Definitely not the most common place to see a legendary Le Mans-winning Group C car, but it's precisely these unusual things that I love. The 'Classic' division of Mercedes-Benz brought to the 2023 Kilomètre Lancé one of their Sauber C9s, chassis 88-C9-04, which did some demo runs down Engadin Airport's runway in the hands of Bernd Mayländer.
This particular chassis was built in late 1988 and debuted at the Nürburgring 1000Km, driven by Mauro Baldi and Stefan Johansson. The car was able to win the Spa round of the 1988 World Sports Prototype Championship a couple of weeks after the DNF at the Nürburgring.
In 1989 it won the first round of the season in Suzuka, in the hands of Jean-Louis Schlesser and Mauro Baldi, and it obtained a couple more podium finishes during the season, the most important of which was the second place at Le Mans behind its twin, chassis 88-C9-03. After having served as a spare car, it was restored to its 1989 Le Mans, low-drag configuration and its now part of the Mercedes-Benz Museum collection.
The Kilomètre Lancé is a revival event of the original competition held in 1929 and 1930 as the starting event of the International St. Moritz Automobile Week. This week consisted of a rally, the kilometer race, a skill race, a concours d'elegance and the Bernina hillclimb race. For the second one, the dead-straight section of road between Samedan and Punt Muragl was the first asphalted road in Engadin and the venue for this spectacular race, in which the only thing that mattered was the maximum speed that could be achieved.
Of course nowdays these kind of sprint competitions are no longer held on public roads. The kilometer race, called by the organizers "Kilomètre Lancé", has been exhumed since 2021 as part of the modern International St. Moritz Automobile Week and it's held on the runway of Engadin Airport, in Switzerland, specially closed for this purpose. However Engadin Airport isn't only within sight of the historic venue, it also has a suitable track with its 1.8 km runway.
Enjoy the iconic M119 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine sound!
0:00 Warm Up
4:05 Close Ups
4:59 Action on the airstrip
#SauberC9 #SauberMercedes #KilomètreLancé
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Subscribe to my 2nd channel here: / @19bozzy92ndchannel
You can also find and follow me on:
- Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/19bozzy92/
- Facebook: / 19bozzy92yt
- Instagram: / ste19bozzy92
Camcorder: Canon Legria GX10 + Zoom H5
Event: Kilomètre Lancé 2023
Where: Engadin Airport, Switzerland
Link To My Channel: / 19bozzy92
THANKS FOR WATCHING AND SUBSCRIBE!!!
9 июн 2024
