Daimler "Phoenix" 12 hp racing car, 1899

Daimler "Phoenix" 12 hp racing car, 1899

Since the late 19th century, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) had maintained business relations with Emil Jellinek. The wealthy businessman and bon vivant, who resided in Baden near Vienna and in fashionable Nice, had received his first Daimler automobile in October 1897 after a visit to the Daimler factory in Cannstatt, a 6 hp Double Phaeton with the belt drive that was customary at Daimler at the time. As an enthusiastic and technically interested motorist, Jellinek became an influential advocate of Daimler vehicles and began to sell them with great success in his social circle. Inspired and self-confident as he was, he did not hesitate to express his clearly defined requirements to DMG design chief Wilhelm Maybach regarding the technical quality and performance of the Daimler cars. In particular, the top speed of his Daimler car seemed to him to be in need of improvement.

Less than a year later, in September 1898, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft delivered two examples of its new 6 hp Phaeton as ordered by Jellinek. Although the new model also had a rated output of 6 hp/4.4 kW, it was equipped with a four-cylinder engine - a first for DMG. This was based on the two-cylinder Phoenix engine, which had already proved its worth in the belt-driven cars, and provided an output of a good 8 hp/5.9 kW at 720 rpm from a displacement of 2.1 litres, as measured on the test stand. With these two vehicles, which were also called Phoenix cars after their engines, DMG also switched to the concept introduced by Panhard & Levassor with a front engine and driven rear wheels.

To market the new Daimler models, Jellinek relied from the outset on successes in motorsport, which was gaining popularity both in France and elsewhere. The Nice - La Turbie race, which is regarded as the world's first hill climb, was held for the first time in January 1897 as the third stage of the Marseille - Nice - La Turbie race. In March 1899, it was held for the first time as part of the "Semaine de Nice", a motorsport week consisting of several separately scored competitions. In the meantime, DMG had delivered four more Phoenix cars with four-cylinder engines to the Cote d'Azur - three with a rated output of 10 hp and one with 12 hp. The vehicles were registered as 8 hp and 14 hp respectively, whereby two of the 8 hp models were registered by Arthur de Rothschild and his nephew Henri de Rothschild. Jellinek registered his 14 hp, driven by DMG driver Wilhelm Bauer, under his pseudonym "Monsieur Mercédès", which was inspired by the first name of his then 10-year-old daughter.

The 8 hp cars were equipped with engines whose displacement had been increased to 3.6 litres compared to the first four-cylinder Phoenix cars; the 14 hp reported by Jellinek had a displacement of 4.4 litres with an enlarged cylinder bore. According to the archived original sources, the 8 hp models produced exactly 12.0 hp/8.8 kW and 12.4 hp/9.1 kW on the test stand, while the 4.4-litre engine of the 14 hp was measured at 14.7 hp/10.8 kW.

The four grey cast iron cylinders were cast together in pairs, and the four-cylinder cylinder head, also made of grey cast iron, was removable. The engine was designed as an intake over exhaust engine, i.e. with a side-hanging intake valve and a side-standing exhaust valve. The intake valves were uncontrolled, while the exhaust valves were opened and closed via a side-mounted camshaft. The lubrication and cooling of the engines designed by Wilhelm Maybach were adapted to the increased performance. Instead of the previous drip oilers, a combination of pressure and splash lubrication was now used, which offered greater lubrication stability and better temperature resistance. The latter was also brought about by the tubular radiator, also developed by Maybach, which made circulation cooling by means of a water pump much more efficient and made the level of performance achieved possible in the first place. In this innovative cooling system, more than 2000 metal tubes were soldered at both ends to a perforated round metal plate. The cooling water circulated between the tubes and was cooled by the airstream flowing through the tubes. The large radiators positioned below the bonnet dominated the front view of the high-performance cars.

At the Nice - Magagnosc - Nice tour on 21 March, DMG works driver Wilhelm Bauer was successful in Jellinek's vehicle in the two-seater category ahead of Arthur de Rothschild's Phoenix car. The Rothschild car also won the four-seater category. In addition, Arthur de Rothschild took second place in the four-seater category at the Nice - La Turbie hill climb. In the mile race in Nice, however, the Phoenix racing cars came away with nothing: Arthur de Rothschild retired in the first race, Bauer in the second. Not a bad start overall, but reason enough for the ever-ambitious Jellinek to demand even more powerful cars from DMG for the next edition of the Nice race week - cars that would be able to ensure a completely convincing performance in front of a large crowd.

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