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The 1952 racing season was a resounding success for Mercedes-Benz: in Berne, Le Mans, and at the Nürburgring race track, the 300 SL racing sports car (W 194) left competitors in its wake. With its celebrated double, triple, and quadruple victories, the 300 SL impressively demonstrated its sporting gene, which it passed on to successive vehicles in the SL series. The racing calendar that year featured a further highlight rounding off the season from 19 to 23 November 1952: the 3rd Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, one of the most gruelling endurance races in the world.Flashback to the year 1952: the Carrera Panamericana adventure began in September 1952, with altitude tests on the Grossglockner mountain in Austria. It was here that the 300 SL was prepared for the high-altitude conditions that it would face in Mexico, where much of the route was around 2000 metres above sea level, with the highest point in the race, the Puerto Aires pass, as high as 3196 metres above sea level. Finding the ideal carburettor setting posed a particular challenge, because the individual stages of the race also featured repeated descents to between 200 and 300 metres. At the same time, the engineers were looking for more engine power for the 3100-kilometre race in Mexico. In the end, by implementing various improvements, they were able to boost output from 170 hp (125 kW) to 180 hp (132 kW). In early October, a large “expeditionary force” set off by ship for Veracruz, Mexico. As well as the three Mercedes-Benz 300 SL competition cars, the fleet included a further 300 SL model and a range of back-up vehicles.
The first of the eight stages, over a distance of 530 kilometres from Tuxtla to Oaxaca, started on 19 November 1952 at 7 a.m. precisely. Hermann Lang, Karl Kling and John Fitch all drew low starting numbers, which meant they followed one another at short intervals. It was during this stage that the now celebrated vulture accident occurred, when the 300 SL of Kling and Klenk collided with it (which some people say was a buzzard). Whatever kind of bird it was, it smashed through the windscreen at over 200 km/h, hitting co-driver Hans Klenk on the head, and leaving him with a bleeding scalp wound. The co-pilot briefly lost consciousness, but Karl Kling managed to bring him round by vigorously shaking him. Once he had come to, Klenk asked him to carry on with the race. At the stage finish, which, despite the incident, the two reached in third place, the vehicle was fitted with a new front windscreen with four vertical metal bars on each side for additional protection. The original vehicle is today an exhibit in the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
After eight breakneck and exhausting stages, Kling and Klenk finally reached the finish in Ciudad Juárez on 23 November 1952 in a time of 18 hours, 51 minutes and 19 seconds. Lang and Grupp crossed the finish line in second place, just 35 minutes behind the winners. With the SL double victory at the 3rd Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, Mercedes-Benz pulled off one of the most important successes for the brand in the 1950s.
The winning car today forms part of the extensive Mercedes-Benz Classic vehicle collection, and is exhibited in the Mercedes-Benz Museum..jpg)
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After the start, the spectators witnessed an enthralling battle, which nobody had really anticipated. During the first lap, the French racing driver Robert Manzon driving a 2.3-litre Gordini had already flown past Theo Helfrich and Fritz Rieß in their 300 SL racing cars. After passing Hermann Lang during the second lap, Manzon set his sights on Karl Kling in pole position. He managed to reduce his time difference from 20 to 7 seconds, but then succumbed to a striking transmission. Instead of a boring “Sunday procession”, the four remaining 300 SL models offered pure excitement: Hermann Lang recalled his old skills and closed the gap between him and his team mate Kling who was leading the pack. In his race to catch up, Lang achieved an average speed of 131.5 km/h, making it the fastest lap of any sports car on the day and even managed to overtake Kling. With his pole position at Nürburgring, Lang had driven his last victory in his racing career. Kling, despite a few technical problems, came in second, while Rieß and Helfrich rounded off the winning quartet with positions three and four respectively..jpg)
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Mercedes-Benz achieved a magnificent success in 1952: a double victory at the “24 Hours of Le Mans”. This placed the 300 SL racing car (W 194 series) firmly in the limelight. Because the then novel vehicle was specifically developed for the 1952 racing season, and over the months it showed its supremacy in all the most renowned racing events around the world, impressively signalling Mercedes-Benz’s return to international motor racing.By then, Mercedes-Benz had won almost all the world-famed races; only the 24-hour race in Le Mans, France, remained – and this competition was predestined for the 300 SL. A considerable stir having been caused at their presentation on March 12, 1952, a total of ten of these racing cars were built for the 1952 racing season.Preparations for participation in the long-distance classic got under way already a year beforehand. At Le Mans the car’s brakes are subjected to particularly high stresses, especially in the 4-km long straight stretch between the Tertre-Rouge and the Mulsanne curves, where drivers have to slow down from top speed to just about 50 km/h, lap after lap. The remarkably original idea of using a retractable aluminium aileron to act as an airbrake was dismissed, though.Another tricky point was the question of access to the vehicle, even though the rules and regulations said nothing against the small doors or access hatches the 300 SL originally had. The sports marshal of the Automobilclub de l’Ouest, Monsieur Acat, presented a little sketch suggesting that the entry hatch be extended downwards – and so, the gullwing was born as a goodwill gesture towards the organiser and in order to take the wind out of the sails of any potential protests right from the outset. The cars of the different teams bore different coloured bands around the radiator to help distinguish them in the race. The car with chassis number 0009 and starting number 20 (Theo Helfrich/HelmutNiedermayr) sported a red strip, car number 0007 with starting number 21 (Hermann Lang/Fritz Rieß) a blue one, while number 0008 with starting number 22 (Karl Kling/Hans Klenk team) was distinguished by a green band.After the start Ferrari and Jaguar took the lead, André Simon and Alberto Ascari setting lap records in turn. Too much of a good thing, however: two hours into the race, the clutch of Ascari’s Ferrari 250 S gave up. Simon with the Ferrari 340 “America”, now led in front of the Robert Manzon/Jean Behra team with their 2.3-litre Gordini. Towards evening the two Frenchmen moved up into the leading position. Meanwhile, an alternator malfunction made itself felt on board the Kling/Klenk team’s 300 SL, forcing Kling to make a 10-minute pit stop; an hour later another 17-minute delay in the pits was called for. Finally, at half-past midnight Hans Klenk took off his helmet, his expression showing resignation and utter disappointment. And the little lightweight 2.3-litre Gordini was still leading. After a pit stop Pierre Levegh, with his 4.5-litre Talbot took over the first place, followed at a distance of 65 kilometres by the 300 SLs of the Helfrich/Niedermayr and Lang/Riess teams. By noon of the following day the number of contestants had shrunk to 19 vehicles. Levegh was still at the forefront, but stubbornly refused to allow his co-pilot Marchand to relieve him. Behind him the two 300 SLs thundered on reliably, lap after lap. Then, just 70 minutes before the end of the race, a damaged connecting rod forced Levegh to abandon between Arnage and Maison Blanche.The two 300 SLs were now unreachably far ahead. In the early hours of the morning the new front runner Theo Helfrich lost his leading position to Hermann Lang due to a driving error. Mercedes-Benz won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess, to whom this success was largely due, it was the most important triumph of their careers. They were followed by the Helfrich/Niedermayr team who came in second in one of the other 300 SLs.The double victory at Le Mans was preceded by a triple win in Bern on 18 May 1952. Further successes followed in that racing season: a fourfold victory at the Great Jubilee Prize at Nürburgring on 3 August 1952 and another double win in the 3rd Carrera Panamericana in Mexico (19 to 23 November 1952), the last great event of the extremely successful 1952 racing season.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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The 300 SL with chassis number 0011/52 was a very special car in the history of the SL. Developed for the 1953 racing season, it did not see action because Mercedes-Benz decided to return to Formula 1 racing from 1954 on. This made the “carpenter’s plane” – as the vehicle was affectionately dubbed by the research engineers because of its characteristic front section – an intermediate model on the way to the 300 SL (W 198 I series) production sports car that was launched in 1954. The unique specimen, a continuous possession of the company since 1952 and today in the care of Mercedes-Benz Classic, featured an engine with petrol direct injection, while its transmission was located in a transaxle position.Actually this intermediate model, in particular, fully deserves the designation “Uhlenhaut-Coupé”, for it was engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut who designed the vehicle that was then built precisely according to his concepts and ideas. This is only entirely true of this model.
The “carpenter’s plane” is also the only SL of the whole SL series that can claim to be a prototype, a vehicle intended as a preliminary stage for others to follow. Unlike the previous racing cars with which it shared the designation W 194 (chassis numbers 1 to 10), Number 11 remained unique. A singular specimen that – in terms of its engine – influenced the 300 SL (W 198 I) production sports car, but whose chassis constituted a preliminary stage to the racing and sports cars of the W 196 series that were built from 1953 onwards and participated exceptionally successfully in international racing in 1954.
After the extremely successful 1952 season, the decision was initially taken to resume participation in racing in 1953. With this scenario in mind, Uhlenhaut put the 300 SL (W 194 series) on the test rig and, after evaluating it, came to the conclusion that it would no longer be competitive in the following season. He saw potential for improvement in the engine output, the road grip of the rear wheels, the durability of the tyres, the brake performance, and the reduction of driving resistance. At the same time he formulated an ambitious concept that was to lead to a complete re-design of the W 194.
Comprehensive performance optimisation
Uhlenhaut began with the engine output enhancement and rightly chose petrol direct injection, a measure which together with other peripheral measures led to an output of 214 hp (157 kW) at that time. At the same time he advised against seeking the solution to all problems exclusively in increasing the output, writing, “In my opinion it would be wrong to expect a significant increase in the average speeds as a result of an increase in output and maximum torque. The following examples support this opinion: at the Nürburgring neither Kling, Lang nor I were faster driving a compressor SL, which was working perfectly, than we were when driving a normal SL”.
The second fact Uhlenhaut mentioned was the reduction of power requirements: this included drag reduction, which was difficult to achieve because the already optimised body shape of the W 194 could hardly be further improved upon.
Uhlenhaut required a reduction of the frontal area, something that could only be brought about by narrowing the track width; this in turn made a new solution for the rear axle necessary: “However here [...] a modification in detail of the rear axle system is needed,” wrote Uhlenhaut.
According to his calculations, reducing the frontal area would lead to 2.2 hp (1.6 kW) lower power requirements at 150 km/h, and a reduction of 10.5 hp (7.7 kW) at 250 km/h.
He determined even greater power requirement savings by changing the coolant air circulation. The conventional circulation with air vents under the vehicle before the rear axle increased the cd value by 20 per cent. If, however, the cooling air was dissipated in the low-pressure area behind the front wheels, the cd value only increased by 5 per cent. This measure led to a reduction of 6 hp (4.4 kW) at 150 km/h and of 17.4 hp (12.8 kW) at 250 km/h. Implementing both of the above measures together brought about a reduction in power requirements of 28 hp (21 kW) at 250 km/h – a powerful statement.
Another measure consisted in reducing weight. Here Uhlenhaut calculated that the use of Elektron metal (a magnesium alloy) instead of Duralumin® (a high-strength aluminium alloy) in combination with the smaller surface would result in weight savings of 30 kilograms. A further 30-kilogram reduction could to be achieved by using an aluminium crankcase. And diverse other modifications, for instance, a lighter transmission housing, lighter shock absorbers, lighter connecting rods and flywheel, were to lead to weight savings totalling 96 kilograms, according to his reckoning. 26 kilograms would have to be deducted from this total, due to shifting the transmission to the rear axle, the fuel injection system and the use of 16-inch wheels.
Weight and chassis improved
Uhlenhaut went to great pains to ensure improved rear-axle roadholding. The peculiar characteristic of the dual-pivot swing axle, which due to the high instant centre of motion tends to relieve the load on the inside wheel in narrow curves, led to an even stronger tendency to lift the wheel (and consequently to wheel spin) in the case of a narrower track width. This prevented significantly better lap times and rendered the axle design useless, as tests with the W 194 and compressor engine demonstrated. Uhlenhaut’s conclusion: “I believe that without lowering the pivot centre of the swing axle and without a longitudinal support of the drive wheels the 300 SL will not be able to achieve a significant increase in performance on winding roads even if the engine output is far greater than at present.”
In order to achieve an even weight distribution for the rear axle, even with an empty fuel tank, he suggested reducing the wheelbase from 2400 to 2300 millimetres. In spite of the 16-inch wheels, and thus larger drum brakes, he also suggested testing disc brakes, which he credited with greater fade resistance.
Except for one measure, namely the use of disc brakes, all of these were implemented in the vehicle with the precise chassis number W 194/010000011/53. Even an engine with an aluminium crankcase was used at times – as new historical evidence reveals: the test engines M 198/81 and 198/82, used in test drives in Hockenheim and at the Solitude racetrack in 1953 and 1954.
The “carpenter’s plane” was by no means a case for prototype hunters, so widespread today. Quite the contrary, the vehicle was officially a part of the company fleet and was also intensely used for driver training in Hockenheim, Monza and Solitude in 1953. It was even portrayed on the cover of the November 1953 issue of “ADAC Motorwelt”, the magazine of the German Automobile Club, achieving a certain measure of fame.
The measures taken for weight reduction were significant. A comparison between the W 194/8 (1095 kilograms) and the W 194/11 (1009.5 kilograms), both under equal conditions with a full 150-litre fuel tank and both with cast iron engine blocks, shows their success. With a cast aluminium engine instead of cast steel the weight could have been reduced even further – by 44 kilos, as contemporary tests show.
The plans for the modified bodywork of the W 194/11 came from coachwork designer Walter Gragert, who had formerly worked for the renowned coachbuilder company Gläser in Dresden.
The performance of the W 194/11 was markedly superior to those of the other W 194 series cars of 1952. In Monza, Juan Manuel Fangio clocked a lap time of 2 minutes 15 seconds on 30 September and 1 October 1953 with the W 194/8; while he clocked a time of 2 minutes 7.5 seconds with the W 194/11. At the wheel of the W 194/8 Uhlenhaut achieved a best time of 5 minutes and 11.5 seconds at the Solitude racetrack in October 1953, compared with 5 minutes and 3 seconds piloting the W 194/11.
And yet in spite of all the progress made, contrary to the original plan, the W 194/11 was not to be built. Two reasons in particular spelled the end for this promising prototype: the decision at Mercedes-Benz to resume racing in Formula 1 from 1954 and, also starting in 1954, to participate in the sports car world championship with a racer developed on the basis of a Formula 1 racing car, but with even greater power output than the W 194/11. Here the better was indeed enemy of the good – nevertheless, the intermediate model earned a well-deserved place in the company’s chronicle.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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From the outset, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 194 series) was conceived exclusively for racing. Its uncompromising form caused a considerable stir at its presentation on 12 March 1952. Ten racing cars of this type were then built for the 1952 racing season. The 300 SL (W 194 series) was successful in all the well-known sports car events in the 1952 season. It bestowed its sportiness on the succeeding vehicles of the SL series – the abbreviation stands for “Super Light”. But it all began in early summer 1952.As a complement to the Swiss Grand Prix, on 18 May 1952 the Grand Prix of Bern took place at the Bremgarten Ring on the outskirts of the Swiss capital. The competition was specified exclusively for sports cars with a displacement of more than 1.5 litres and thus appeared made to measure for the new Mercedes-Benz racing cars. So the brand presented itself in the Swiss capital city with four 300 SL cars and an illustrious team of drivers. Rudolf Caracciola, Hermann Lang, Karl Kling and young gun Fritz Riess were the pilots of the newcomer that was awaited with great expectation by the public.
The race held quite a few surprises in store for everyone. The first was the best qualifying time of Swiss sports car master Willy Daetwyler at the wheel of a Ferrari 340 America, the most powerful vehicle of all. He stood next to Kling and Lang in the first row. In the second row were Caracciola and, in an Aston Martin DB2, Reginald Parnell.
The second surprise was Daetwyler having to abandon the race right after its start due to a driveshaft malfunction that caused the car to roll languidly to a standstill after just a few metres. After a lightning start Caracciola, on the other hand, took the lead like in the old days; however, in the second lap he already had to yield this position to his old rival Lang. There followed a tension-packed chase by Kling, who managed to catch up with and overtake his teammate Lang after a tough struggle. This duel, spontaneous and in no way staged by the team direction, increased the excitement of the event.
The third surprise was the accident and consequent elimination of Caracciola, who collided head-on with a tree after a brake malfunction. For the old master, this crash meant the end, not only of the race, but of his career as a racing driver as well.
Kling, Lang and Riess finished the race sweeping up the first three places. There are two details worth remembering: Fritz Riess drove car number 0006, which was the first 300 SL with large gullwing doors – the doors of the previous cars did not reach down so far into the vehicle’s flanks. And the cars were all painted different colours chosen by Head Engineer and Member of the Board Fritz Nallinger in order to tell them apart better during the race.
Lang’s car, number 0003, with starting number 20, was painted in Daimler-Benz colour DB 120 (blue), Kling’s, number 0004 with starting number 18, in DB 229 (green), Caracciola’s car, 0005 and starting number 16, in DB 516 (red) while Riess’s vehicle, 0006 and starting number 22, was in the usual silver livery.
The triple victory in Bern was followed by other successes: a double victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a four-fold triumph at the Great Jubilee Prize at Nürburgring and a further double win in the 3rd Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, the last great adventure of the 1952 racing season. Before the Bern race, in early May of the year, the W 194 had reached 2nd and 4th places at the Mille Miglia race; of the five different manufacturers in the first six places, Mercedes-Benz was the only brand to be represented with two of its cars.Credits: Daimler AG Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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