Dear All,
When DSJ died there was a lot of traffic about him on the lists. I should=
think that most of it meant nothing to the ex colonials in North America
nor to those in other lands not familiar with the golden era of "Motor
Sport" magazine. In flipping through some old copies of M.S. I saw the
following article about road testing a Mercedes 600 limosine. This is an=
exerpt. The date is October 1965. It may give those of you mystified with=
the reverence DSJ was held into get a taste of what he was about. Enjoy.
"""The vast Type 600 limousine handles in exactly the same way, the only
difference being that it accelerates better, the o.h.c. V8 engine really
propelling it forwards. Mercedes-Bent always insist that they design thei=
r
passenger cars for safety above all else, and you certainly get that
feeling. They are very forgiving cars, and no matter what the angle of ro=
ll
is or what the direction they " stay with you at all times," and the grea=
t
600 is exactly the same. On this closed racing circuit it just invited yo=
u
to " play bears," and as my friend Henry Manney savs " if you are going t=
o
be a bear, you might as well be a grizzly bear."
Returning to the car park I put the 600 away and headed off towards the
line of 200, 230 and 250 models, remembering that I had promised the Edit=
or
I would do driving impressions on the new models, but before I could get
there I heard a toot on a horn and there was Uhlenhaut in another 600
limousine. ' Come and try this one," he said, " it's got stiffer anti-rol=
l
bars and a much better engine, but we must not go over 5,000 r.p.m." Away=
we charged and halfway round the circuit, going into an 80 m.p.h. long
right-hand curve we saw a 250SE in front and Uhlenhaut positioned the 600=
to go round the outside of it. Being left-hand drive he was too busy to s=
ee
at which point he overtook the 250SE, rut I realised we were not overtaki=
ng
it, and as we accelerated past on the next straight I saw that S. Moss wa=
s
driving the 250SE and grinning at us. With over 220 k.p.h. on the clock
Uhlenhaut took the next left-hand curve in a long slide, looked in the
mirror and chuckled. " That lost him," he said. This great car must have
been approaching a pretty honest 125-130 m.p.h. and the stiffer anti-roll=
bars held it on quite an even keel. With all that inertia the brakes work=
ed
overtime at the end of the straight and Moss closed up a bit, but through=
the twisty section the power of the V8 told as Uhlenhaut hurled the car
about. Out of the hairpin he "kicked-down" into first gear and left black=
marks on the road for 30 yards or more. On the return roads to the paddoc=
k
we caught up with some slower traffic and Moss got right behind us, and o=
n
the last little straight someone was going sedately along in the other 60=
0
limousine, preparing to slow for a left-hand bend into a gravel drive, wh=
en
Uhlenhaut nipped into the closing gap, slid round the corner in a shower =
of
gravel, closely followed by Moss. Looking in the mirror Uhlenhaut said "
Goodness, he followed me through that gap."
When we stopped he gave the car to Moss to try, straightened his lie,
smoothed his grey hair and walked serenelv away to discuss technicalities=
with the gentlemen of the technical Press. With a chief engineer and
technical director like that how can you lose, your cars must be good. I'=
ve
always believed that you learn more by being driven by a really good
driver, than by driving yourself in a mediocre fashion, so I happily let
Moss take me for a couple of laps in the "competition" 600, and he
certainly enjoyed himself. Afterwards he had a small moment of remorse an=
d
said how he wished he was still racing, not in all the races, but in the
good ones, like Monte Carlo, the Targa Florio, Nurburgring; he did not mi=
ss
Silverstone or Brands Hatch, but then he added wistfully " but I've lost
the concentration and the fine edge of my judgement." He is still a lot
better than many drivers racing in Grand Prix today, but he used to be "
super-man " and he could not race and just be ordinary.
This time I made a big effort and got to the new production models and
drove a 230S saloon, and after the 600 models it seemed a bit of a "
gutless wonder," which was quite wrong, but I had got my sense of values
all muddled up, so I abandoned the idea of doing " impressions of the new=
models " for the Editor and hoped it would not be long before Mercedes-Be=
nt
let him have some cars for proper road-test. Somehow I can't knuckle down=
to doing a responsible commission, and I know two other people who are al=
so
a bit irresponsible when it comes to motor cars and having fun. I also kn=
ow
that Darmler-Benz A.G. are as high in my esteem as engineers as they alwa=
ys
were, but I do wish they would build a GT coupe. """
Yours, as always, JH =
with thanks to "Motor Sport"
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