Paris - Retromobile 2013 - Blitzen Benz - 1909 - 001

The Blitzen Benz is a race car built by Benz & Cie in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in 1909. In 1910 an enhanced model broke the world land speed record. It was one of six cars based on the Grand Prix car, but it had an enlarged engine, ,

inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

, and improved

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

. Of the six Blitzen Benzes ever made, only two survive—

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

owns one, while the other belongs to an American collector. At

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

on 9 November 1909, land speed racer

Victor Hémery Victor Hémery (18 November 1876 – 9 September 1950) was a champion French racecar driver of the early Grand Prix motor racing era. Life and career He was born in Sillé-le-Guillaume, Sarthe, France. In 1904 he joined Automobiles Darracq Fran ...

of France set a record with an average speed of over a kilometre. At

on 24 June 1914, land speed racer British driver Lydston Hornsted, in Blitzen Benz No 3, set a record with an average speed of with 2 runs over a 1-mile course, under the new regulations of the '' Association International des Automobile Clubs Reconnus'' (AIACR).Northey, Tom (1974). "Land Speed Record: The Fastest Men on Earth". Tom Northey. ''World of Automobiles''. Vol. 10 (London: Orbis), pp.1163. On 23 April 1911,

Bob Burman Robert R. Burman (April 23, 1884 – April 8, 1916) was an American race car driver, he was an open-wheel pioneer, setting numerous speed records in the early 1900s. He participated in many historic races and was one of the drivers to compe ...

recorded an average of over a full mile at

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

, breaking

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...

's unofficial absolute speed record, land, sea or air, set in 1907 on his V-8 motorcycle. Burman's record stood until 1919. After 1914 the car was rebuilt for circuit racing, undergoing a number of revisions before it was broken up in 1923.

References

See also