Unforgettable Car Geniuses: Wunibald Kamm

If you are a genius and you want to find solutions to complex problems, turning your approach to the subject upside down helps you find the solution: in order to overcome the resistance of objects that have to find their maximum efficiency in water or air, it is better to know all the requirements of water and air perfectly before trying to find solutions. Wunibald Kamm realised this when, as a 25-year-old, he found himself on board the airships of the Bavarian Air Corps during the First World War. The debate between the opportunities provided by the use of the “lighter than air” versus the “heavier”, the aeroplane, was heated. What better lesson than experience? By studying air and its effects, including everything that follows the moment of its penetration of a body in motion - as well as of a body advancing through water - Kamm arrived at insights that became rules after his experiments. Who could have imagined that the effect of air penetrated by a dynamic body such as a vehicle, regaining a state of stillness, would contribute to the performance of the vehicle if the vehicle's aerodynamic shape was cut off? Today, the “Kamm-tail”, which has become the “Kamm-tail” for everyone, is part of the norm. This was not the case when, in the first experiments on cars - Zagato's famous one with the Giulietta SZ which, when built as a truncated-tail prototype, gained, under identical mechanical and climatic conditions, between 12 and 15 km/h top speed - what Kamm had already experimented with in the late 1930s was confirmed.

The Giulietta SZ built in the 1960s by Zagato with a truncated tail (or Kamm-tail) bodywork certainly benefited from Wunibald Kamm's studies to enhance performance.

However, it would be a mistake to lump Kamm's genius solely with the truncated tail innovation that revolutionised car styling in the 1960s. The Alfa Romeo Giulia, with its apparently disconcerting styling due to the clean cut rear end, was precisely launched on the concept of the innovative solution with the slogan “the wind designed it”. But the German engineer had done much more.
Kamm's work covered fundamental fields of transportation. These included, in addition to aerodynamics, in-depth studies, highly advanced for the time, on the dynamic behaviour of vehicles and the optimisation of structural weight according to performance. These researches, which lie at the heart of today's Formula 1, were put into practice by Kamm in 1939 in the design of the BMW 328 that would take part in the 1940 Mille Miglia with a special bodywork to test his aerodynamic theories.

The 328 Kamm Coupé featured an aerodynamic body and an extended chassis that improved top speed and stability.

Kamm was also a pioneer in the use of the wind tunnel, which he built after the war for the University of Stuttgart, where he had been a lecturer since the 1930s. Under his direction, the institute built a sophisticated full-size wind tunnel, equipped with a moving belt to replicate motion on the road, a technology that is still used by Daimler AG today. All of his cars have been credited with bringing important innovations: between 1923 and 1926 when he worked for Daimler, he built the Kamm SHW Wagen, an extremely innovative car for its time, equipped with front-wheel drive, independent suspension, coil springs with liquid dampers, a boxer engine and an ultra-light chassis. Technical solutions that have become commonplace today.

Wunibald Kamm at the wheel of the SHW Wagen, an extremely innovative car in the 1920s.

Among his most pioneering creations were the experimental “K-Wagen” cars, characterised by an aerodynamic shape with a Kamm tail, fuel injection, low-profile tyres and an innovative system for automatic tyre pressure adjustment. His vocation for teaching, in addition to German universities, led him to a professorship at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. A true genius whose presence in the Automotive Hall of Fame is perhaps not enough to fully appreciate his enlightened work.

The K-Wagen (Kamm-Wagen) were a series of four experimental cars with a low-drag design developed by Wunibald Kamm. Pictured here is the K3 on a Mercedes-Benz V170.