Racing Finnie - Saturday 28 July 2007

[Grant V]

Another round of the 'Legends of the 9 hour' series took place on Saturday 28 July 2007. The misfire had been a constant problem since the beginning of the year and we had tried everything to solve the problem. The problem seemed electrical and temperature related, because the car would perform perfectly for about two laps and then start misfiring. The result was that I could never achieve a better time than 1min 27sec, which was 3 seconds off my best time of 1min 24sec. We had changed every possible electrical component on the car: spark plugs, plug leads, distributor cap, points and condenser, coil and even tried a different distributor. Eventually we even replaced the fuel tank and built a new high pressure fuel system, but still the problem lingered. Eventually we found that one of the channels that runs down to the needle and seat on the front carburettor had a partial blockage, and this explained the problem - the one carb was running out of fuel. The blockage was eliminated and we then sent the car for a dyno test. During the dyno test, the mixture was set to optimum by replacing some of the jets, as well as the timing. The result was that an extra 15Hp was found and the car is now giving 103Hp @ 6000rpm on the back wheels. That translates into roughly 130bhp on the engine at Highveld altitude, which is not too bad at all.

Raceday was a cold winter's morning and the wind was particularly chilly, resulting in a low spectator turnout. I went out for official practice at 8:45 and the car performed beautifully, achieving my best time yet of 1min 22.8 seconds. That placed me 10th on a grid of 20 cars - I was thrilled. The first race got underway at 12:10 and I ended up improving my time to 1min 21.8sec and finished 8th overall. The second race was one of the most exciting I have ever experienced. I got away 8th on the grid and by the second lap I was locked in a tight battle with Shaun Cabrita, who drives an Alfa Guilia. The race was extremely close and there were a few times that the car was pushed to it's limit and I almost lost it. Eventually Shaun pipped me at the post and I came in 8th again. I set my best time ever of 1min 21.6sec during the second race and ended up winning my class. It's now quite clear that I'll be bumped up to the next class.

A lot of people were surprised at the Mercedes' performance, myself included. Shaun's Alfa is a good 200kg lighter than the Mercedes and the two cars have a very similar power-to-weight ratio - about 83bhp per ton. The Mercedes handles far better than the Alfa - I'm able to brake far later into some corners, and some corners I don't brake at all. However, the Alfa being the lighter car manages to pull out of the corners faster than the Mercedes.

The conclusion is that the Mercedes has gone beyond all expectation and proven to be an extremely well balanced and surprisingly competent racing car

A sight that more drivers are beginning to see:

[s class]

Awesome - now come guys, confess, is there anyone left here who STILL does not love finnies?

Ryan

[macatron]

Grant,

I don't want to hijack your thread here but since it's about racing Mercedes, I figured I'd ask you a question.  Is this the Mercedes in your avatar?  If so, this car turned up back in May at an informal car show that happens every week not far from my house.  I took this picture from the show's forum.



If I see it again, I'll take some other photos.


Mike

[Brian Crump]

Bloody brilliant Grant!!! Go for it!!!  Wish you the very best!!!
Regards,
BC
and Miss Olga

[Grant V]

Mike,

The car in your picture is a replica of the original 300SEL 6.8 AMG, which came second overall in the 1971 Spa 24 Hour race. This car was commissioned by DC a while ago and used as a marketing tool to promote MB's new range of 6.3 V8's.

The original car went on to enter 7 or 8 other races, but with no real success. The car was the modified and sold to Matra, the French aeronautical company, to be used as a research vehicle. Apparently the 450hp car was rigged with test equipment and used to simulate take offs. The car then disappeared.

I'm in the planning stages of building a replica, like in your picture, which I want to campaign in our local historic racing series

[oscar]

Grant, congratulations.  That sounded like an exciting day.     What a find re the carby blockage and what a difference it made.  I hope to see a bit of youtube video of this racing finnie in action in the future.  Well done!!!!!!

As for the Waxenberger or whatever it was called, I trust you will keep us posted wont you