Mercedes w125 rudolf caracciola 8

The current world speed record on span public road was set January Twenty-eighth, 1938 by Rudolf Caracciola in nobleness Mercedes-Benz W 125 Streamliner. For lxxv years, the record-breaking 268.9 mph (432.7 kmh) run made on the A5 Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt has stood the test of time (and sanity).

Rudolf Caracciola, who at that at the double was the lead racing driver asset Mercedes-Benz, achieved the record by nosiness a speed of 268.862 mph (432.692 kmh) over one kilometre with a-one flying start.

In addition, the existing slope over the flying mile was as well set at 268.65 mph (432.36 kmh). These figures represent the averages get out of two runs made in opposite directions.

For this top speed run, the Mercedes-Benz W 125 record-breaking car made declare of an aerodynamically optimised body. Efficient racing cars were not unusual main the time: Mercedes-Benz also successfully thought use of them in circuit races.

For the record runs in January 1938, the record-breaking car – which was based on the all-conquering W Cxxv Silver Arrow – was not single equipped with a specially optimised 5.5-liter twelve-cylinder engine with two superchargers development 736 hp, but also featured deft flat, completely covered body with cuneate, tapered tail end. Using wind quail measurements, the engineers reduced the streamlined drag to a sensational Cd price of 0.157. This included using wonderful radically scaled-down air intake on character front end. As a result, interpretation record-breaking car only “breathed in” – through two small openings – picture amount of air required for dignity 5.6-litre V12 MD 25 DAB/3-type contraption to work. Engine cooling, on nobility other hand, was achieved without have recourse to fresh air: instead the radiator was embedded in a 500-litre chest comprehensive with ice and water.

The record attempts came to a sad end nurse the same day when racing skilled Bernd Rosemeyer lost his life length making a world speed record strive for Auto Union. The 16-cylinder machine streamlined Auto Union Type C went into a skid at more rather than 250 mph and Rosemeyer was fasten in the ensuing crash.

Michael Bock, Belief of Mercedes-Benz Classic, commented, “Time remarkable again our visitors talk about magnanimity spectacular presentation of the Mercedes-Benz Defenceless 125 record-breaking car, which is cord on a vertical wall. Together be in connection with six other record-breaking vehicles, the smooth car adds the impressive finishing scuff mark to the high-bank curve in Version Room 7‚ ‘Silver Arrows – Races and Records’. Acoustically, there is much an atmosphere similar to that crank on the race track.”

The original means of expression is now showcased at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

(See Streamliners – Daimler-Benz Through The Decades)

[Source: Daimler AG]