Zollis, a little bit of chassis info:
Uhlenhaut carried on and turned the W125 in a 750 kg racer instead of the 850 kg racer it was intended to be. Even though the car was prospected to have a 3.5 litre engine, the engineers managed to fit a 5.6 litre straight eight in the chassis, which was longer and heavier than the one used in the W25. Sporting double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and a Roots-Type Supercharger this all steel unit produced a staggering 646 bhp. The engine alone weighed over 220 kg, leaving little over 500 kg for the chassis, suspension, brakes
and body.
Uhlenhaut realised that the massive amount of power was absolutely useless if it could not be put on the road properly. Traditionally the tubular frames of Grand Prix cars flexed considerably, but by using nickel-chrome molybdenum oval tubes, Uhlenhaut created a very stiff frame. This gave him much greater control over the suspension and effectively the racer's handling characteristics. Like the W25, the W125 used double wishbone / coil spring front suspension, but with much longer wishbones. This allowed for much more travel and softer suspension required because of the stiffer frame. For the rear suspension an old, but rarely tried system was dusted off; the DeDion axle designed in the late 19th century. It replaced the swing axles, which caused massive problems with oversteer and wheelspin as under pressure the rear wheels would not be parallel. To keep the wheels parallel they were connected by an articulated tube fitted behind the final drive unit. Equipped with a ball in the centre that fitted into a slot in the final drive unit, the axle could move up and down freely, but not sideways. Thanks to an oscillating joint in the middle of the axle, the wheels could move up and down separately. The wheels were kept in place by radius arms. The DeDion setup combined the benefits of a live axle with a much lower unsprung weight and the additional freedom of movement of the swing axles.
Uhlenhaut carried on and turned the W125 in a 750 kg racer instead of the 850 kg racer it was intended to be. Even though the car was prospected to have a 3.5 litre engine, the engineers managed to fit a 5.6 litre straight eight in the chassis, which was longer and heavier than the one used in the W25. Sporting double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and a Roots-Type Supercharger this all steel unit produced a staggering 646 bhp. The engine alone weighed over 220 kg, leaving little over 500 kg for the chassis, suspension, brakes
and body.Uhlenhaut realised that the massive amount of power was absolutely useless if it could not be put on the road properly. Traditionally the tubular frames of Grand Prix cars flexed considerably, but by using nickel-chrome molybdenum oval tubes, Uhlenhaut created a very stiff frame. This gave him much greater control over the suspension and effectively the racer's handling characteristics. Like the W25, the W125 used double wishbone / coil spring front suspension, but with much longer wishbones. This allowed for much more travel and softer suspension required because of the stiffer frame. For the rear suspension an old, but rarely tried system was dusted off; the DeDion axle designed in the late 19th century. It replaced the swing axles, which caused massive problems with oversteer and wheelspin as under pressure the rear wheels would not be parallel. To keep the wheels parallel they were connected by an articulated tube fitted behind the final drive unit. Equipped with a ball in the centre that fitted into a slot in the final drive unit, the axle could move up and down freely, but not sideways. Thanks to an oscillating joint in the middle of the axle, the wheels could move up and down separately. The wheels were kept in place by radius arms. The DeDion setup combined the benefits of a live axle with a much lower unsprung weight and the additional freedom
of movement of the swing axles.
