Jeux aux soupapes

120 hp Mercedes of 1906: one of the last original designs by wilhelm maybach.

the 120 hp mercedes manufactured by daimler-motoren-gesellschaft (DMG) stuttgart was one of the last original designs by wilhelm maybach.
for the 1906 racing season, DMG for the first time developed a racing car with six-cylinder engine. wilhelm maybach had designed this engine in 1905 – a highly progressive unit at the time – with overhead camshaft, overhead valves and double high-voltage spark-plug ignition.
the individual steel cylinders are mounted on the light-alloy crankcase. cooling jackets and cylinder head are made of a single casting and welded to the steel cylinders. this design served as a model for top-performance engines for decades to come. from a total displacement of 11.1 liters, the six-cylinder generates 120 hp (88 kW) at 1500/min – never before had such high engine speeds been achieved in engine manufacture, the result of maybach's endeavor to keep the moved masses in the valve timing gear as small as possible.

• year of production: 1906
• cylinders: 6 (in-line)
• displacement: 11,080 cc
• output: 120 hp (88 kW) at 1500/min
• top speed: 150 km/h