Mercedes 80 hp "Kaiserpreis" racing car, 1907

Mercedes 80 hp "Kaiserpreis" racing car, 1907

After the last of the prestigious Gordon Bennett Cup races was held in 1905, the lack of such an international comparison of the performance of leading automobile manufacturers was lamented, not least in the German Empire. As Benz & Cie. and the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) were almost the only domestic companies that were exposing themselves to international competition, in 1906 the then Kaiserlicher Automobil-Club (KAC) and the Verein Deutscher Motorfahrzeug-Industrieller (VDMI), a forerunner of today's Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA, German Association of the Automotive Industry), organised a large-scale international race for June 1907, with a framework of technical regulations configured to encourage other German manufacturers to take part. As an added incentive, Kaiser Wilhelm II endowed a special prize.

The Kaiserpreis (Kaiser Prize) race was intended to promote touring car racing in particular and pursued this goal with a set of regulations tailored accordingly. The maximum displacement was 8 litres, the wheelbase was set at a minimum of 3 metres and the distance from the firewall to the centre of the rear axle had to be at least 2 metres. The minimum weight was set at 1175 kilograms.

The 117-kilometre circuit through the Taunus Mountains near Bad Homburg, the seat of the imperial summer residence, essentially corresponded to the route on which the Gordon Bennett Cup race had been held three years previously. On the day before the actual start of the race, which was scheduled for 14 June 1907, two qualifying heats were held. These had become necessary due to the large field of 92 entries and 42 vehicle brands.

In view of the special rules of the Kaiserpreis race, DMG used the technical basis of the successful Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp racing car from 1903. The displacement of its already somewhat dated four-cylinder engine was reduced from 9.3 to almost exactly 8 litres by reducing the stroke from 150 mm to 129.9 mm. Thanks to its improved revving ability and some targeted fine-tuning, the engine, which had been made slightly short-stroke by the measures undertaken, showed an increase in power from around 65 hp/48 kW to a measured 80 hp/59 kW despite the reduced displacement.

The frame of the Kaiserpreis racing car featured a slight offset in the area of the front and rear axles, while the wheel suspensions were still rigid axles with semi-elliptic springs. The wheelbase had been extended to 3050 mm in accordance with the regulations.

Neither in the qualifying races held before the event nor in the Kaiserpreis race itself were the somewhat desultorily built Mercedes 80 hp racing cars able to make a decisive impression. Otto Salzer, who finished sixth in the second qualifying run, was the best Mercedes driver in the race itself, taking ninth place. Camille Jenatzy finished in 14th place and Willy Pöge, the third DMG works driver, was not even able to take part in the final. The race, like the two qualifying heats before it, was dominated by the more sophisticated FIAT cars, which finished in 1st, 5th and 6th place. The Opel team with Carl Jörns and Christian Michel in 3rd and 4th place achieved a respectable success.

After the Kaiserpreis race, which was only held once, there were very few other opportunities to deploy the 80 hp cars. One exception was the race week in Ostend, Belgium. Baron Pierre de Caters took second place overall in the two-kilometre race held in the Belgian coastal town with a top speed of 138.1 km/h. He took two further second places in the ten-kilometre race with a standing start and the one-mile race with a standing start, and even won the two-mile race. Willy Pöge achieved another success in September 1907 at the Semmering hill climb, when he managed to win in two classes: with the Mercedes Grand Prix racing car in the over 8 litre displacement class, and with the 80 hp racing car in the Kaiserpreis class. His average speed in the 80 hp racing car was 71.9 km/h.

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