Mercedes-Benz

:This page is about the Mercedes-Benz brand of automobiles and trucks from the DaimlerChrysler automobile manufacturer. For other uses of the name Mercedes, see Mercedes.

Motorsport

Mercedes-Benz has been successful in motor racing throughout their history. The Mercedes Simplex of the early 1900s was the first purpose built race car, much lower than the usual designs that were similar to horse carriages; it dominated racing for years.

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In 1914, just before the beginning of the war, Mercedes won the French Grand Prix, which was a blow to the French at that time. Benz raced an aerodynamically shaped Tropfenwagen in the 1920s. In the 1930s, with their mighty Silver Arrows, they dominated Grand Prix racing in Europe (together with rivals Auto Union), while setting speed records up to 435 km/h (270 mph). The team was guided by the big Rennleiter Alfred Neubauer.

Related Topics:
1914 - French Grand Prix - 1920s - 1930s - Silver Arrows - Auto Union - Alfred Neubauer

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In 1952, Mercedes-Benz returned to racing with their small and underpowered gullwinged 300 SL, which won the 24 hours of Le Mans, the Carrera Panamericana, and other important races of that time. On July 4, 1954, Mercedes-Benz returned to Formula One racing with a one-two win at the French Grand Prix. This was a very important victory, especially as later that day, the German football team won the Soccer world championship. Until the end of the 1955 season, Mercedes dominated Grand Prix and sports car racing before retiring its teams after a terrible 1955 crash at Le Mans, where a Mercedes 300 SLR collided with another car and killed over 80 spectators.

Related Topics:
1952 - 24 hours of Le Mans - July 4 - 1954 - Formula One - 1955 - Terrible 1955 crash at Le Mans - Mercedes 300 SLR

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Mercedes entered some big limousines in Rallying in the 1960s and late 1980s. They returned to sportscar and touring car racing in the late 1980s. On August 13 ? 21, 1983 at the Nardo High Speed Track in southern Italy, the new compact-size W201 190 class, sporting a 16-valve engine built by Cosworth, broke three world records after running almost non-stop (with only a 20-sec pit stop every 2 1/2 hours) in a total of 201 hours, 39 minutes and 43 seconds, completing 50,000 km at maximum speed of 247 Km/h. It went on to become the 190E 2.3-16 touring model.

Related Topics:
Rallying - 1960s - 1980s

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In 1994, a car won the Indianapolis 500 with an engine from Mercedes who, realizing that the loophole in the rules for production-based engines would include any pushrod engine, therefore built a very unusual purpose-built for the race pushrod engine with a significant power advantage, knowing that the loophole would be closed immediately after they took advantage of it and so the engine would in fact be usable for only the single race.

Related Topics:
1994 - Indianapolis 500 - Pushrod engine

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McLaren

In 1993 Mercedes made its return to Formula One as an engine supplier to the debut F1 team Sauber, with a V10 engine manufactured by Ilmor. In 1995, the normally aspirated Mercedes-Ilmor F1-V10 moved to Mclaren replacing Peugeot. Mercedes bought the Ilmor company in 1996 and they have continued to desgin and build engines for Mclaren. In the opening race of the 1997 Formula One season David Coulthard produced victory for Team McLaren Mercedes, and ushered in a new era of success. It was a landmark result in racing, McLaren?s first victory for three seasons and the first win for Mercedes-Benz since Juan Manuel Fangio?s success at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Mclaren and Mercedes went on by winning one constructors' championship in 1998 and two drivers' championships in 1998 and 1999. However, recent years have seen a significant decline in Mercedes' F1 success, as they have won just four races over the last three years, while suffering numerous engine failures and retirements. Season 2006 though, seems to indicate a return to the F1 front for the English-German outfit and their "Silberpfeilen".

Related Topics:
Formula One - Sauber - V10 - Ilmor - David Coulthard - Team McLaren - Juan Manuel Fangio

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2005 season

McLaren Mercedes hoped to improve on a poor 2004 season, which saw McLaren-Mercedes finish a distant fifth in the championship, a staggering 193 points behind world champion Ferrari. 2005 has indeed witnessed a dramatic gulf in performance between McLaren and Ferrari, though in McLaren's favour. However McLaren has not been able to fully capitalise on this opportunity due to the strength of Renault. Renault dominated the early races but by mid-season commentators have named the McLaren McLaren MP4-20 as the fastest car. Nonetheless McLaren have suffered from the poor performance of their Mercedes engine, for example engine failures at two consecutive races saw Kimi Räikkönen penalised 10 places from his qualifying place which handicapped his races.

Related Topics:
2004 season - Ferrari - Renault

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More recently, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren has become available for purchase, the 2005 model coming out with a base price of $452,750.00. The new model will have a top speed of 207 MPH and a 0-60 time of 3.8 seconds.

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