In front of an Art Nouveau fence, a white racing car with an angular Bergrenn body is ready to drive off. Four huge manifolds ending in a sidepipe protrude from the engine compartment, the large wheels with wire spokes can withstand any surface. Driver and co-driver wait for the starting signal. Hermann Layher, President of the Technik Museen Sinsheim Speyer, looks up from the historic black and white photo and is visibly satisfied with the result: On Monday, June 14, 2021, 110 years after the photo with racing driver Franz Heim was taken, it was faithfully recreated with his descendants.
But back to the beginning: anyone with even the slightest interest in motorsport will be familiar with the Blitzen-Benz. With a displacement of 21.5 liters, the 200 hp behemoth brought considerable power to the road and was the talk of the town at the beginning of the 20th century: in 1909, the car set a new speed record of 202 kilometers per hour over one kilometer; two years later in Daytona Beach, it was even 228 km/h . This remained unbroken until 1919 and the German manufacturer "Benz" became world famous as a result. Franz Heim, once Carl Benz personally took care of the apprentice and later became a successful automobile designer himself, successfully competed in several hill climbs with the Blitzen-Benz. This is how this historic photo was taken in Graz, Austria. And here the author Dietrich Conrad and Mercedes-Benz expert Lothar Gottmann clarified: they didn't have to drive that far to take this picture. Mannheim's symbol, the wolf's snakes, can still be seen today on the masonry of the fence at the Käfertal waterworks. And test drives took place on the road next to it. That's how this photo was taken.
On a warm June day, over 110 years later, the photo was recreated. The president of the museum did not miss the opportunity and made the motorized legend available. The Technik Museum Sinsheim has been presenting this car to its visitors for years. Once a year, Hermann Layher runs the car, which has been restored over several thousand hours, at the Brazzeltag® in Speyer. But this was a journey into the past. "The car was built at the old Benz plant in Mannheim-Luzenberg. Today, 110 years later, the car stands in the same place. The photo was recreated to great media attention. Franz Heim's great-grandchildren, Daniela and Oskar Heim, were on site, and the Benz legend and Benz museum operator from Ladenburg, Winfried Seidel, did not miss this important date," recalls Layher of the filming and photo shoot a few days ago. "The Mannheim waterworks supplies the water tower in the city with fresh spring water. Carl Benz also drank this water. We also tasted it. So, 110 years later, this was a great highlight," said the museum president.
After the photo session, the group drove from the city of squares to Ladenburg to the Benz Museum. "The Blitzen-Benz felt very much at home in Mannheim and on the journey," explains Layher in a good mood. His co-driver Luca Chiusole, his 16-year-old nephew, couldn't stop grinning either. It became clear once again: classic cars bring generations together.
