1924 Mercedes Benz Targa Florio Race Car

Описание: 90 years ago: Mercedes triumphs in 1924 Targa Florio and Coppa Florio
Christian Werner wins both races and sets the fastest lap time
“Best factory team”: new Mercedes 2-litre racing cars impress
Innovative engineering: supercharged four-cylinder engine
A mountainous course along narrow roads with over 7,000 bends before the gates of Palermo in Sicily, Italy: welcome to the Targa Florio. This was a highly popular and demanding road race especially in the first half of the last century. In 1924, one lap was 108 kilometres in length. The Targa Florio was run over four laps, while the Coppa Florio required the competitors to complete an extra tour of the circuit, i.e. a total of 540 kilometres. In a supercharged Mercedes Christian Werner won the Targa Florio on 27 April 1924 in a time of 6:32:37 hours, triumphed in the Coppa Florio in a time of 8:17:1.4 hours and also drove the fastest lap in 1:35 hours. Positions 2 and 3 in the same racing class were likewise occupied by Mercedes with drivers Christian Lautenschlager and Alfred Neubauer. This meant nothing less than a triple victory for Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) – a magical moment in the “120 Years of Motorsport” anniversary being celebrated by Mercedes-Benz Classic in 2014.

Mercedes was the only make of car with all vehicles completing the course. The winner of the Targa was by no means assured of victory in the Coppa, because the chances of falling foul of the road and terrain conditions on the final lap were enormous. Of the 37 starters, only 21 made it to the finishing line in the Targa Florio. And as few as 16 saw the chequered flag one lap later in the Coppa Florio. So Christian Werner certainly earned tremendous respect for his overall performance – but so too did his team colleagues, because all of them proved equal to the challenges of what was at the time probably Europe’s toughest road race.