The sound of the full-throttle beast in this video brings a smile to my face every time I watch this.
This Mercedes Benz 190E is powered by a Judd 3.5L V8 F1 engine (Ex Brabham F1 car from the early 90’s). It is a race car which was used in the French Super Touring Car Championship and built after FIA changed their rules and regulations on painted bodies. (I know, that millimeter of paint does add weight, especially when lead was one of the key ingredients.) The power that this behemoth of a car made back in the early 1990s, when most cars didn’t even break the 200hp mark was astonishing. This DTM Benz 190E made an amazing 564 horsepower at a screaming 9900rpm, and coupled with a Hewland 6-speed sequential gearbox, doing 0-62mph only took 2.7 seconds! Talk about knocking you back in your seat!
Unfortunately, this car never made it to a racing series on the track, as it was only built for show purposes and exhibitions (ie: Goodwood Festival of Speed). Believe me, you won’t be disappointed by this short 2 minute video. I may warn you, watch it at your own risk: side effects may include, anxiety, uneasiness, stomach cramps, and blurred vision. Please turn your speakers way up for this, as just the sound of the 190E screaming past at full throttle is like a symphony written by the best composer in the world. Enjoy!
:: Tamer Omran
That thing sounds like wailing death coming down the stretches! I had the speakers up and my boss came in the office to see the video. I think I might get a promotion! LOL!
bad ass car is pretty sweet
that was sweet i need one of those
Now THATS what I call a swap!!!! pssshaw @ the average LS1/RB26/SR20/4AG/1JZ swaps, go straight for the old F1 motor!! Sounds so sweet, thanks for sharing!
That thing sound unreal!!!!!
Love it!!!!
I now realize how sheltered my life has been, to have not heard that before!
MORE DTM MORE BENZ MORE BMW keep it coming!!! great video!
@ImprezaKing- hahaha promotion, glad to hear that,
@ Craig M – dont worry Craig, there’s alot more coming your way , stay tune.
Thanks guys for the comments keep them coming.
WOW!!! That thing sounds crazy. Cool post Tamer, keep it coming.
Dude, there’s gotta be more old F1 engines and trannies sitting around, collecting dust. Need more of these swaps. How about a Lotus Elise F1 swap?
that thing sounds AMAZING! awesome post Tamer!
Uhh..where did you get this information from or am I just misunderstanding the text? The car in picture is a one-off built from ground up between 2003 and 2004 by Meisel Motorsport and doesn’t share anything with Mercedes except that it was built on an old French Super Touring 190 body. Reto Meisel (hence the RM1 AFAIK) has raced the car since 2006 in the german hillclimb championship winning the championship in 2007 and 2009.
It’s not the only kind of these swaps in the hillclimb races, Georg Plasa also has a Judd V8 powered BMW E36 320.
Oh and also it has nothing to do with a DTM car either like I said, but a complete one-off. Reto Meisel did own and race a similar looking ex-DTM 190E before this car was built though.
thanks for the great info Noggin.
No problem. A lot of the cars from european hillclimb championships would provide for cool features, and I wonder why you rarely see these on blogs. Since the rulesets are pretty much “everything goes” as long as they’re up to safety standards there are some crazy machines about, a bit like time attack cars on steroids. Xtrac boss’ Gould Racing 4wd RS200-powered Ford Puma, Bruno Ianniello’s Lancia Delta S4, Gabat Cossie Escort etc
@ noggin, i would love it if you could send me some links to that rs200 and that Lancia, as i would like to do more stories on those cars and get it some much needed attention to the matter of these crazy machines.
Driver said: “holy shiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt………….”
V8 said: “traaaaaa-traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang…………”
@ Tamer Omran Well it’s difficult finding any accurate information, google and youtube are your friends on this. Lots of footage on youtube about the cars I mentioned. For all I know the Puma Is a completely custom build by Gould Racing and doesn’t really share anything with a Puma except the body..which is carbon-kevlar though. It’s 4wd and powered by a 2.2 RS200 Evolution engine and has apparently some one-off Xtrac transmission as it was built for Mike Endean, the founder of Xtrac. Weighs less than a ton and puts out something between 700 and 1000 horses. You can find more info on the other cars through googling/youtube the names I mentioned in my earlier post.
Pingback : Longtail
Search on any of the video hosts for Berg Cup
Some of the most amazing cars in European motorsport compete in the Open class including this Mercedes and the Plasa 3 series mentioned by Noggin.
Ah the golden years of DTM, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE E30 M3??? It’s my favorite for a lot of reasons, sure the Merc was cool and all but the M3 was undeniably tops.
Word on the streets is that BMW is re-entering DTM for 2012 “IF” the rules are changed it will be insanely RAD. They would campaign The NEXT generation M3 into the sport.