1911

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  • 23 April 1911
  • At Daytona Beach, Florida/USA, Bob Burman betters Barney Oldfield's record of the previous year. In the 200 hp Benz, by this time already known by the memorable sobriquet "Blitzen Benz”, he clocks an average speed of 228.1 km/h for the mile with flying start. This is the highest speed ever set by a road vehicle, a world record mark which would remain unbeaten until 1919.
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  • 11 June - 7 July 1911
  • DMG is presented with a special award from the Berlin-based "Automobil- und flugtechnische Gesellschaft" (Automotive and Aviation Society) for the best aircraft engine at the German Long Distance Flight Trials. Prize-winner is the four-cylinder 70 hp / 51 kW Mercedes E 4 F.
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  • June 1911
  • Benz & Cie. begins the market launch of the 8/18 hp Benz, a small car which engineer Karl Ketterer had designed for an in-house competition at Benz in summer 1910. At the same time, series production gets underway for the competing 8/18 hp Mercedes, adding another keenly priced low-displacement model to the DMG range.
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  • June 1911
  • Deliveries of the 37/90 hp Mercedes get underway from Untertürkheim. DMG's new flagship model, powered by a four-cylinder engine with three-valve technology and dual ignition, takes the place in the range of the six-cylinder models – which had been built since the end of 1906. Like its predecessors, the new car is fitted with a chain drive system. The 37/90 hp is the last new DMG vehicle with chain drive to come on the market.
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  • 26 August 1911
  • "Benz & Cie., Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik AG Mannheim" changes its name to "Benz & Cie., Rheinische Automobil und Motorenfabrik Mannheim AG".
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  • 20 September 1911
  • The DMG plant at Marienfelde receives an order for production of a series of ten four-stroke diesel marine engines with air injection. The first batch of five RM 20274 four-cylinder units with 100 hp / 74 kW is delivered in 1912.
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  • September 1911
  • Eighteen months after the acquisition of the manufacturing and sales rights for Germany and Austria-Hungary, Benz & Cie. delivers the first "Hesselman patent” two-stroke diesel marine engine built by the company. The reliability of the engine, which the Swedish firm Aktiebolaget Diesels Motorer has been producing in Stockholm since 1907, is demonstrated in impressive fashion by the research vessel Fram. Roald Amundsen had the ship fitted with a 180 hp / 132 kW unit of this design in early 1910 in preparation for his Antarctic expedition.
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  • 27 November 1911
  • American racing driver Ralph DePalma takes second place in the Vanderbilt Cup race in Savannah, Georgia/USA. His new grey-coloured Mercedes racing car, which DePalma calls the "Grey Ghost", is based on the Grand Prix car of 1908 and is fitted with a revised version of the series-produced 37/90 hp engine. Spencer Wishart drives the same model to third place.
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  • 8 December 1911
  • The Board of Management of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft decides to "take up the manufacture of diesel engines for road vehicles" and assigns the task to production engineer Fritz Schwarz. Schwarz first develops a single-cylinder engine with a pressure reservoir and direct injection, which is ready for testing by late 1913.
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