Eliott Zborowski

William Eliott Zborowski was born in 1858 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. After his marriage to a wealthy American heiress, scion of the Astor family, the couple moved to Britain and Zborowski acquired British citizenship. The multi-talented sportsman discovered his passion for motorsport, which was flourishing at the time, and the Mercedes brand.

He made his racing debut in April 1902 at the Nice Week, where he won the Nice - La Turbie hill climb in the over 1000 kg touring car class in a Daimler Phönix 28 hp. In the long-distance Paris-Vienna race that followed at the end of June, he took second place in the heavy car class and fourth place overall in a Mercedes-Simplex 40 hp. He achieved the same placing in the first Ardennes race on the circuit near Bastogne.

In April 1903, he competed again in the Nice - La Turbie hill climb – this time with a Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp, the new top model from Cannstatt. He was killed when he hit a rock at full throttle right after the first bend – in the same place as Wilhelm Bauer three years earlier. Apparently, a cufflink of his shirt got tangled with the hand throttle on the steering wheel. Zborowski's co-driver, mechanic and friend Hans Wilhelm van Pallandt was thrown out of the car in the accident and survived.