No 244

LET ME TELL YOU ‘BOUT THE MOTHER FUCKING MERCEDES-BENZ T80

 Back in the 1930’s, Germany was all about racing and setting records. Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz were so much faster than everyone else that it had just really become a competition between themselves - and besides just Grand Prix racing, they loved to do world record attempts.

 On public roads.
 Yep, on the Autobahn.
 In 1938, Auto Union and Mercedes got together to fuck with the land speed record - because fuck you, that’s why - and Rudolf Caracciola managed 268 mph on the Autobahn (the A5). Bernd Rosemeyer was killed trying the same for Auto Union as a result of a crosswind.

 Already in development though, was the Mercedes-Benz T80 (which the great Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was brought on board to work on!).

 And hold shit christ fuck balls.
 To start off, they used a specially modified derivative of the famous Mercedes-Benz inverted V12 used in the BF 109 - however instead of the 1350 horsepower available from the aircraft derivative (in 1939 F form) it made 3000 horsepower. Yes, 3000. There were still no seat belts. Fuck you, that’s why.

 The power increases came from a mixture of a special fuel, capacity increase over the DB 601 in the fighter, and methanol-water injection. 

But not only is the engine impressive - the chassis is a 6-wheeled, middled engined and four wheel drive! The drum brakes on all 6 wheels are enormous - and the chassis uses oval tubes like on the W125 Grand Prix car, which was very advanced for it’s time.

 Even more advanced were the aerodynamics - with a drag coefficient of just 0.18 - which is even lower than any of the famous Alfa Romeo BAT cars, and astounding for 1939 (though another Mercedes-Benz test car of the same era apparently managed a Cd of less than .15) - which allowed it’s top speed to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 470 miles per hour. Yes, 470 miles an hour. In a car with drum brakes and no seat belts. On a public road (between Halle and Leipzig, now the A9).