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The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W 196 S) was a 2-seat sports racing car that took part in the
1955 World Sportscar Championship The 1955 World Sportscar Championship season was the third season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured a series of six endurance races for sportscars, contested from 23 January to 16 October 1955. The championship was w ...
before a catastrophic crash and fire at
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
later that year ended its domination prematurely. The car was designated "SL-R" (for ''Sport Leicht-Rennen'', eng: ''Sport Light-Racing''), which was later condensed to "SLR". Technically, the W 196 S is based on the W 196 R, but has a slightly different engine, displacing 3 litres. Just as the W 196 R
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
racer's M 196 R engine, the W 196 S's M 196 S engine is a direct-injected 3-litre straight 8 engine (but with a 78 mm bore and stroke); its rated power is . The W 196 S's ''
monoposto An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have the ...
'' driving position was modified to standard two-abreast seating, headlights were added, and a few other changes made to adapt a strictly track competitor to a 24-hour road/track sports racer. Two of the nine 300 SLR
rolling chassis A rolling chassis is the chassis without bodywork of a motor vehicle (car, truck, bus, or other vehicle), assembled with suspension and wheels. Heavy vehicles Separate chassis remain in use for almost all heavy vehicles ranging from pickup truc ...
produced (nicknamed the "Uhlenhaut coupé") were converted into 300 SLR/ 300 SL hybrids. Effectively road legal racers, they had coupé styling, gull-wing doors, and a footprint midway between the two models. When Mercedes-Benz cancelled its racing programme after the Le Mans disaster, the hybrid project was shelved. Company design chief
Rudolf Uhlenhaut Rudolf Uhlenhaut (15 July 1906 – 8 May 1989) was a British-German engineer, driving engineer for Mercedes-Benz, and the father of Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and 300 SLR. He had a long association with the Mercedes-Benz racing programme of the 1930 ...
, architect of both the 300 SLR racer and the hybrids, appropriated one of the leftover mules as his personal car. Capable of approaching 290 km/h (180 mph), the ''Uhlenhaut Coupé'' was by far the fastest road car in the world in its day. A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé has become the most expensive car to ever be sold after being auctioned off for €135 million. The car, previously owned by Mercedes-Benz, was sold by RM Sotheby’s to an unknown collector at the Mercedes-Benz Museum on May 5, 2022.


History


Name

In spite of its name and strong resemblance to both the streamlined 1952 W194
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
racer, and the iconic 1954 300SL Gullwing road car it spawned, 1955 300 SLR was not derived from either. Instead, it was based on the wildly successful 2.5-litre
straight-8 The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary engi ...
-powered 1954–1955
Mercedes-Benz W196 The Mercedes-Benz W196 was a Formula One racing car produced by Mercedes-Benz for the and F1 seasons. Successor to the W194, in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss it won 9 of 12 races entered and captured the only two world ...
Formula One champion, with the engine, enlarged to 3.0 litres for the sports car racing circuit and designated "SL-R" for ''Sport Leicht-Rennen'' (eng: ''Sport Light-Racing''). All were the work of Daimler-Benz's design chief Rudolf Uhlenhaut.


Racing record

Mercedes team driver
Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...
won the 1955 Mille Miglia in a 300 SLR, setting the event record at an average of over . He was assisted by co-driver
Denis Jenkinson Denis Sargent Jenkinson (11 December 1920 – 29 November 1996), "Jenks" or "DSJ" as he was known in the pages of ''Motor Sport'', was a British journalist deeply involved in motorsports. As Continental Correspondent of the UK-based ''Motor Spo ...
, a British motor-racing journalist, who informed him with previously taken notes, ancestors to the
pacenotes In rallying, pacenotes are a commonly used method of accurately describing a rallying route to be driven in extreme detail. As well as dictating the general route to be taken, in terms of turnings, junctions, etc., all notable features of the rout ...
used in modern
rallying Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...
. Teammate
Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...
was second in a sister car. After missing the first two races at
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...
in
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and the
12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second r ...
in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
, where Ferrari scored a victory and a second place respectively, the 300 SLRs later scored a decisive 1-2-3 finish in the Tourist Trophy at
Dundrod Dundrod () is a small village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 167 people. It is within the Lisburn City Council area. Buildings Sport Dundrod Circuit is the location to Dundrod ...
, Ireland, and a 1-2 at the
Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 a ...
in Sicily, earning Mercedes victory in the
1955 World Sportscar Championship The 1955 World Sportscar Championship season was the third season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured a series of six endurance races for sportscars, contested from 23 January to 16 October 1955. The championship was w ...
, two points ahead of Ferrari. Further non-championship trophies were also scored at the
Eifelrennen The Eifelrennen was an annual motor race, organised by ADAC Automobile Club from 1922 to 2003, held in Germany's Eifel mountain region even before the Nürburgring was built there. History Starting from 1922, the first races were held on a 33& ...
in Germany and the Swedish Grand Prix. However, all these impressive victories were overshadowed at
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
, when the once again leading 300 SLRs were withdrawn after a horrific accident involving a team car driven by Pierre Levegh. Even with the innovative wind-brake, the car's drum brakes couldn't help prevent Levegh from rear-ending an
Austin-Healey Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and des ...
coming into his way, launching his car into the air. Upon impact, the ultra-lightweight Elektron bodywork's high magnesium content caused it to ignite and burn in the ensuing fuel fire. Compounding it, an uninformed race fire crew initially tried to extinguish the fire with water, only making it burn hotter. Eighty-three spectators and Levegh lost their lives in what remains the highest-fatality accident in the history of motorsport. Mercedes terminated its motorsport programme at the end of the 1955 season and would stay away from racing for the next three decades.


Uhlenhaut Coupé

Daimler-Benz made two road-legal 300 SLR coupés, known today as ''Uhlenhaut Coupé''. One of these two cars once served as the personal car of its designer, Daimler-Benz motorsport chief
Rudolf Uhlenhaut Rudolf Uhlenhaut (15 July 1906 – 8 May 1989) was a British-German engineer, driving engineer for Mercedes-Benz, and the father of Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and 300 SLR. He had a long association with the Mercedes-Benz racing programme of the 1930 ...
, hence the name. Prior to the Le Mans accident he had ordered two of the nine W196 chassis built to be set aside for modification into an SLR/SL hybrid. The resulting coupé featured a significantly more sculpted body than the 300 SL fitted over a slightly widened version of the SLR's chassis, with signature 'gull-wing' doors still needed to clear its spaceframe's high sill beams. These were intended to race in the
Carrera Panamericana The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan (stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it ...
which was cancelled because of safety concerns following the Le Mans disaster. Before the project could be seen through, however, Mercedes announced a planned withdrawal from competitive motorsport at the end of 1955, in the works even before Le Mans. The hybrid program was abandoned, leaving Uhlenhaut to appropriate one of the leftover mules as a company car with only a large suitcase-sized muffler added to dampen its near-unsilenced exhaust pipes. With a maximum speed approaching 290 km/h (180 mph), the 300 SLR ''Uhlenhaut Coupé'' easily earned the reputation of being the era's fastest road car. A story circulates that, running late for a meeting, Uhlenhaut roared up the autobahn from Munich to Stuttgart in just over an hour, a 137 mile/220 km journey that today takes two-and-a-half. US auto enthusiast magazine
Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...
road tested the car, as did two English journalists from Automobile Revue, who spent more than behind its wheel. After a high-speed session at four o'clock in the morning on an empty section of autobahn outside Munich the latter wrote: "''We are driving a car which barely takes a second to overtake the rest of the traffic and for which 120 mph on a quiet motorway is little more than walking pace. With its unflappable handling through corners, it treats the laws of centrifugal force with apparent disdain.''" Their only regret was that "''we will never be able to buy he car which the average driver would never buy anyway.''". One ''Uhlenhaut Coupé'' has been preserved by Mercedes-Benz and is displayed at its corporate museum in
Bad Cannstatt Bad Cannstatt, also called Cannstatt (until July 23, 1933) or Kannstadt (until 1900), is one of the outer stadtbezirke, or city boroughs, of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Bad Cannstatt is the oldest and most populous of Stuttgart's b ...
. Its only sibling was sold from the museum in May 2022 to a private collector for €141 million euros or ₤138 million pounds or $142 million dollars with the proceeds used to establish the Mercedes-Benz Fund. The price was the highest ever paid for a car, either at private sale or public auction. It also surpassed the
Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a GT car produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the FIA's Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's ''Tipo 168/62'' Colombo V12 engine. The "250" in its name denotes the disp ...
at $75 Million (EUR 69 Million) the most expensive car ever sold before the Mercedes.


Technical description


Design

The 300 SLR was front mid-engined, with its long longitudinally-mounted engine placed just behind the front axle to better balance front/rear weight distribution. A brazed steel tube
spaceframe In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
chassis carried ultra-light Elektron magnesium-alloy bodywork (having a relative density of 1.8 kg·dm−3, less than a quarter of iron's 7.8 kg·dm−3), which contributed substantially to the low vehicle mass of (roadster), or (coupé). The SLR had a second seat for a co-driver, mechanic or navigator, depending on the race. As it turned out, it was only needed during the Mille Miglia, after which the 1955
Carrera Panamericana The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan (stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it ...
was cancelled due to the Le Mans accident. On some circuits such as the
Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 a ...
the extra seat was covered and passenger windshield removed to improve aerodynamics. A total of nine W 196 S chassis were built: seven roadsters, and two coupés.


Engine

The M 196 S engine is a naturally aspirated straight 8 engine with a bore and stroke of , resulting in a displacement of . The engine has a rated power output (DIN 70020) of at 7000/min, and produces a peak power output of at 7400/min. Its maximum torque is at 5950/min, which is gives the engine a very high
BMEP The mean effective pressure (MEP) is a quantity relating to the operation of a reciprocating engine and is a measure of an engine's capacity to do work that is independent of engine displacement.Heywood, J. B., "Internal Combustion Engine Funda ...
of . Like in the W 196 R, the engine was canted to the right at 53° to lower the car's profile, resulting in slicker aerodynamics and a distinctive bulge on the passenger side of the hood shared with the streamlined Type Monza Formula one car. To reduce crankshaft torsion, power takeoff was from the centre of the engine via a gear rather than at the end of the crankshaft. Daimler-Benz fitted the engine with a single desmodromic intake valve, and a single desmodromic exhaust valve per cylinder, actuated by two spur-gear driven overhead camshafts. The fuel system is a
direct fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All comp ...
system with a mechanically driven eight-plunger inline injection pump made by Bosch. In addition to that, the W 196 S's engine was fitted with a dry-sump lubrication system and chromium-coated aluminium cylinder sleeves. For ignition, the engine was equipped with conventional double magnetos.Daimler AG (ed.):
Mercedes-Benz Rennsportprototyp 300 SLR – Technische Daten
', retrieved 26 November 2021, (in German)
Unlike the M 196 R engine, the M 196 S engine is designed to run on standardised, commercially available ''Super'' 98 RON petrol (DIN 51600).Daimler AG (ed.):
Mercedes-Benz Rennsportwagen 300 SLR (W 196 S), 1955 – Fahrzeugtext
', retrieved 26 November 2021, (in German)


Suspension system

To enhance stopping power extra wide diameter
drum brakes A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfa ...
too large to fit inside 16" wheel rims were used, mounted inboard with short half shafts and two
universal joints A universal joint (also called a universal coupling or U-joint) is a joint or coupling connecting rigid shafts whose axes are inclined to each other. It is commonly used in shafts that transmit rotary motion. It consists of a pair of hinges loc ...
per wheel. Suspension was four-wheel independent.
Torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...
s fitted inside the frame's tubes were used in the
double wishbone A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckl ...
front. To prevent cornering forces from raising the car, as occurs with short
swing axle A swing axle is a simple type of independent (rear wheel) suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903. This was a revolutionary invention in automotive suspension, allowing driven (powered) wheels to follow uneven road surfaces ...
s, the rear used a low-roll centre system featuring off-centred beams spanning from each hub to the opposite side of the chassis crossing one-another over the centreline. Nevertheless, snap-oversteer could be still a notable problem at speed. At Le Mans in 1955, the 300 SLRs were also equipped with a large rear mounted " wind brake" that hinged up above the rear deck to slow the cars at the end of the fast straights. The idea came from director of motorsports Alfred Neubauer, who had been seeking to reduce wear on the huge drum brakes and tyres during long-distance endurance races where cars repeatedly had to decelerate from to as little as 25 mph. In tests the 0.7m² (7.5 ft²) light-alloy spoiler slowed the car dramatically and improved cornering, helping to compensate for the superior new
disc brakes A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hold ...
of the SLR's main rival
Jaguar D-type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...
.


SLR McLaren

Inspired by the 300 SLR ''Uhlenhaut Coupé'', the
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (C199 / R199 / Z199) is a grand tourer jointly developed by German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive and sold from 2003 to 2009. When the car was develop ...
grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a ...
made its debut in 2003. Jointly developed by
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarter ...
and
McLaren Automotive McLaren Automotive (formerly known as McLaren Cars) is a British luxury automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are supercars, which are produced in-house in designated ...
it featured a hand-built 5.4-litre, supercharged all-aluminium
V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
. The SLR McLaren was available in both
coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
and roadster versions, as well as a number of other specialized variants. Production ran through early 2010.


See also

*
Mercedes-Benz W196 The Mercedes-Benz W196 was a Formula One racing car produced by Mercedes-Benz for the and F1 seasons. Successor to the W194, in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss it won 9 of 12 races entered and captured the only two world ...
*
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (C199 / R199 / Z199) is a grand tourer jointly developed by German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive and sold from 2003 to 2009. When the car was develop ...
*
Mercedes-Benz in motorsport Throughout its long history, Mercedes-Benz has been involved in a range of successful motorsport activities, including sportscar racing, touring car racing, Grand Prix racing, and rallying. It is currently active in GT racing, Formula E and Formu ...
* List of Mercedes-Benz cars


References


Notes


Bibliography

* (includes the 300 SLR) * * * * (includes the 300 SLR) *


External links

*Wolfgang Scheller, Thomas Pollak:
Rudolf Uhlenhaut: Engineer and Gentleman - The Father of the Mercedes 300 SL
', Dalton Watson 2016

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercedes-Benz 300sl 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe 300 SLR Sports prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Mille Miglia Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Roadsters Automobiles with gull-wing doors