The Red Pig - A Second Life

"Goggles Pizzano" (gogglespizzano) 08/27/2014 at 23:28 • Filed to: None

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The story most have heard:

Two engine experts (Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher) bought the damaged 300 from a doctor for 1/3 the price of a new one (DM 9500).

Trimmed to a weight of 1635 kg and the 6.8L V8 tuned to 398 hp at 5600rpm with a compression ratio of 10:1.

Value of parts and theoretical payment for day-and-night work represented a value of DM 120000.

It was the fastest touring car at Le Mans in 1972. Clocked at 285 km/h (176 mph) on the Hunaudieres straight. The fastest BMW coupe that year reached 277 km/h (171 mph).

After only two years of racing and eight starts the career of the AMG-Mercedes 300 SEL 6.8 was finished. After January 1972, touring cars were limited to five litres displacement.

Now it gets interesting:

The Aerospace division of Matra needed a car to use for the testing of landing gear and contacted Mercedes/AMG because it was thought theirs were the only cars that could possibly deliver on the specs.

AMG decides to use the Red Pig and performed the required changes.

It left the factory with three sets of on-loan rims from the C111 prototype. Fenders were flared 5 cm to accommodate the 10 inch wide front, and 12 inch rear tires. Through a lease agreement, it was equipped with parts of the suspension, rear axle and smaller air-bellows.

The car was stretched 30 inches (75cm).

Engine output was 425 hp.

A hole was cut in the floorpan so dummy landing gear could be dropped at almost 200mph.

With the weight of the test gear on board, and a curb weight of 2400kg (4800lbs), the car could accelerate from rest to 200km/h in 1000m.

Then...*poof*, it was never seen again.