Then to promote diesel as economical and environmentally friendly
The long-distance record set with the electric Vision EQXX is in keeping with this time. The same was true for the experimental C111-III in 1978, precisely because it was powered by a diesel engine.
The world famous C111 needs no introduction. The first version of this study model appeared in 1969 with a 280 hp three-disc rotary engine as one of its many special features. Five months later, the C111-II with four discs and 350 hp followed, good for 300 km/h. Consumption and emissions were at most good for a note in the margin in this violence, something that changed completely after the oil crisis of 1973.
Diesel was economical and environmentally friendly!
The management wanted to use the C111 in a different way, namely for the promotion of the diesel engine. After all, it was economical and therefore environmentally friendly! Mercedes realized that a sporting impulse could polish the image of the then still very malodorous and poorly performing self-igniter: the plan was conceived to break speed records with it. The choice fell on the five-cylinder from the 240D 3.0, whose power for the C111-IID increased from 80 to 190 hp thanks to the turbo and intercooler, enough to break sixteen records on the Nardo test track, including the highest average over 10,000 kilometers: 252 km/h.
Cw value 0.183
That tasted like more, because the car in question was still a standard C111, so without an optimally streamlined body. That modified car came: the C111-III, whose Cw value of 0.183 was already a record performance in itself (the EQXX scores 0.17). The brand went once again to Nardo, where a team of four drivers (Guido Moch, Paul Frère, Hans Liebold and Rico Steinemann) set nine new records on April 29 and 30, 1978. Example: twelve hours with an average of 314.463 km/h.
1 in 6.2 at 320 km/h
It didn’t go smoothly: a tire blowout in the middle of the night damaged the record car so badly that the spare car had to come into action. Only all the clocks went to zero and the team could start all over again. Lucky: the second car was slightly more economical, so that it could cover 67 laps on one tank instead of 62 instead of earlier. In short, a happy dance because the car has achieved 1 in 6.2. Is it allowed, at 320 km/h?
Details Mercedes C111-III
Engine 5-cyl. in-line, turbo diesel
Displacement 2,999 cc
Max. power 170 kW/230 hp at 4,500 rpm
Max. torque 401 Nm at 3,600 rpm
Dimensions (lxwxh) 5.38 x 1.72 x 1.12 m
Weight no indication
0-100 km/h no problem
Top speed 338 km/h
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl