A Lap of the Globe – The World’s Longest Auto Race

Posted on January 22, 2019January 22, 2019 by fronts9bg

The World’s Longest Auto Race

Around the World in 80 Days Motor Challenge

In 1908 a group of automotive pioneers set out on the grandest of adventures, and record setting exploits a 22 000 mile race around the world from New York City to Paris France in a machine that had only been invented 23 years earlier. The race, envisioned by a Paris newspaper, was co-sponsored by the New York Times. So daunting was this undertaking that only four national teams in six cars mustered the courage to compete, USA, Germany, Italy, and France. Even Henry Ford doubted it could be done. He was half right as only three cars made it to the finish line.

Only 4 years earlier the 1350 mile race from NYC to St. Louis, Missouri took 18 days and saw 11 of the 77 cars drop out. A year earlier the Paris to Peking race (route actually reversed) took the leader 60 days to complete, while the second place finisher came across the line three weeks later! Nearly any length of race was an endurance race if it wasn’t on a race track, and the adversities faced were rigorous. Racing around the globe was simply ludicrous.

To better understand the challenges, it should be kept in mind that there were no gasoline stations then, no dealerships stocked with parts, in fact really there were no roads. The best you could hope for in most cases was a rutted wagon track. Worse yet, since the 1908 race left NYC in February bound for Alaska that meant encountering snow. As it turns out, a lot of snow. Outside Chicago the teams met with six foot snow drifts that they fought with everything from shovels, to hauling the cars with teams of horses. Eventually the American team took to the plowed railway tracks. Progress was miserably slow, it took them 8 days to travel just 256 miles. The original course had the contestants following dog sled routes and driving across the frozen Bering Strait to Russia. However once in Alaska the leading US team knew immediately that plan would never play out.

Ours was the first car ever seen there, and the inhabitants welcomed us with a band and parade. But the snow was so deep…and a sleigh ride of a few miles…convinced (us) of the impossibility of driving through Alaska. Some drifts were higher than houses…

The organizers agreed and the route was amended. The teams were rerouted to Seattle where a Steamship would take the cars to Russia where the worst was yet to come!

As great a tale as it is, this post is about a different race, though inspired by the 1908 New York to Paris race this one occurred nearly a hundred years later.

Upon picking the Fintail up at the shipping company for the first time, we were met with a few surprises. While most of those will be saved for another time you can probably guess that they weren’t good surprises. There was however one little surprise that was, the previous owner of the Fintail had stashed a copy of A Lap of the Globe in the glove compartment. The subtitle “Behind the wheel of a Vintage Mercedes in the World’s Longest Auto Race” should explain the connection. The book covers the Around the World in 80 Days Motor Challenge that took place in 2000. It was to be the first such race to entirely circumvent the globe returning to its starting point. Despite a strong interest in endurance motoring, rally, and vintage Mercedes, the book sat on the back burner for over a year. Knowing the reality of these types of modern events is probably what turned me off reading the book. Unlike the race of 1908 , today’s events are simply paid excursions for the ultra wealthy. With paved roads, gas stations every 20 miles, a sweep crew of mechanics, and luxury hotels awaiting your scheduled arrival, there is little romance and little to test the merit of man or machine. The blue collar in me simply had no interest in reading about some rich…dudes playing make believe rally.

So what changed my mind? Well the reading list is long and I needed to bang some off, and since the Fintail is in winter development mode, I thought maybe, just maybe the book might have some valuable tidbits buried within. As it turns out, if a vague lead pans out, it just may result in something pretty great, more on that as it pans out. Really though, what probably changed my mind was a brief moment of self realization.

While the greater Frontseat Driving family truly lives the middle class ethos we purport and while we are tentatively cautious of the monetization of the hobby, the truth is wealth is on a sliding scale and to many in this world, heck this country we ARE the wealthy. While others are scraping by like little boys we are still playing cars, but with the real things. What really knocked the chip of my shoulder was reflecting on our own experience this past driving season. Sure enough we spent a fair amount of money to navigate our own cars for a three day ‘rally adventure’ followed by a sweep vehicle offering mechanical support and with (you guessed it) hotels and warm meals awaiting us.

There is no question that we had an exceptionally fun time on that event. And it was clear that that was the general consensus among the other attendees. It was a great, and value filled weekend. Like financial wealth let’s be honest, adventure is on a sliding scale. Breaking down on the side of a cold rainy, two lane, a thousand kilometers isn’t from home life changing. But when it’s on a sparsely populated island, late on Sunday afternoon it is more than an inconvenience. And when it means missing the last ferry to the mainland, well that straight up sucks. While it might not compare to breaking down in the middle of the Sahara, or rolling down a cliff in Siberia, the chances are yours will be the story being told at the water cooler on Monday morning (if you make it to work). So if we ARE ‘rich’ and we DID have an adventure, who am I to say the entrants of the Around the World in 80 Days event didn’t? Perhaps it was time to open my mind – and the cover of the book.

The Around the World in 80 Days event started in London England, travelled through Europe by way of France, Italy, Greece, and into Asia via Turkey. The rally was actually three races in one. The first was London to Istanbul contested by 19 teams. For those continuing on the route crossed Asia visiting Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and across the expanse of China. For nearly half of the remaining contestants Beijing marked the finish line in the London to Beijing Rally, certainly an accomplishment in itself. The remaining 40 contestants had chosen to circumvent the globe. The cars continuing on, travelled by air to Alaska where the contestants picked up the race driving south across Canada via the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta. Crossing the northern states back through Canada via Ontario to Niagara Falls, across the border into New York, and New Jersey where again the cars boarded a plane this time bound for Morocco. The final leg of the rally returned to London via Spain and France. The vehicles were restricted to 1968 and older and divided into pre and post war categories. The oldest car to compete was a 1912 Locomobile, the oldest car to successfully circumvent the globe was a 1929 Bentley.

Author Kevin Clemens presents an oddly candid account of the race that is both refreshing and at times awkward as he manages to insult fellow entrants, the organizer (Philip Young), and even his own navigator. While the preface thanks and acknowledges the latter parties, he may have chosen to repeat those kinder words a few times throughout the narrative as confirmation. It was at times hard to shake that uncomfortable feeling like you get when a couple starts arguing at a dinner party. That said the opportunity to see the reality of organizational conflicts, and interpersonal challenges involved in such a long and arduous trek, is rare and welcomed.

Clemens begins the story of this grand event from even before his own involvement starting with its inception in the late 90s. The reader is taken back in time to review the highlights of the rejuvenation of endurance rally sport driven by the three main promoters at the time. This was an interesting and informative aside that helped to illustrate the immensity of the organizational challenges. While Clemens has little to say in favour of the man he does at least point out that while at the time no one in the industry thought he could successfully put together an event of such magnitude, if anyone could, it would have been Philip Young. I found this behind-the-scenes coverage to be especially interesting. In a surprising move Clemens goes on to describe the finances involved.

The first thing we learned was that we would need to have map books, and that they would cost $500. It’s hard to imagine how you could put on a rally with a route book that provides the specific instructions to tell competitors where to go and how to get there, and then turn around and charge them for a set of the necessary maps, but there you are. Next, we learned that a special service to obtain travel visas would be available for a fifty percent surcharge over the usual visa rates. Because you don’t want to be caught going int Azerbaijan with the wrong papers, there wasn’t much of a choice but to pay. Then came the heaviest hit. The two airlifts would cost 5000 pounds sterling. Each. That meant an additional $16 000…A package of hotel rooms (which was mandatory) would be another $8000. Some reached for their checkbooks. Others nodded their heads in resignation. I panicked quietly at my seat…The entry costs to be paid to the organizers now totaled more than $100 000.

The entry fees necessitated financial assistance and Clemens even details his search for sponsorship and how that influenced the make and model of car they raced. In fact in the appendix he even shares how each sponsor contributed. As an aside, considering only the contestants going the entire distance the promoter collected 4 million dollars! Keep that in mind as you read about the hotels, and meals along the way. The book proceeds to describe how Clemens found and settled on his navigator/co-driver and spends a great deal of time describing in detail how the car was modified.

While I really enjoyed the lead up to the race I began to wonder how the book was going to unfold given that at nearly a third of the way through the race hadn’t even started. In some respects I think that concern was justified as the grand adventure was at times reduced to a whirlwind of country names with few details about these exotic locales.

Often that could be explained by the need to cover the teams frequent mechanical problems. A number of times the team is faced with dropping out of the race only to squeak through often by sheer luck alone. Not only was there a need to cover the details of these emergency repairs, but in several cases I think Clemens himself may have missed some of what the countries had to offer as he was spending much of the time wrenching on the car. Often though he sacrificed sightseeing in order to satiate his fierce competitive spirit by going over the car ‘one more time’. While he explains that many approached the race as a grand tour, an adventure vacation, he approached it strictly as a competitive event only taking in the sites or slowing to share a meal with fellow entrants when absolutely nothing else needed being done.

I went to Walmart and bought a jumbo-sized package of adult diapers. I felt a bit embarrassed about buying these and made loud comments in the checkout line about how they were for my grandfather. The reality was , if Mark or I got a bad case of the runs the rally wouldn’t wait for us, and we would have to keep driving.

From what he shares of his fellow competitors and some of their car preparation, we can be fairly certain none of them packed diapers. I found myself terribly curious what Mark Rinkel his navigator thought when he spotted those in the pile of gear. Regardless it shows this was no vacation for Kevin.

All in all the book is a good and quick read, that I believe many fans of automobile racing, rally, touring, or even those like myself that live for the epic road trip will appreciate. However I think too much of the book covers the technical and organizational preparation and too little of the details of the exotic lands visited to interest the reader simply looking for tales of world adventure and travel.

As I began this article with a snippet from the 1908 New York to Paris Race so does Clemens start his book. He returns, delving into the details of the 1908 race several times as past circumstances often paralleled those of the 2001 event. While I had some previous familiarity with the 1908 race the stories and photos were a welcome addition to this book not only as an effective literary device but the stories themselves often contained the drama and romance I felt lacking in his own adventure. While Clemens and Rinkel certainly faced mechanical challenges that nearly ended their race several times, and suffered their own personal hardships, I found it difficult to compare to the gripping details of the great race of 1908. To be fair, it’s tough to compete with stories of teammates drawing pistols and arguing about directions at gunpoint! Clemens himself wrestled with the romance, the point of it all, and even the elitist nature of the event in his closing remarks.

From the outside it’s easy to be cynical about the whole endeavor, Who cares if a bunch of rich elitists drove their pretentious old cars around the world? …Was anyone saved? …it’s hard to see how driving across the (world) had much of a positive impact.

In the modern world, we often have to invent our challenges as Philip Young had done with the Around the World in 80 Days event, but does that make the challenge any less romantic? …I’d wanted the romance, the excitement and adventure, but those things are at odds with the process of daily living.

I won’t give away how Clemens comes to terms with his internal conflict or how he ultimately found meaning in the event. However I will say that his thoughts caused a second moment of personal clarity.

I have often wondered why I get such a kick out of people pointing, staring, and smiling at my vehicles. Mysteriously that feedback seems to be amplified (for drivers and bystanders both) when driving in a convoy of like minded enthusiasts. It’s not the attention, it certainly isn’t status I seek (or I wouldn’t be driving old beaters), yet something is strangely gratifying about the exchange. I think A Lap of the Globe helped me figure it out. Those looks, those reactions are born of wonderment and incredulity. It’s not about inspiring envy, it’s about inspiring someone to follow their dreams and to seek adventure regardless of how romantic, or irrational. Even if the adventure is little more than riding on empty through an unknown countryside. The thought that I might inspire someone to do the same makes me smile.

Helphos – Eye of the Car

Posted on December 9, 2018January 22, 2019 by fronts9bg

Helphos Spotlights

As many of you will know, our current love affair is a 1967 Mercedes W111, better known as the Heckflosse or Fintail in English. As a rarely seen model it undoubtedly garners a lot of attention.

In period the Teutonic design was quite reserved, but these days the Mercedes star sitting atop the huge chrome grill, the flowing chrome adorned tail fins, and the vertical ribbon speedometer all attract a lot of interest.

It doesn’t take long though before the inquiring eyes fall upon the car’s greenhouse, and in short order the question always comes, “what’s that on the windshield?”

The Helphos “Eye of the Car” or “The Car Eye” is a German designed spotlight sold through the 50s and 60s that mounts directly to the windshield. The above photos show the evolution of the packaging during that time. The Helphos design was also rebranded under the names Polimatic, Polco (seen below), Les Leston, Marchal, and probably others.

Many cars as early as the 1920s sported spotlights, as road illumination was far less common and most signage didn’t use reflective materials. These spotlights were often attached to the A pillar or the front wing (fender) and required reaching outside the car to operate. While many were strictly spotlights, combination units with a spotlight facing forwards and a mirror facing rearwards were a common accessory for decades right into the 60s. Eventually however, spotlights mounted on and through the A pillar made it to the market. These were controlled from within the cabin via a handle and linkage and while quite common on police and fire vehicles were less common with the average car owner as few owners warmed up to the idea of drilling through the A pillar.

While the infamous British automotive electrics company Lucas had their own solution to reaching outside the cabin, it was not nearly so elegantly devised. Lucas sold a roof mounted light that looked and operated much like a submarine periscope. The light was unsightly and (with a large handle invading the cabin) intrusive. Perhaps the biggest drawback was that it required drilling a hole in the roof of the car. As such it really was only popular with the most dedicated British rally teams, and was never adopted by the general public as the Helphos was.

The Helphos spotlight was novel as not only could their design be used from within the cabin, the light itself was inside the cabin. Not only was the user protected from the elements while directing and focusing it but the light was protected from damage from flying road debris. All this was accomplished without alteration to the vehicle. Not only could the end user install the light themselves, with installation being non-invasive the light could be switched from car to car in an instant.

While popular for many recent years with the aircooled Volkswagen folks (who adore their period accessories) the Helphos spotlight is really otherwise unknown these days but for a niche group of period endurance or navigational rally enthusiasts. While the Helphos light was used by many rally teams, Mercedes was especially fond of them. In fact it is rare to find a period photograph of a Fintail rally car where the vehicle is without one.

As we always envisioned building the Fintail into a ‘period’ rally car, it was practically essential to install one to complete the look. We actually owned the light before taking possession of the car itself.

The light is actually comprised of two main parts, a metal mounting ring with embedded glass that attaches to the windshield and the light body itself that hangs from the mounting ring. The early version of the mounting ring seen above was a simple design as the flat windshield screens of the time posed little challenge to adhesion. However as curved glass became common the mounting design (seen below) necessarily became more complex.

The later mounting ring is actually two separate hinged rings, with a rubber seal that is placed against the glass. Numbered levers along the circumference of the ring are swung in consecutive order while the rubber seal (smeared with a dab of included glycerin) is pressed against the windshield. A thin wire is included that is placed under the edge of the rubber gasket.

The wire allows the air trapped between the windshield and the mount to escape as the glass of the mounting ring is pressed towards the windshield. The ventilation wire is removed and the levers are thrown pulling the two halves of the ring apart. The result is an incredibly effective vacuum mount.

The main body of the lamp hangs from this ring and can be removed independent of the ring. With the freedom provided by the included generous length of electrical wire, the Helphos is effectively used as a handlamp for roadside repairs. Clearly this was another added bonus over most other available spotlights of the time.

While mounted on the windshield the light beam can be used to illuminate street signs, markers or roadside features. The Helphos had another design advantage over most other spotlights as the beam itself could be focussed from narrow to wide beam simply by rotating the main body in a clockwise fashion. Directing the chosen beam to the target was as simple as moving the handle.

While generally uncommon, the Helphos lights are still readily available in enthusiast circles, and eBay, even NOS (new old stock) lights are fairly common. For the best prices, avoid any Volkswagen enthusiast sites, and German specific parts houses which tend to soak the eager enthusiast. Using some creativity in search terms and locations (these lights are far more common in Europe) along with some patience can save you enormously. Ours came from England and even with the added cost of shipping we came a hundred or more dollars under the price of most North American sources.

While it’s best to confirm the electrical operation before purchase these are simple in construction, and easy to rewire if necessary. While many Helphos lights now have male cigarette plug adaptors, in period they were sold with bare wire to install as the customer saw fit.

Any potential buyer needs to ensure that the reflector and especially the rubber gasket are in good order. A dried, torn gasket will absolutely prevent the light from adhering to the windshield, while a peeling or tarnished reflector will greatly reduce the light output.

The bulbs, while still available, aren’t common and tend to range greatly in price. Confirm that a bulb is included and working and consider combining the cost of shipping with a spare if the seller has them available. The least expensive bulbs, lack the blackout painted end however this is easily replicated with some spray enamel.

The following are the Helphos installation instructions, explaining the mounting of the ring to the windshield, basic operations, and bulb replacement.

This article requires a couple acknowledgements. First to Elliot Alder for the lead photo of our Fintail, one of our absolute favourites.

Second a special thank you to Mercedes Benz that permits access to and use of the historic racing photography you see in the article.

© Daimler AG.
All data and content are protected by copyright. Use of the data and content requires the source to be stated.
The global copyright remains the property of Daimler AG.

As always, comments and questions are welcomed. We strive to provide accurate info however if you have spotted a mistake, or simply have more to add please let us know. All our articles are perpetually updated and revised as needed.

We’ll leave you with another historic Fintail rally photo – cars complete of course with Helphos lights.

Cobourg Lions Annual Poker Run

Posted on October 9, 2018January 22, 2019 by fronts9bg

For the past two years, a humble but hugely fun auto event has been foremost on our driving itinerary. We have attended the Cobourg Lions Club annual poker run – car rally two of the three years they’ve held the event. This year marks the 4th and it is fast approaching.

The “humble” part comes through the fact that these are just some good folks enjoying their vehicles and taking in the countryside. This is truly a run-what-you-brung event, no pretense to be found.

Each year while remaining beautiful, the route changes and some new ideas are presented to challenge and delight not only the driver and navigator but even the crew in the backseat. This is truly a fantastic family event.

So what is a poker run? Like a navigational rally each team is presented with a route book that provides written directions that often require diligent attention as not every instruction is straight forward. It’s during events like these that you realize how many intersections aren’t properly marked!

Along the way, you will be presented some challenges to prove that you have accurately stayed on the prescribed route. These challenges provide an opportunity for the whole family to get involved as you all pile out of the car to search for a hidden cache of treasures, or perhaps record dates or details from a roadside historic plaque!

The poker run is about accuracy not speed, so these challenges offer a great opportunity to not only stretch the legs but grab a coffee, and a snack from a local bakery, hit the washroom, or grab a bit of gas if you left the house a little rushed.

The route will cover stunning landscapes, charming towns and villages, rolling hills and fun driving roads. You will find no shortage of camera worthy views, it was a challenge to narrow our collection of photos down to just those in the post.

Along the roughly 150 kilometers, if you accurately stay on route you will encounter 5 checkpoints along the way. This is where the poker comes in! At each checkpoint you will choose a card that will make up a hand which back at the hall might score you one of the many shockingly impressive prizes. Don’t worry, if your hand is looking light, there are chances to do some wheeling and dealing at the end!

The route leads back to the Lions’ Hall where a wonderful hot lunch awaits, with enough choices to please even the pickiest of eaters. Here among the laughs, the war stories, and finger pointing (it’s always the driver’s fault) take the time to enjoy the warmth that stems not only from living in a small town, but being part of a COMMUNITY like that of Lions.

All that while you are supporting the countless community projects that the Lions are actively engaged in. A truly worthwhile event for all! This year the 4th Annual Cobourg Lakeshore Lions Club Poker Run is on October 20. Email cobourglakeshorelions@gmail.com or call Christine Bayer at (905) 269-8505

It is truly with a heavy heart that we have to miss this years event. Please help us live vicariously through your adventures. Post up any photos of the event on our Facebook page.

Adding a Fire Extinguisher and Driving Lights to the Mercedes Fintail

Posted on July 26, 2018January 22, 2019 by fronts9bg

The F-Bomb Studio Presents

Adding a Fire Extinguisher and Driving Lights to the Mercedes Fintail

You have entered the F-Bomb Studio, where the craftsmanship applies as much to unique combinations of curses, as it does the cars we work on. We recommend all children and sensitive types don ear protection until work completion.

Truthfully there wasn’t a lot of swearing on this small collection of projects, some very straight forward brackets to mount a fire extinguisher and driving lights to a Mercedes Fintail.

The Mercedes W111 Fintails have a rich history in Rally competition especially going back to the early 60s. The intention with this car was always to present it as a survivor car of some local rally competitor that modeled their car after those of the big boys in Europe that they read about in “Canada Track & Traffic”. Probably some proud owner with one car, that drove it to work during the week and flogged it in competition on the weekends. Perhaps it was retired when, finally it just wasn’t competitive any longer, or perhaps a new addition to the family showed up and racing weekends just weren’t practical any longer. Either way our story sees the car relegated to more pedestrian use maybe even right up to the point that the ‘new addition’ inherited it as their first car on their 16th birthday. Eventually as happens the car is finally carefully stored away in the garage, left to slumber until we stumbled upon it decades later.

“Fintails have a rich history in rally competition especially going back to the early 60s.”

The car itself is pretty solid, and running well, so most of the effort is being directed at adding period rally equipment that will still be functional and serve our modern campaigning needs.

While we invested grueling months researching the actual competition cars and searching for the correct vintage equipment, the actual garage time is thankfully, pretty simple and rewarding.

We searched long and hard for the right car when shopping for the Fintail, and an important trait of this particular car is its solid but bumped and bruised appearance adding to that aura of a life of competition. With that in mind the last thing we want is to bolt on a bunch of fresh shiny parts.

While authentic vintage fire extinguishers can be found easily enough, no respectable shop will refill them as their safety expiry will have long passed. While we could have opted for a vintage extinguisher for the car shows, and a modern one for regular use, the thought of suffering a fire with the wrong extinguisher at hand was sobering. Instead we opted for an extinguisher with a vintage chrome appearance and modern effectiveness. The extinguisher and extinguishing agent were carefully chosen but we will cover that in detail at another time. With the extinguisher finally chosen the next task was mounting it securely.

The transmission tunnel was chosen as a mounting location for it’s accessibility to both driver and co-driver alike. Using the seat belt attachment points rather than drilling new holes was a no-brainer.

First a cardboard mock up was made to accurately locate the seatbelt threads, and bracket holes, then it was transferred to aluminum sheet.

Cardboard, especially press board like that cereal boxes are made of is a great tool for templates. The cardboard is stiff enough to keep shape but unlike the corrugated version, bends easily, and cut edges are clean and accurate.

Some templates for projects coming soon to the F-Bomb Studio

A large washer was used to form a radius on the ends both to protect the carpet, and for a cleaner appearance. The aluminium was cut with a fine blade jig saw, and cleaned up with a drum sander on a die grinder.

A step drill makes drilling various sizes quick and simple

While simple rivets connect the mounting strap to the extinguisher mount, we felt that the connection needed to be more secure for occupant safety so the strap was placed over the bracket. While this is perhaps less attractive it is hidden once the extinguisher is in place, regardless function first on a ‘race’ car.

The stickers were peeled off the extinguisher as they were too painfully modern. They may even be replaced by faux vintage stickers at a later date. Both the extinguisher and the bracket were subjected to some forced weathering – a close look at the bracket will reveal some peeling paint and rust on it despite being brand new. Efforts to dull the bright white strap ends are planned, or they may be replaced altogether.

No vintage rally car is complete without some auxiliary driving lights.

For the Finnie we went with some vintage well used Cibie Super Oscars that were sourced after lengthy research. Finding these locally, already with a convincing patina helped the decision making. As a big plus they were sold as a set of 4, so we have spares if needed (every minute the car sits in a parking lot is sheer anguish).

As we did with the extinguisher mount, we wanted to avoid drilling any holes to mount these lights. Using the existing bumper mounts was a no brainer here however a cardboard template had serious limitations. As such the first one made was truly a test run.

A chop saw was used to cut four lengths of steel. Each was cut the same length for simplicity, and if a mistake was made at any point, the bracket could be flipped in hopes of salvaging the bracket.

Like we did for the extinguisher mount, a large washer was used to mark a radius – a curved end just makes for a cleaner look. The radius was rough cut with an angle grinder and finished with a flappy wheel replacing the cutting disk.

A couple of quick beads, and flat stock becomes a bracket.

Again with redundancy in mind each piece was rounded even though one end is hidden from view when installed. We have been known to make mistakes…there IS after all a reason the garage is called the F-Bomb Studio.

Granted adding some very straight forward brackets to mount a fire extinguisher and driving lights to a Mercedes Fintail is by no means a big project , but with safety AND appearance covered, it is one with a big impact.

Here the large 7 inch driving lights can be seen in place but still awaiting support rods, and wiring. Stay tuned to the F-Bomb Studio for more on that project.

The global copyright remains the property of Daimler AG.

I want to thank Daimler AG for making the historic photos available to all enthusiasts, visit their archives for some spectacular views into their competitive past.