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Back to June 2012 Motorsports News Archive
| 04-06-2012 at 07:00: Mercedes Classic at Goodwood | |
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The Goodwood Festival of Speed in the south of England regards itself as the largest motorised garden party in the world. Every year vehicles ranging from 19th century steam driven coaches to the legendary “Silver Arrows” from the 1930s right up to the latest Formula One shooting stars all meet up for a weekend in the extensive park at Goodwood House. This year’s event is scheduled for June 28 to the 1 July and offers the slogan “Young Guns – Born to Win”. Breathtaking speed, power and style, visionary technology and awareness of history, but also elegance and luxury – these are the strengths of the Mercedes-Benz brand – and it is just these aspects which combine to give the car the fascination it exerts, year after year, on the good 150,000 enthusiastic fans visiting the Festival of Speed. Mercedes-Benz Classic is not just bringing the cars to Goodwood to look good but are entering these legendary racing cars in the race. The Mercedes-Benz W 125 which was constructed for the 1937 season is a reminder of the early successes of the “Silver Arrows”. As the ancestor of the SL-series, the 300 SL racing car (W 194) from 1952 marks the start of an era. In 2012, Mercedes-Benz Classic is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the SL. The 1963 tail fin saloon 220 S (W 111) which has been reconstructed for use as a racing car at historical motorsport events on race circuits will be making its debut in Goodwood. In addition, the 1997 Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR with about 600 hp (441 kW) will be representing more recent motorsport history. As festival tradition demands, Mercedes-Benz racing cars will be driven on the Hillclimb at Goodwood by well-known drivers such as likely candidates Paul Stewart, Klaus Ludwig, Jochen Mass, and Bernd Schneider. The Cars Mercedes-Benz W 125, 1937 In 1937, Daimler-Benz introduced a completely new racing car. The W 125 was built according to the ideas of its constructor Rudolf Uhlenhaut, technical manager of the newly set-up racing department since mid-1936. The backbone of the car was a sturdy nickel-chrome-molybdenum steel frame with four cross members. The torsional strength of the vehicle without its engine increased to three times that of its predecessor, the W 25. The W 125 was the first racing car from Daimler-Benz where the compressor was installed after the carburettor which meant that the final mixture was compressed. The 2Silver Arrow” was fitted out differently depending on the racing circuit: tank capacity, carburettor, supercharger, tyres and rim size, tyre profile and its overall dimensions varied from race to race. The car’s premiere was on 9 May 1937 at the Tripoli Grand Prix. The whole season was extremely successful – Rudolf Caracciola, Hermann Lang, and Manfred von Brauchitsch drove from one prestigious victory to the next. Construction year: 1937 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 194), 1952 On 15 June 1951, the starting signal was given at Daimler-Benz for the construction of a three-litre sports car with an aluminium body. By March 1952, a prototype of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL – originally designed purely for racing – was presented to the press. It was the forerunner of the legendary 300 SL (W 198) which was presented in 1954 as the “gull wing” coupé. The complex tubular frame construction of the 300 SL originally did not allow conventional doors to be installed. Because of this, experimental engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut envisaged winged doors – in the first prototypes they are only small hatches reaching down to the bottom edge of the side windows. It was only the sixth of the ten original 300 SL that was fitted with larger doors extending downwards to the mid-flanks in keeping with the Le Mans regulations. In its first race, the Mille Miglia in 1952, the 300 SL achieved a noteworthy second place. In the same year, it succeeded in coming in first and second in the more than 3,000 kilometre long Carrera Panamericana in Mexico and it celebrated a brilliant double victory in Le Mans. The 300 SL entered in the same year for the Hillclimb at Goodwood is now owned by the McCaw family in the USA. It is the original vehicle which won the 24-hour race of Le Mans in 1952. Construction year: 1952 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE (W 111), 1963 Following the era which came to an end in 1955 with its world championships in the Formula One and with racing sports cars, there followed a period in which Mercedes-Benz was successful in international long distance races and rallies. At the beginning of the 1960s, the brand was very active especially with “tail fin” saloons with six-cylinder engines (220 SE and 300 SE), and these also served as models for the construction of the Mercedes-Benz 220 SE (W 111) used at Goodwood. It is very typical for these years that the competition vehicles and production models were technically very close to each other. The most common modifications included making the chassis elements and parts of the body more rigid, increasing the tank capacity and adapting engine characteristics to the intended use. The light grey “tail fin” car used in Goodwood in 2012 dates back to 1963 and was remodelled last year as a racing circuit car at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center for historical motorsport events. The 220 SE celebrated its premiere in the final race of the season for the long distance cup presented by the Drivers’ Association for Historical Motor Racing (FHR, Fahrergemeinschaft Historischer Rennsport e. V.)in October 2011 at the Nürburgring. Construction year: 1963 Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, 1997 The Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR is a racing touring car which was developed especially by Daimler-Benz in cooperation with AMG for the FIA GT Championships founded in 1997. The CLK-GTR is fitted with state-of-the-art racing technology and a centrally located engine. The 12-cylinder, 6-litre engine has an output of 441 kW (600 hp). According to the FIA regulations, apart from engine, ignition and injection control, the racing cars are not allowed to have any electronic assistants such as anti-lock braking system (ABS), acceleration slip control (ASR) or an active suspension. As a production line racing car in a batch of 25 licensed for road use, the CLK-GTR could also be purchased by interested customers with no racing ambitions. However, at the time the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR cost 3,074,000 German marks (roughly 1,571,711 Euros) and was the most expensive production run car in the world. Construction year: 1997
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The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a classic event stepped in history for so many reasons. At this year’s event Mercedes-Benz Classic are sending four racing cars from the company’s own collection to take part in the 1.86 kilometre Hillclimb.
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