85 years of Göttingen Egg

85 years of Göttingen Egg

The German automobile engineer Karl Schlör eagerly watched the pointers of the measuring scale in the wind tunnel as the storm unleashed by high-performance turbines hit the teardrop-shaped sheet metal of his experimental vehicle. After completing the series of tests, cheers erupted at the Aerodynamic Research Institute in Göttingen: With a sensationally low drag coefficient of 0.186, Schlör had succeeded in constructing what was then the most aerodynamic MPV in automotive history. A record that has not been surpassed to this day. The “Schlörwagen”, also called the “Göttinger Egg” or “wing on wheels”, had seven seats, the driver sat between the wheel housings that protruded far into the interior of the car in the middle of the pilot's cockpit. The wheels running within the body contributed to the low drag coefficient. During follow-up measurements in the 1970s, Volkswagen technicians even determined a drag coefficient of 0.15 using a model. To put it into perspective: Today's cars have an average Cw value of 0.24 to 0.3, the current record is held by the Mercedes-Benz EQS with a Cw value of 0.20.

The chassis of the Schlörwagen was based on a Mercedes W28 170 H. The wheelbase was 2.60 meters, the length was 4.33, the height was 1.48 and the width was 2.10 meters. The aluminum body was teardrop-shaped, had flush windows with curved panes and a closed floor. Test drives showed that the road holding left a lot to be desired due to the rear engine being positioned far back, and that the streamlined body was very susceptible to crosswinds. The Schlörwagen reached a top speed of around 135 km/h and, with 8 liters of petrol per 100 kilometers, consumed between 20 and 40 percent less fuel than the Mercedes W28 with the same engine. Presented at the IAA in Berlin in 1939, the Schlörwagen caused a stir, but its teardrop shape was not to everyone's taste. In 1942, the Schlörwagen received a propeller drive with a radial engine as a trial and completed test drives in Göttingen. The whereabouts of the prototype were last documented in August 1948 on the grounds of the German Aerospace Center in Göttingen. Karl Schlör's attempts to get the badly damaged body handed over to the British military administration failed. Since then the Schlörwagen has disappeared without a trace.