo of the subsequent winner Otto Hieronimus with Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp at the start. Ferdinand Porsche at the rear wheel. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archive: 71269

• Otto Hieronimus/Wilhelm Werner achieve an average of 64.4 km/h
• Triumph of the first modern automobile
• Top engine of the Mercedes-Simplex model family in 1903

Following wins in 1901 and 1902, 1903 also saw a Mercedes win the prestigious hill climb from Nice to La Turbie as part of the “Nice Week” motorsport event. The commune of La Turbie is situated in the mountains above the Principality of Monaco. On 1 April 1903, Otto Hieronimus and Wilhelm Werner in the Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp set a new record, with an average speed of 64.4 km/h over the 15.5-kilometre course. The progress was clear: in 1901, at the first start of the Mercedes 35 hp, Werner had driven at an average speed of 54.1 km/h. He won other competitions during Nice Week at the time, too. With its long wheelbase, low centre of gravity and high-performance engine complete with honeycomb radiator, the Mercedes 35 PS designed by Wilhelm Maybach of the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) is considered the first modern automobile ever: it was systematically designed for performance, weight savings and safety. In 1902, after a series of improvements to various details, the Mercedes-Simplex family of models was born. The suffix was a reference to how easy the car was to operate, by the standards of the time. For the 1903 model year, Maybach designed three new Mercedes-Simplex models. The top engine variant was the Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp. Its four-cylinder engine, with a displacement of 9,235 cubic centimetres, produced 44 kW (60 hp) at 1,600 rpm.

The Emerging E-fuels Production Industry

 

Europe backs away from an ICE ban

You have heard that Europe intends to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2035? Never mind.   Over the weekend, EU and German government officials cut a deal to allow sales of vehicles with piston engines to continue past 2035, so long as the vehicles burn carbon neutral “e-fuels.” (Here’s an explanation of what e-fuels are.)   The construction of a regulatory detour that allows automakers to keep selling vehicles with internal combustion engines is good news for small luxury manufacturers such as Ferrari, which faced a steep, expensive climb to go all electric.   CEO Benedetto Vigna told a Reuters newsmaker event that the e-fuels agreement would give Ferrari “greater freedom.”   Larger EU automakers that have vowed to go all-electric now have a way to delay slashing jobs tied to piston powertrain production – provided the nascent e-fuels production industry can start producing at scale.   Environmental groups and climate action advocates, however, criticized the deal. They worry the promised e-fuels off-ramp will slow efforts to achieve real reductions in the carbon generated by transport.

Mercedes-Benz Experimental Safety Vehicle 22

Mercedes-Benz Museum. Legend 5 Room: Visionaries – Safety and the Environment. The Mercedes-Benz Experimental Safety Vehicle ESF 22 from 1973. Exterior view with close-up of the headlamp wiper.

 Milestone: An atmosphere of research and development envelops visitors to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Legend Room 5: Visionaries – Safety and the Environment. One of the exhibits with a podium all to itself is the Experimental Safety Vehicle ESF 22. The large saloon looks similar to the S-Class of the 1970s. But the front section alone is already a tour de force of the engineers in the service of safety.

Futuristic: The vehicle’s front end is characterised by large expanses of plastic. The purpose of this material was to improve pedestrian protection – that was the concept of the developers at the time. To this end, they even dispensed with the typical Mercedes radiator grille with chrome trim. Instead they used the front section of the SL sports cars with a large central star, and wrapped it in impact-absorbing material. The headlamps are also surrounded by this, and recessed slightly. The bumpers are likewise designed to absorb energy.

Pioneering: In the early 1970s, road accident statistics in western countries reached a lamentable peak. As traffic density increased, so did the number of accident victims. Innovations in vehicle safety were able to improve the situation – as early as 1959, for example, Mercedes-Benz had set standards with the safety bodyshell of its “Fintail” saloons. However, not all manufacturers focused their development work on further improving passive and active safety. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) provided a stimulus: it established the “Experimental Safety Vehicle Program” (ESV). This was intended to develop new automotive safety standards for all manufacturers.

ESF ancestry: The so-called Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESFs) were used for testing. All in all, Mercedes-Benz has built more than 30 of these since 1971. The Mercedes-Benz ESF 22 was the company’s third publicly presented ESF. It was shown at the 4th International ESV Conference in Kyoto, Japan from 13-16 March 1973. This was preceded by public premieres of the ESF 05 in October 1971 and ESF 13 in May 1972. Most recently, the ESF 2019 was presented four years ago, again with groundbreaking innovations.

Role models: The ESF research vehicles provided an important impetus for safety technologies. Restraint systems, smooth impact areas in the interior, ABS anti-lock braking system, headlamp wipers, bodyshell measures – the ESF 05 and ESF 13 already featured these and other innovations. The ESF 22 built further on all this. It further refined these developments and provided additional safety.

Technology platform: Behind the front section the ESF 22 looks familiar. Quite so – it was based on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class model series 116 presented in 1972. This underlines the high safety standard of the brand’s production vehicles. While not all the measures tested in the ESF were later adopted in the model portfolio, the general goal of Mercedes-Benz safety development is to offer customers specific benefits with as many of these technologies as possible.

When are you too old to drive?

 

The  above title above is a loaded question if there ever was one! Who wants to surrender their freedom unless forced to? How will assessment of driving ability be judged and by whom? When does mental deterioration become such a liability that steps to prevent driving be taken? 

What a complex set of parameters -- reaction time, mental state, eyesight, early onset dementia and other neurological  symptoms?  Propensity to take risks and judgment concerning speed. 

At what age is mandatory reexamination mandated by the state? When do insurance companies intervene? 

I'll begin to study the topic and report my findings here

Financial Collapse and the Collector Car Market -- Revised Thoughts.

 

As of this morning, the banking underpinnings of our capitalist economy are wobbling in an unprecedented manner. What it means for the collector car market remains unclear. But this stress on economic stability has the potential to radically change the nature of the hobby, and I think it might be about time. There is simply too much money in the classic car market -- too many buyers fueled by years of low interest rates, too many cars purchased on loans, too many so-called "restorers," too many cars that are hardly considered collectible now included in the mix,  too many events that serve as social opportunities for would be social climbers. 

Promoted by the insurance company Haggerty and a large cast of followers, this hobby has taken  automobile collectibles to price heights that exclude the average American. What was once a pursuit of the dedicated few has been overpopulated by speculators,  shady exploiters, bullshitters, and bondo restorers and half-assers posing as master mechanics.  Car collections are of such a large size that they serve no useful social purpose except become shrines to self and wealth. How many of the cars in these warehouse museums are routinely driven and appreciated? Many enthusiasts who are members of the Porsche and Mercedes Clubs have no idea about the technology associated with their cars, and not the complex and rich history behind them. They bring girl friends and trophy wives attired in Louis Vuitton to sip wine and discourse in small talk. Automobiles are just an acceptable and socially useful thing to do -- and until recently with a red-hot market -- profitable.

The age of excess -- in so many areas of American life -- needs to be tempered with a questioning of what are proper strong values to embrace. There needs to  a departure from an individualism that is tearing apart this once great nation. All this printed money has corrupted us to a point of no return. Think more of one's neighbor rather than the ceramic coating to be applied to your old cars.