BY MICHELINA ANDREUCCI
Throughout its long history (since the first race at Nice in 1899), Mercedes-Benz has been involved in a range of motorsport activities, including sports car and rally racing.
In 1928 Mercedes-Benz produced the SSK Racing Car. Currently Mercedes-Benz is active in two motorsport categories, namely: Formula One (F1) and GT Racing.
However, prior to the merger of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft’s Mercedes and Carl Benz’s Benz Patent-Motorwagen, to form the Mercedes-Benz brand in 1926, both Daimler and Benz had enjoyed success in the new sport of motor racing throughout their separate histories.
For example, in 1894, a single Benz competed in the world’s first motor race, the Paris –Rouen Motor Race, where Émile Roger finished 14th in 10 hours 1 minute.
Stirling Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia road race in Italy during a record-breaking drive with an average speed of almost 98 mph in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Now Sir Stirling Moss, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.
Rudolf Caracciola, one of the greatest Grand Prix (GP) drivers in history drove MB Silver Arrows in racing competition.
The years from 1950 were punctuated by technological changes created by new regulations in racing competition. The regulations changes defined by the regulatory body the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) – were introduced for reasons such as reducing costs, improving safety, increasing competition and keeping the technical criteria in line with external market trends.
The winning performance of F1 teams has a direct impact on their value as a business, both by providing sponsors with more exposure and by entitling the team to a greater proportion of the media royalties that are distributed on the basis of such performance.
On several occasions, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motorsport although there was some activity in the intervening years; coming close to racing victory in 1954.
Mercedes-Benz was there in1950, when Grand Prix racing was brought under a consistent set of regulations to compete for an annual Drivers and Constructors World Championship.
Its path to dominance was cut short when the worst ever accident in motor racing occurred at Le Mans in 1955. A Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR rammed an Austin-Healey, took off into the stands and killed 81 spectators. It was not until 1987 (32 years later), that Mercedes-Benz returned to front line competition at Le Mans, Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) and Formula One with Sauber.
A number of changes in competitive superiority were witnessed between the years 1950 to 1960. The period began with Italian dominance of the early 1950s based mainly on their large, 4.5 litre, and twelve-cylinder engines positioned at the front of the car.
Their dominance was threatened by the challenge of Mercedes-Benz until their withdrawal from motorsport following the disaster at Le Mans. Ferrari continued to dominate through to the late 1950s, but at this time a new threat emerged from the English constructors led by Cooper Cars.
The British Grand Prix on 13 May 1950 was the first event in the newly created World Drivers’ Championship. It brought together a series of autonomous Grand Prix races across Europe and the USA under the auspices of the FIA. It was attended by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), and was referred to as ‘Royal Silverstone’.
Despite the patriotic theme of the event it was dominated by cars designed and built in Italy, by Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari, and were designed with the engine in front of the driver. All the cars built within a relatively small area around Modena in the region of Emilia Romagna in north eastern Italy. These were primarily ‘works’ cars where the racing teams relied on the resources of their parent companies to fund their construction and development
Through the 1930s and 1940s Grand Prix racing had been the domain of the large manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, Mercedes and Auto Union, often supported by government funding. Specialist operations, distinct from the core business, created the F1 racing cars.
The actual racing activity was often undertaken by independent organisations using the nomenclature of thoroughbred horse stables – i.e.: ‘scuderia’ in Italy and ‘écurie’ in France. Scuderia Ferrari (SF), founded by former Alfa Romeo works driver, Enzo Ferrari, began life in Modena, Italy in November 1929. SF focused on the preparation and competition of racing cars for enthusiasts, thereby creating one of the first specialist motorsport companies.
Meanwhile, in Germany both Auto Union and Mercedes had been banned from racing following World War Two (WW II). However with the creation of new F1 regulations in 1950, and a need to develop a strong line-up of racing cars, Germany was readmitted and Mercedes-Benz started planning their return. The ‘works’ cars prepared and raced by the factory or their appointed scuderia (stable), also competed with privately entered cars that were purchased and raced by individuals who were either independently wealthy or had a wealthy benefactor.
At the San Remo Grand Prix of 1950, there were six works Ferraris, six works Maseratis, nine privately entered Maseratis, and a single works Alfa Romeo, which subsequently won the event.
The early 1950s were dominated by Alfa Romeo’s supercharged Alfetta 158 which had been racing since before World War Two and had won every race entered between 1947 and 1951. However the supercharged cars used pre-war engine designs that had very poor fuel consumption and had reached the end of their development cycle, and in 1952 Alfa Romeo withdrew from F1.
In 1954 Mercedes Benz entered F1 with their own factory-based team. The Mercedes 196 Streamliner used state-of-the-art fuel injection and laid the engine on its side to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible.
They came first and second in their first race at the French Grand Prix of 4th July. However, Mercedes’ path to F1 domination was halted in 1955 when motor racing’s worst ever accident claimed the lives of 81 spectators and driver
Pierre Levegh. Levegh’s Mercedes sports car crashed into the crowd at Le Mans 24-hour sports car race.
Mercedes Benz withdrew from motor racing at the end of the year.
Dr Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher and a published author in her field. For Comments E-mail: linamanucci@gmail.com
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