Mercedes Benz Fast Silver Cars Heritage
The original McLaren F1 with BMW power and the Mercedes-Benz McLaren.
"Last September, at the Lime Rock vintage race weekend, somebody brought
along a McLaren CanAm car
which they circulated round and round
on a series of demo laps... swopping the lead on each one with a McLaren F1 coupe.
The noise was amazing. The speeds were breathtaking. The acceleration was indescribable.
They were going so fast you couldn't see whether all three seats in the McLaren F1
were occupied or not." LDD
The W196 Monoposto, 1954-1955, and the 300 SLR
in which Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson gloriously won the Mille Miglia.
The W196R Stromlinie, 1954, and the legendary 300 SL Gullwing.
The 300 SL W194 Carrera Panamericana, 1952, and the 300 SLR Coupe,
personal car of Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the technical wizard behind the Silberpfeilen,
and in fact all Mercedes automobiles of that era.
| 1936 was not a good year for Mercedes-Benz, being soundly beaten by Auto Union and in particular its star driver Bernd Rosemeyer. Changes needed to be made and the task was given to a gifted young engineer named Rudolf Uhlenhaut. Perhaps one of his strongest traits was the ability to drive a race car at top speed which allowed his engineers mind the ability to see directly what the drivers were experiencing. One of the first things that he noticed with the W25 was that there was very little movement of the axle against the frame - much of the springing was done by the frame itself. He quickly grasped that this was completely the opposite of what should happen. Because the suspension was so stiff the wheels couldn't follow the road. Pictures of the cars jumping at the slightest bump attest to that fact and on one occasion while testing a car a wheel came off at high speed yet the car continued as if nothing had happened!
For 1937 he worked with the designers to build a car wit a stiff frame and soft suspension. The results were immediate and the Mercedes team was back on top now with Uhlenhaut running the racing department while Neubauer ran the team while at the race. Their partnership would continue with another generation of drivers into the fifties. While Mercedes was not racing Uhlenhaut gained more and more responsibility for new production cars and special projects. |
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The fastest racing car transporter in the world (1954) with the 300 SLR
in which Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson gloriously won the Mille Miglia.