Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Racing Against Time: The Untold Story of Germany's 1939 Motorsport Triumph

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Racing Against Time: The Untold Story of Germany's 1939 Motorsport Triumph · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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  Break Fix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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  Commerce, and the Argo Singer family.
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  The Nazi record walkin for record weeks 1939, the final act
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  of an automobile speed folly.
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  Alana Nazi Germany turned the automobile's high speed into a propaganda tool for
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  its technical and industrial supremacy with its domestic motor industry
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  having fallen behind the US and France.
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  The political establishment pushed for dominance in Grand Prix racing,
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  launched an automobile for the masses and developed a wide network of motorways.
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  Connecting racing cars, high speed, and the motorways was the record walk.
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  An annual event launched in 1936 to conquer the highest speeds on a motorway.
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  The last edition in 1939 was a relatively low key event shadowed by the prior
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  year's sensational Mercedes-Benz speed record, and Bernard Rose Meyer's death.
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  Nevertheless, the propaganda machine aptly broadcast the speeds
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  reached on an arrow straight.
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  Level and wide.
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  10 kilometer motorway stretched north of leap Zg purposefully built for the record
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  weeks and the conquest of the world.
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  Land speed record by a German driver on a German car, on German soil.
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  After a quick recap of the 1936 through 1938 editions, Aldo discusses cars
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  shown in the 1939 Daimler, Benzs and Haag, as well as clear some mysteries
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  left unsolved through the decades.
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  This presentation will also cover the records established by
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  Italian and British drivers three months before World War II began.
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  Alana is an Italian motor historian and journalist after a PhD in
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  theoretical physics at the Milan University and at the cern, the European
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  Physics Research Center in Geneva.
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  He switched to a managerial career in corporate communications while
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  continuing with motor journalism.
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  Zana started writing articles for motor magazines in the mid sixties as a
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  freelance editor of Auto Sprint and Romble Weeklys developing an inclination towards
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  history and historic cars and races.
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  Since the late eighties, he has become a regular contributor to Italian
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  and foreign historic car magazines.
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  His recent automotive books include a History of the Sports
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  Prototype, FIA World Championship.
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  The lives and races of Italian drivers, the motor racing scenario of the
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  fifties, and the story of the forgotten Milano car shows from 1901 to 1947.
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  Aldo is a longtime member of the SAH and the Italian Association of
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  Motor Historians, former member of the History and the Museum Commission
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  of the Italian National Historic Car and Bike Association, and the
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  Italian Guild of Science Journalists.
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  Our next presentation is a Zoom presentation done by Aldo Zana.
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  Okay, good evening ladies and gentlemen.
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  I'm here talking hopefully in, in a understandable English.
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  I apologize for my heavy Italian accent, but I will talk about something
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  relating to Germany, so it will be a bit difficult understand an Italian
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  speaking about something German.
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  But anyway, I will try to do my best.
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  I will talk about the record week organized by the Nazi of
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  a governmental state in 1939.
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  In 1939, German racing car and the drivers dominated Grand Prix racing.
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  So the dominant started with Mercedes Band in 1935 by Rose Meyer.
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  The new auto Union star driver won the European Championship 1936.
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  In 1936, the Nazi organization for motor racing launched a
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  special event in order to concur.
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  The total superiority of the German racing car and promoted ban the highway.
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  The new, so the first record or speed of the record was in 1936 on a flat, and they
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  are they straight section on, on this, uh, ban or highway between Frankfurt.
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  Airport and there was 25 kilometers, and it was carefully, uh, arranged,
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  organized for having all, all the record for the five kilometer and five
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  miles on this, uh, stretch of ban.
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  The record was held for three years.
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  You can see from this slide how difficult it was to drive very fast on
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  this motorway because it was a two lane quite more than for the time, but with
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  some grass median and bridges crossing the highway with a central pillar.
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  So that was very dangerous.
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  And in 38 they held a special event only on one day long in 1930.
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  By Mercedes Benz in order to correct the failure they had in the record,
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  the record week on 1937 in that, that morning, the cold morning, January
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  28th, Mercedes, the new W 25, or, I'm not sure because there are.
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  Definite document about the name of the chais of the car.
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  So I think it was 1925 R, but someone written that it was W 1 25, number 11.
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  So anyway, car driving this Mercedes Benz, which the astonishing speed of 432.69 KPM.
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  That is 268 80 street MPH. In the same morning, the auto union was
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  on the motorway or the highway with, with a special model of
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  from line backhand, they call it.
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  So the, the record car.
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  That was modified in 1937.
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  Rosa Mayer had a accident and the car destroyed after having
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  lost ground effect, and so it was a beautiful day for Mercedes.
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  Was a tragic day for the German, uh, motor of fault.
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  After that, we came to the 39 record walk.
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  That was the final end of the record walk.
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  And the site chosen for the record walk was a new stretch of, uh, the auto band
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  under trash between lighting and Berlin.
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  It was a 9.4 kilometer long tri, that's right.
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  And that's flat.
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  And they decided to pay over, in other words, to put concrete on
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  the center of the medial center.
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  So the, the usual truck white or 27 meter that is 88.6 feet.
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  Overpasses, very laboratory build in a single arch without a
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  central pillar in order to avoid any danger for the the driver.
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  The length of 9.4 kilometer was very strange, but was forced by the presence
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  at one end of an an YVIP, uh, land, and they didn't want to destroy or two.
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  Disturb the poor lazy whip.
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  So there were two small gentle bands at the end of, uh, the flat and the strip
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  section in order to have some more space for, uh, breaking and acceleration, but
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  with 1.5 kilometers, slightly less than one mile for breaking was too short.
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  But anyhow, they went there.
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  So, uh, the new record walk was scheduled for October 28th,
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  but the highway was not ready.
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  So they, they postponed it to February 29 and that was the,
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  the, the record week of 29.
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  And the only player available was Mercedes Band.
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  Because Alion having lost Rosa Mayor in 1938 and lacking the wisdom of Professor
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  P who left the company at the end, 1937.
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  Alto refused to participate in such, uh, gamble of, uh,
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  no speeds that em to share l.
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  Only Mercedes were available to avoid the embarrassment of a single player, single
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  category event, and was called at the very last moment with a diesel engine car,
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  which in order to try for a new record, something absolutely unknown until now.
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  Uh, diesel, can you imagine a diesel engine record car was not
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  so fast, like a normal high speed car available on the street.
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  There was also a BMW Motorbike Fisher Station in order to
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  conquer the record of liter class.
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  Record decided by Mercedes Band was a standing start, class D like Delta record.
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  So was something completely different from the 38 a period record.
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  And they used, uh, grand card W 1 5 4, number 11, with a special semi lined body.
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  Already decided for the three Polygram pri.
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  So the engine was a three liter M1 54.1 14.
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  The driver was, Carla was holding the record of the previous year.
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  He was forced to do the same record for a limited speech.
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  So, uh, not car started starting start.
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  You can see the wide of the highway, but Carola chose to run on one
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  side because it thought that the center line was too difficult to
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  drive because of too many dirt.
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  So the record was on the kilometer, 1 65 0.89, and on the mile 200 0 4 2 0 4.
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  It was a kind of easy triumph, auer, very happy, welcoming, Chala coming back.
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  The all record was already set in 1936 by, uh, an Italian driver with the
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  German sound in name of full manic, and he did the record on the Luca
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  motorway, uh, near Florence in Italy.
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  It was an, an easy improvement of one 16.6% on the kilometer,
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  and 23.6% on the mile.
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  And on, uh, February 14th, the final day of the record, car drove
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  again the three liter car W 1 54 to improve by, uh, 1% your record.
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  Then on February nine, the second day of the record walk, Mercedes used their
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  fully streamline car of 1938, but with three liter engine for the Class D Delta
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  flying star record and car achieve.
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  On the return run a speed of 400 or six kilometer per hour.
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  So it was an, an astonishing result because first time that a three liter
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  car went beyond 400 kilometers per hour.
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  So you can see the equivalent of kilometers for Israel in miles
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  in MPH doesn't mean anything.
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  But for European, for German especially, 400 kilometer per hour mean something.
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  So the press was very keen on the record.
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  Uh, there are many, many articles about the new record
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  claiming that 400 KPM uh, record.
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  While the pr, uh, department of Mercedes Bank while record by Ann was nearly owned
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  by the people, only the, the officials and the, the record with the 1.9 liter
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  diesel engine 35 BHP was very low.
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  Nothing.
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  The aerodynamic was very fine and the driver was a company engineer, was
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  a producer of agricultural tractor.
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  Use the record the 96.9 MPH to claim the quality of the engine.
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  Then there is a final act after the record.
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  Okay.
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  On June 2nd, 1938, the final, there were two recommended.
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  One was Italian Count Ani, and another was an Englishman Goldie Gardner.
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  And they choose the So Ban to establish the record for small classes.
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  So Goldie Gardner was a very famous British recommend in in his career.
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  He had 1 52 National, international, and overall Records and noted that
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  Go Gardner was limping due to round inflicted by the German force during
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  the grading rate war, but he didn't care to head again to Germany to
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  satisfy his first for the record.
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  Noted that in less than two months, UK and Germany will be
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  at war again one day or other.
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  So Gordon Gardner was there and he went with a small engine and 1.1 liter
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  engine for cylinder engine supercharge.
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  Of course the MG EX 1 35, he went to 3 29 KPH record on the mile.
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  So.
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  Was astonishing speed that was noted that he choose to try
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  to run on the central band.
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  They other Recomme man was called Jovani.
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  Joi would drove a small 370 CC G motorcycle with a special trainline
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  body that was like an next shell, and he reached 1 72 KPM for the kilometer.
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  He also did the 10 kilometers record and he, he told later that there was
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  difficulty keeping him awake during the, about 20 minutes of driving
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  back and forth on that highway across a flat and fifth refinery.
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  So that was it for the 1939 record and for the south section of the highway.
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  But there is a small mystery about the Mercedes car.
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  First of all, in the South, that February 8th, there were two record cards, not only
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  one, not only the Class D record card.
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  But there were two, the photos of both car were mixed up in, in the
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  Daimler Band Archive, and I found these photos, which clearly show
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  two record cars, not only one.
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  I iLIGHT the exhaust on the car, and this is quite different
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  from the Class DW 1 54 car.
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  There are different small differences, very subtle, but
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  you can note the difference.
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  And on the left you have the old, the W 1 52 slash three
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  car, so the plus B Bravo cars.
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  On the right you have the Class D Delta car.
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  So you, you, you notice there whole difference, but there are different,
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  there were two cars, but the problem that Diamond Bank decided
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  to cancel W 1 25 car because with a fellow, because it didn't work, the
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  engine was very out and refuse it.
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  So in, in Germany, er was not a consider in.
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  Now if you allow me, I will tell you the real story.
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  So it's this car.
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  This car, the Mercedes.
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  The 80, 19 39 was the car designed for the absolute land speed record.
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  And at that point, held by the by, by the British.
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  The car was decided by Professor Porsche 13, 19 37 and, uh, the, the shape of, uh,
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  the body with the long tail in order to have the center of pressure behind the
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  center of gravity, the two winglets at the side, on the, on the center of gravity.
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  And the engine was supposed to be a IRO engine, Daim Band 6 0 0 1 or
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  6 0 3, and the car by full 1939 was up completely, but it never run a
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  single centimeter, a single feet.
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  On its own power.
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  You can see on this photo that, uh, the engine is on site, but
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  it was only tried once on a test bed and it was, uh, a disaster.
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  So they did, they stopped any progress on, on that car.
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  The original, uh, drawing by Porsche was very interesting.
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  That was the first one in 1937.
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  In order to obtain downfalls, they used to have, uh, a wing, an inverted
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  profile wing under the two real wheels.
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  But the solution was too difficult, so they did opted for the two winglet.
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  The two winglet on the center of gravity was absolutely useless, but
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  it took 30 years and the formula one 40 years to understand the real
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  reason why the winglet very used it.
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  And the wing above the, the rear wheel were effective.
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  So more or less the, the so straight was billed for this car.
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  Which was absolutely impossible to run on it because it was too short and not
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  the, the car would've, the brakes in 1.5 kilometer to stop from 600 kilometer
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  per hour was absolutely impossible.
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  But anyway, they did it.
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  And they obtain money from the state for this car and which is still
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  exist while the frame is somewhere in the LER factory of Mercedes.
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  The body displayed in the Mercedes Benz Museum is the last item of the speed
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  section is on the wall after the accident.
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  Looked above the cafeteria.
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  A very sad end for a car whose existence was raised by heating the
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  heater himself and issued the order to win the land speed record for German.
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  He wanted a German car, a German driver on German soil.
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  This is the reason why the de access was built.
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  It explained the IT 39 record walk was the dress rehearsal for the
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  future long speed record comp.
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  That's it, sir. I thank you and we'll we'll open to question if any.
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  Take a few minutes, stretch your legs and we'll see you in a few minutes.
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  Thank you.
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