The Blitzen Benz is a race car built by

Benz & Cie Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automob ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, 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, , capacity with ,

inline-four A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

and improved

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

History

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

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

owns one, while the other belongs to an American collector. Paris - Retromobile 2013 - Blitzen Benz - 1909 - 006

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 of France set a record with an average speed of over a kilometre. Paris - Retromobile 2013 - Blitzen Benz - 1909 - 001

Paris - Retromobile 2013 - Blitzen Benz - 1909 - 001

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 racing 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 compete in ...

recorded an average of over a full mile at

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach is a coastal resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropo ...

, 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 a ...

'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.

History

Technical Data

References

See also