1902 Mors 60 HP Type Z

1902 Mors 60 HP Type Z

The Mors automobile factory was an early French car manufacturer. It was one of the first to take part in automobile racing, beginning in 1897, due to the belief of the company founder, Émile Mors, in racing's technical and promotional benefits. By the turn of the century, automobile racing had become largely a contest between Mors and Panhard et Levassor.

Last Mors model: 1925 12/16 HP Sport, Mors was one of the first automobiles to use the V engine configuration. The Mors 60 horsepower Grand Prix car was powered by a 10-litre V4 side valve engine, with magneto ignition and dry sump lubrication, which could reach 950 rpm. The car had a steel chassis and a four-speed transmission that drove the rear wheels via chain drive, and rear-wheel brakes. In 1902, Mors added pneumatic shock absorbers to their cars, which represented a great leap forward given the quality of the roads and racetracks at the time. With this car, Henri Fournier was able to win the highly significant Paris-Berlin race, with the drive chain breaking immediately afterwards.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Europe’s two great racing marques were Panhard and newly ascendant Mors. La Société d’Electricite et des Automobiles Mors, originally known for electrical products,achieved automobile fame with victories in the great, open road, city-to-city races from 1899 through 1903. This 60 hp type Z was one of six Mors entries for the 1902 Paris-Vienna race that also encompassed that year’s Gordon-Bennett Trophy event.

For 1902, a 1,000 kilogram weight limit (plus an extra 7 kilograms for magneto ignition) was applied to the fastest “heavy” class in an attempt to reduce the furious speeds of 1901. Manufacturers responded with more horsepower than ever in spidery ultra light chassis. Strategically not matching the prodigious power of archrival Panhard, Mors chose a more conservative approach; “pneumatic” shock absorbers for better handling and a mechanically efficient direct drive top gear to redress Panhard’s horse power advantage.

The first day, leading all 136 competitors, Fournier must have found Mors’ strategy to his liking as he roared past the organizers’ high-speed press train at over 70 mph trailing a huge plume of road dust. Despite such a brave start, all but one of the Mors entries came to grief. This car, that of the Baron de Caters, placed 9th after 615 miles and three days of brutal racing over the arrow straight Routes Nationales of France, unpaved, potholed Alpine passes and the scorching, undulating roads of central Europe.

Yet, the sheer speed of the Sixty was enough to see three challenges to the world Land Speed Record by Type Z Mors racers in short order. William K. Vanderbilt, the American millionaire, led off at Ablis, near Chartres, France, on August 5, 1902, being timed at 76.08 mph, thereby becoming the first internal combustion powered titleholder.

Descriptions & pictures by revsinstitute & Wikipedia & grandprixhistory & gregwapling & fauto-graphy