Starting the 1909 Blitzen-Benz, UNEDITED, @ Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
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Published 2011-11-28
(Edited version: • 1909 Blitzen-Benz at Pebble Beach Con... )
Its speed of 228.1km/h (141.73mph) on April 23rd, 1911, driven by Bob Burman at Daytona Beach, stood as a record until 1919. Twice the speed of the fastest airplane, (12 April, 1911, Alfred Leblanc @ 69.442mph/111.801kph in a Blériot Blériot) and even shattering the record speed of 210km/h set by a locomotive in 1903.
This record was not even officially broken in an airplane until 1920!
Of the six originally built, this is one of only two that exist today, and is displayed at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
While the extended and nuanced effort required to start the Blitzen-Benz on a cool coastal morning can try the patience of some viewers, its historical significance and ground-breaking engineering brilliance still place it amongst the greatest motor-vehicle achievements of all time, and the dozens witnessing this effort felt it was one of the highlights of many great moments at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2011.
Here's a great collection of vintage and modern images of the Blitzen-Benz and other historic speed record contenders:
www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/blitzenbenz/interes…
Specs:
displacement 21500 cc / 1312.0 in³
bore 185 mm / 7.28 in
stroke 200 mm / 7.87 in
compression 5.8:1
power 149.1 kw / 200 bhp @ 1600 rpm
specific output 9.3 bhp per litre
bhp/weight 137.93 bhp per tonne
All Comments (21)
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Tis is not just a car, it is both a technical masterpiece and a piece of art. Absolutely beautiful.
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6:35 Art in Motion!!! Beautiful!!! Got to love that "pedestrian safe" radiator design, quickly relieves undo suffering in a pedestrian collision.
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That's exactly the same amount of time needed to start a car in horror films.
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I just saw one of these going flat out around the track at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bloody fantastic. It was in a race with a whole lot of similar machines (including the "Beast of Turin"), all of which were also going flat out, it was the most epic thing I think I've ever seen.
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"Gentlemen, start your engines!" Crowd takes a nap.
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@EarthAdvocate actually 8 cars were built. 1935 mercedes benz built car no.7 (shown in this video) partially with parts from car no.6, and remaining parts from car no.3, which 1922 was almost fully destroyed in a crash. and 2004 an american collector built car no.8 with help of mercedes benz. as a model for the private project, the mercedes benz museum provided him with his own blitzen benz (car no.7) for one year. in order for the replica to be as true to the original as possible, he received the parts of the crash car (no.3) in the mercedes magazine, including the engine no.9141 and a few ancillaries. parts of an original body still existed in the united states. greetings from germany 🙂
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Whoever piloted that to 140mph back in the day, had balls of pure German steel.
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Dad, can I borrow the Benz? Sure son if you can get it started!
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Engineering becomes artwork. Imagine the pride in building one. It really shows.
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"Hans, what are you toing with ze car?" "I'm starting him up for ze roat trip on Freitag, Greta.." "But itz only Wednesday!"
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Beautiful machine. Can only imagine the awe and wonder of a boy watching this back in 1909. Like the Star Trek Enterprise to a kid now.
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i was 9 years old when this video started. i am 67 now.
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Well, I'm never going to complain about how hard my lawn mower is to start again.
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It's so nice to hear the Benz. My great-great uncle Bob Burman drove this car. Thanks Bob !!
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Why is this car not in the Louvre? More a piece of art than a A to B contraption. Sumptuous piece of design and workmanship. 21.5 litres though. Hats off to those responsible for the suspension and ballast design.
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Not just a car guy but a machinery guy. This is very special. Thanks guys.
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Lovely! Just superb legs at 3:47. That is the work of true craftsmanship!
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What a beautiful piece of engineering!
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The car is a beautiful piece of art all on its own. I couldn't imagine driving that car back in the day and comparably nothing was fast and nothing was near as fast as that thing was.
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Engineers in 1909 hadn't yet solved the mystery of how to jump start a car. Every time they tried to put the jumper cables on, the horse would kick them and run off.
