Sauber Mercedes C9: the most beautiful racer ever?

Posted on 19-02-2016 at 18:59 by MauritsH – 75 Comments”

Totally subjective of course, but an interesting car it is absolutely.

Originally Swiss Sauber is (semi-)recently mainly been in the news because of the well-known #Giedogate, thanks to Terflip Monisha Kaltenborn. The team was in 1993 at the start of Formula 1 races but never knew really jars to break. How different it was in the sportwagenracerij…

This Sauber C9 was, however, a success. The racer with z’n aalgladde carriage saw in 1987 was born, and would be no less than three times to participate in Le Mans. The last time, in 1989 there was the C9 in addition, the winner of the race of the races. Behind the wheel were Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens. To this in the right spirit of the time: a year before, was Jan Lammers is still the big winner with his Jaguar XJR-9.

Good to know: the C9 obtained during training at a speed of up to 398 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight. No small feat. Such speeds were the reason that the famous straight, the later would be interrupted by two chicanes.

Under the hood of the C9 in 1989 in the round to bounce back was the Mercedes M119, a twinturbo V8 with a capacity of 5 litres. Without dampers was this source of power good for about 720 hp and 810 Nm. Next to this V8 had the 1989 version is still an asset behind the hand. In 1988, generated the body namely so much downforce that the rear tires under the pressure caved in and clapped. The amount of wing was the year a little less and that was favorable for aerodynamic drag.

The C9 would be replaced by the C11, in which no one less than Michael Schumacher for the first time met with serious amounts of horsepower under his right foot. Below you will find a collection of beautiful pictures of the tight Sauber Mercedes C9.

Gallery: Sauber Mercedes C9

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