FASTEST SPORTS-CAR IN BRITAIN?
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FASTEST .SPORTS-CAR IN BRITAIN?
I read in your columns recently an interesting controversy as to which is the fastest sports-car in Great Britain. I think that my Mercedes-Benz has a good claim to that title. The following are its specifications and qualifications :
The car is a 1931 S.S.K.L. model, only .six of which were built. It has a 7,1C0 c.c. engine, which develops 280 b.h.p. at _about 3,200 r.p.m. The engine of this model is considerably faster than that of the S.S.K. models. Its advantages over the latter lie chiefly in a better type of valve, a faster .camshaft and a lighter crank-shaft made of a special metal.
My car happens to be the only S.S.K.L. which has been in this Country and it is fitted with the special ” elephant ” racing supercharger, which blows at a pressure of 12 lb., compared with the 81 lb. pressure of the standard Mere blower and the 10 lb. pressure of the Mere ” big blower.” The sister car of this machine was driven by Caracciola in the French Grand Prix 1932 and previous to that he drove it to victory in the Irish Grand Prix and in the Ayus race in which he averaged 119 m.p.h. for the race. On that occasion he officially exceeded a speed of 147 m.p.h. His car, however, was fitted with a slightly higher axle ratio than my car, the absolute maximum speed of which is computed by experts to be about 144 m.p.h. I may be wrong, but I have not heard myself of any other licensed car in this country which is quite as fast.
All success to your e cullent publication. I am, Yours etc.,
Denis P. S. Conan Doyle.