Re: SPICA VS MB 300SL

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

In V7 #885, John Dohrmann gives us a brief, glowing description of the
mechanical fuel injection in a 1963 300SL.

John, I couldn't help responding to your comment "it got an incredible 
number of horses out of 3 liters.  Makes my spider seem weak by 
comparison but much more affordible."

My first ride around a race track was in the passenger's seat of a 300SL
roadster, cream over red.  Amazing car, absolutely amazing; this one was
set up for vintage racing, and it was at Willow Springs, California,
about 11 or 12 years ago.  The ride was as comfortable as my dad's
five-year-old 450SEL sedan, but the handling was... well, it was a
treat.  We only saw about 110 mph down the back side of Willow, but it
was a thrill nevertheless.

The 300SL was originally a race car, and used a 3-liter SOHC engine
running Solex carbs for an output of 175 bhp.  That was in the
lightweight early cars such as those which competed in the Pan-American
Road Race in the very early 1950s.

By the time the roadgoing version of the 300SL was built, the 3-liter
engine was using the mechanical fuel injection you so lovingly recall,
and its power rating was bumped to 200 bhp.  (I don't recall *when* the
300SLR was introduced, which used basically the M-B Formula 1 engine
with its desmodromic valves and far more than 200 bhp, but it was well
in advance of M-B's final year of competition in 1955.  And your '63 may
have been tuned for more power yet.)

So not only was the 300SL derived from a race car, but the road version
actually had more power.  Amazing cars.

As for the comparison to your Spider, don't feel too bad; after all, the
Spider's engine is only 2/3 the size of the 300SL's.  Assuming the
(roughly) 130 bhp that a 2-liter Spider can get with European cams, that
would make a 3-liter version of our cars put out 195 bhp.  So given the
relative engine sizes, we're not doing too bad.  And of course, a Spider
costs a LOT less than two-thirds what a Gullwing does!

- --Scott Fisher

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