* Update * Thanks to Mercedes historian Robert Dick we know know the details of the car and the location and date of this photograph: “ The Jenatzy photo is dated 18 July 1912. It was taken at Dinant/Anseremme, a few days before the Grand Prix du RACB. Jenatzy was on a visit at Anseremme. He did not start in the Grand Prix du RACB (Royal Automobile Club de Belgique).
The Mercedes is a sprint/record racer, 17,3 litre, 175 x 180 mm. In 1910, at Ostende, Jenatzy achieved 212 km/h in such a car.”
This is the best photo we have ever seen of Camille Jenatzy, better know as the Red Devil and named that after his daring driving style, determination and red hair. He was forever famous as being the winner of the early 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup race driving a Mercedes.
This photo from The National Library of France, is captioned as showing him at the French Grand Prix. The date that this photo was taken is not known to us, but we would estimate that it is may have been at the 1907 event, were he retired after seven of ten laps. In 1908 Jenatzy drove a Mors, a French car in the event.
The reason for the self-generating headlamps and the license plate along with the lack of any numbering seen in the photo is, at the time most racing cars were driven to an event from quite some distance and this photo may have been taken after his arrival. If you can tell us more about this photo please send us a comment. The photo is courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Dear David,
The accompanying text on the BnF-site states, that the photograph was taken in 1912 during the first Grand Prix of the Royal AC de Belgique (took place on July 20th and 21st). Jenatzy however was not a participant. There were 3 participants driving a Mercedes (a.o. the Belgian drivers Pilette and Elskamp), but these cars were quite different in appearance. Probably Jenatzy was present with his private racing car as a guest of honor, further evidenced by the presence of the front fenders, lights and license plate, as well as his female co-driver. My guess is that the photo was taken somewhere in Dinant, where the race took place.
Regards,
Ariejan Bos
Ariejan….As always thanks for the info from across the pond.
An interesting detail is the light section. The two (different!) head lights appear to be both Ducellier lamps of the so-called ‘auto-générateur’- (or self-contained) type. This means, that the carbide gas is generated in a container inside the lamp and not in a separate generator. This is of course handy in a (racing) car without a running board. Whether the lamps had different light projecting qualities is not known to me.
We noticed they are quite small but may have only been put on the car to keep the authorities happy as he probably did not travel much at night. The self generators we have experience with give off the same amount of light as the other variety.
I doubt this is the rebodied 17 litre sprinter because it looks just like the later 30-90 racer DePalma famously campaigned and the link below mentions another at Sarthe 1913…
http://wiki.mercedes-benz-classic.com/index.php/Kategorie:Mercedes-Grand-Prix-Wagen_1907-1914/en