1909 Benz 200HP Blitzen-Benz
The Blitzen Benz is a race car built by Benz & Cie in Mannheim, Germany, 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, 21,504 cm3 (1,312.3 in3), 200 hp (149.1 kW) inline-four, and improved aerodynamics.
Of the six Blitzen Benzes ever made, only two survive—Mercedes-Benz owns one, while the other belongs to an American collector.
A displacement of 21.5 litres, a top speed of more than 200 km/h and a streamlined body. And all this as far back as 1909: the “Lightning Benz” – known internally as the Benz 200 hp – is one of the most fascinating creations to emanate from the early days of Mercedes-Benz. It was developed under the aegis of Victor Héméry, a successful French racing driver who had been under contract to Benz & Cie. in Mannheim since 1907.
Initially the engine was still used in the body of the Benz Grand Prix car of 1908. It was under this name, and with Fritz Erle at the wheel, that the car also successfully completed its first outing at the one-kilometre race in Frankfurt am Main on 22 August 1909. With a flying start, Erle covered the kilometre in 22.6 seconds, equivalent to an average speed of 159.3 km/h and enough to secure him the Grand Duchess of Hesse prize.
At the Benz 200HP’s first competitive outing, a sprint race in Brussels in October 1909, it not only won the race but achieved a top speed of 202.648kph. The 200kph barrier had been broken, but the car headed to America’s Daytona Beach to push a little harder in March, 1910. Having been titled the ‘Lightning Benz’ by New York Benz importer Jesse Froehlich, the ‘Blitzen Benz’, with Barney Oldfield at the wheel, clocked 211.4kph, but the record failed to meet the regulations of the day, making it a very unofficial record. It wasn’t until April 2011 that the record was extended, with ex-Buick works driver managing 228.1kph over a flying mile and 226.7kph over the flying kilometre.
1910 was a highly successful year on the American continent for Benz & Cie., not only in terms of establishing records, but also in circuit racing. Bruce Brown and Victor Ganss entered the American Grand Prix at Savannah in their Benz Grand-Prix cars against strong competitors. The Fiat S 61 cars, with their OHC four-cylinder engines and a displacement of 10 litres, were formidable opponents. But Ganss could take the lead right after the start, ahead of Arthur Chevrolet in a Buick, followed by Louis Wagner in a Fiat and, ten seconds behind, David Bruce Brown in another Benz. In the course of the race, the Buicks retired, and the Fiat cars had technical problems, too, so that towards the end of the race a duel developed between Ganss and Brown which Brown won by a margin of just one second ahead of his team-mate.
