 Thanks to all cooperation partners
|
The project Exelero - the legend livesJust imagine an automobile that combines the elegance and first-class quality of a high-end limousine with the powerful suppleness of a sports coupé.
Cooperating with Maybach
The model phase starts Three model construction phases in the manufacture of a special vehicle are decisive in the development process:
The construction and test phase concluded with a outstanding success
Thanks to all cooperation partners Yet again in Fulda Reifen's company history, a cooperation has led to an exceptional final result: a top-class product like the Exelero ultra-high performance tire is matched by an exceptional vehicle, unmatched anywhere else in the world, the Maybach Exelero sports coupé. The result can never be the product of just one individual, only within the framework of a partnership at the highest level and the uncompromising efforts of all concerned can such a project succeed. The Fulda project team under the direction of Bernd J. Hoffmann, Chairman of the Board of Management, would hereby like to thank everyone involved, particularly the responsible persons at
|
HOME |
CARS AND VEHICLES |
MERCEDES-BENZ
P. CARS |
MAYBACH |
MOTORSPORTS |
Create a vehicle in your mind's eye which,
with an unladen weight of over 2.66 tons and the dimensions of a small
transporter, achieves a maximum speed of over 350 km/h. Conceive an ultra-high
performance tire which not only copes with the aforementioned weight, the
dimensions and the speed, but also makes the automobile safe, stable and
comfortable. Such a vehicle and such tires do not exist? Now they do. For
99 years, Fulda has been making car tires. For most of this time, the company
has advertised its products with special vehicles. Luxury buses, advertising
vehicles with special bodies, high-speed buses for tire tests, a whole series
of showtrucks, racing cars and - in the 1930s something quite special -
streamlined car from the Maybach company which could conduct tire tests at
speeds of over 200 km/h. Unfortunately, not for too long, because the test
car designed in 1938 and delivered in 1939 disappeared during the war years
and never reappeared again. 66 years later: Fulda is introducing a new
sophisticated high-tech tire to the market. For the most extreme dimension
of this tire line, 315/25 ZR 23, licensed for speeds of more than 350 km/h,
and that as a series tire, not a racing tire, what was needed was a high-speed
vehicle but not a racing car. A few years ago, one the most exclusive German
automobile makes was revived, why not organize a joint project together once
again, just like in the old days?
The contacts were made and thanks to René
Staud, a world-class photographer of automobiles and an outstanding "networker"
of DaimlerChrysler and Fulda Reifen, they were purposefully and effectively
developed. Following several coordinating discussions with Leon Hustinx,
Maybach's manager, agreement was reached: Maybach would build a car for Fulda.
Objective: to position the vehicle as an impressive ambassador for the new
ultra-high performance tire generation Exelero.
Based on detailed and strict time schedules,
all three phases were realized simultaneously. The well-known Italian vehicle
study manufacturer Stola in Turin was commissioned by DaimlerChrysler to
build the Exelero. The sports coupé was also now given its final project
name: Maybach Exelero. On 31 May 2005 everything was ready. All three phases
were completed. The 1:1 model for the exterior had been tested in the wind
tunnel many times, modified and adapted. The interior details were fixed:
natural leather, neoprene, coated punched aluminum sheet as well as carbon
fiber in glossy black and red are the main materials. And the technicians
who worked on the vehicle had arranged, rebuilt and made ready for use all
the functions and the parts needed for this. Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Weissinger,
the responsible project technician and development manager at Maybach, connected
the battery, turned the ignition key and the car growled into life. The short
burst of gas suggested record speeds.
Transforming a limousine, the basis for
the Exelero is the Maybach 57, into a coupé is extremely demanding.
Jürgen Weissinger and his team were astonished to find that, although
the dimensions of the former SW 38 differed in the length (the Maybach 57
has a 290 millimeters longer wheelbase), in terms of breadth and height they
were very similar. That simplified a whole series of structural measures.
When considering the engine alternatives, it soon became clear that the basic
twelve-cylinder engine used in the Maybach limousines would not achieve the
desired maximum speed of around 350 km/h despite the Biturbo turbo charger.
Here, the Mercedes Car Group leapt into the breach. The engine specialists
in Untertürkheim, the place where all basic engines are developed, provided
energetic support for the project. After several optimization of the Maybach
type 12 engine, the cubic capacity was increased from 5.6 to 5.9 liters and
the turbo charge optimized. The result was convincing: on the test bed almost
700 hp and at least 1,000 newton meters of torque were recorded, sufficient
to achieve the targeted maximum speed of 350 km/h. Before, during and after
the aforementioned work, the individual evolutionary steps were supported
by corresponding tests. Either on engine test beds in the plants or on test
tracks like the high-speed oval in Nardo/Southern Italy or the test track
in Cloppenburg. The final test measurements at the end of April/beginning
of May 2005, once again on the high speed Motodrom Nardo, then produced the
well-earned success of lost of hard work: a top speed of 351,45 km/h - a
world record for limousines - on standard tires. And yet another world record:
between the Fulda idea, the outstanding cooperation of all concerned and
the delivery of the Maybach Exelero sports coupé, just 25 months passed.
