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An Unbelievable Machine – Mercedes Benz 300 SLR # no.4

At 7:22 am on the morning of the 1st of May 1955 Stirling Moss and his co driver Denis Jenkinson sitting in today’s featured Mercedes Benz # no.4 registered W21-6170 were flagged away for the start of the Mille Miglia from Viale Venezia in Brescia with 525 cars ahead of them and just six more to start at one minute intervals behind them.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed

With the aid of course notes recorded on an 18ft roll of paper, edited from their six reconnaissance drives along the entire route, Denis used 15 hand signals to keep Stirling informed of what was coming up ahead over the 1000 mile course via Rome back to Brescia.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed

10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds later Stirling and Denis crossed the finish line to record the all time fastest race average speed of 97.96mph / 157.65 kmh over the course which actually measured only 992 miles, and become only the second non Italians to win the event after Rudolf Caracciola and riding mechanic Wilhelm Sebastian won with their Mercedes-Benz SSKL in 1931.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, Stirling Moss, Goodwood Festival of Speed
Juan Manuel Fangia came home second in the 300 SLR # no.3 31 mins and 45 s behind the winners in one of the greatest solo drives of all time.

Stirling Moss then drove # no.4 to a second place finish behind Fangio in the non championship Eifelrennen at the Nurburgring before Karl Kling and André Simon were entrusted with the car at Le Mans where it was withdrawn by the board of directors at Mercedes Benz after the fatal accident that killed team mate Pierre Levegh and 84 spectators .

Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, Stirling Moss, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Stirling drove # no.4 to another second place finish in the non championship Swedish Grand Prix behind team leader Fangio to keep up the models remarkable 1-2 finishing record in all events completed.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, TNF Herts Film Show, Ware

Amazingly Stirling then drove # no.4 to two more World Championship sports car victories in the RAC TT at Dundrod with John Fitch and in the Targa Florio with Peter Collins so that this car has the rare record of finishing 1st in every World Championship event which it completed.

Stirling Moss called this car which he is seen driving in these photographs at Goodwood Festival of Speed, “The greatest sports racing car ever built — really an unbelievable machine.” Which is why it is probably the most desirable Mercedes Benz ever built and possibly the most desirable car ever built.

Thanks for joining me on this “An Unbelievable Machine” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a hot French Simca. Don’t forget to come back now !

All Time Greatest One-Two – Mercedes Benz 300 SLR # no.3

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Due to strained financial circumstances at the Mercedes Benz factory Rudolf Caracciola and Wilhelm Sebastian had only a privately entered Mercedes Benz SSKL with Mercedes approval at there disposal when they became the first foreign team in the first foreign car to win the 1931 Mille Miglia and the first to ever do so at an average speed of over 100 km per hour.

When Mercedes Benz returned to the event in 1955 they left nothing to chance sending a team of 60 technicians based at their event headquarters with spares and sufficient for their four 300 SLR entries.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Team manager Alfred Neubauer insisted each of the drivers were to drive the 1000 mile course a minimum of five times in preparation for the event, Karl Kling is believed to have driven at least 30,000 miles in his preparations.

Following the death of his co driver Daniel Urrutia in 1948 while competing in Peru Juan Manuel Fangio never drove in a competitive event with a co driver again, and so Juan made his own preparations for the 1955 Mille Miglia driving a FIAT 1100.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Before the first six hours of the race had been completed both Karl Kling driving solo and the Hans Herrmann / Hermann Eger crewed 300SLR’s had crashed out of the race.

However Stirling Moss aided by directions from 1949 World Champion Motor Cylce side car passenger Denis Jenkinson, who had meticulously made course notes on 15 feet of paper all carefully rolled into a device devised for bomber command during WW2 came home winners covering the 1,000 miles 6 hours faster than Caricciola in just over 10 hours at a record average speed just short of 100 mph, having covered the stretch from Cremona to Brescia at just under 124 mph.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Stirling Moss, Goodwood Revival,

In second place 31m 45 seconds behind the winning #722 came Juan in today’s featured #658 chassis # no.3 despite the fact his eight cylinder 3 litre / 183 cui engine was only firing on 7 cylinders to complete in my humble opinion one of the all time greatest 1-2 finishes in all of sports car racing.

28 days after finishing the Mille Miglia Juan stepped back in to # no.3 to drive it to victory in the Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

In August 1955 having wrapped up his third World Formula One championship due to the cancellation of several Grand Prix in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster Juan drove # no.3 for a third time to with the Swedish Grand Prix run for sports cars.

Wolfgang von Trips, André Simon and Karl Kling all drove this car in the Tourist Trophy in September 1955 run at Dundrod to complete a 1-2-3 victory behind the sister cars driven by Stirling sharing with John Fitch and the second placed car driven by Juan and Karl.

Finally in October 1955 Juan and Karl teamed up again this time to drive # no.3 in the Targa Florio to finish second behind the sister 300SLR driven by Moss and Peter Collins.

Stirling Moss is seen in the photograph above demonstrating #658 at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago and the connecting rod seen above was a gift from Mercedes Benz to Denis Jenkinson and comes from the Mille Miglia winning #722.

Thanks for joining me on this “All Time Greatest One-Two” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me for Mazda Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

’55 Gold Cup Winner – Maserati 250F #2515

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Today’s featured Maserati 250F chassis #2515 made it’s debut for the works team in the 1955 Argentinian GP where it retired with engine failure after Sergio Mantovani, Jean Behra and Luigi Musso had completed 54 of the scheduled 96 laps.

Roberto Mieres, Peter Collins, Stirling Moss and Carroll Shelby all drove #2515 in 1955 with Stirling Moss recording the best result with a win in the non Championship Gold Cup at Oulton Park.

Maserati 250F, Donington Grand Prix Collection

Francisco Landi and Gerino Gerini shared the car in the 1956 Argentine Grand Prix to score a season high 4th. After Francisco finished 7th in the Brazilian Grand Prix ownership of #2515 appears to have been passed over to Scuderia Guastalla in Italy.

Gerino and Umberto Maglioli drove the car on two occasions each over the remainder of the 1956 season with Gerino’s 5th place finish in Syracusse being the best result.

Ottorino Volonterio acquired the car after it had been rebodied for the 1957 season and it was entered in three events with the best, only, finish being 11th in the Italian Grand Prix where Ottorino shared the driving with André Simon.

André Testut failed to qualify the car for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, as he would his own 250F #2521 in the same event the following season.

From June to September 1958 #2515 was entered in four events by Scuderia Centro Sud with Maurice Trintignant finishing seventh in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

Gerino drove in the remaining three recording a best 6th place finish at Caen. Hans Hermann drove #2515, now entered by Joakim Bonnier, in the 1958 Italian Grand Prix from which he retired with a valve issue.

In 1959 Fritz d’Orey retired #2515, now entered by Scuderia Centro Sud again, from the British Grand Prix. The final known appearance of #2515 was in the 1959 Italian Grand Prix where Giulio Cabianca driving for Ottorino Volonterio finished 15th.

Tom Wheatcroft bought #2515 in 1965 and it is seen in this picture in the Donington Grand Prix Collection which he founded.

Thanks for joining me on this “Gold Cup Winner” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Delahaye. Don’t forget to come back now !

Racing Van – Maserati 151/3 Recreation

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Parts of today’s featured car started life as the Maserati France entered Maserati 151 chassis #151.002 which raced at Le Mans in 1962 alongside Briggs Cunningham’s chassis #151.004 and #151.006, the latter which I looked at last Monday.

Maserati 151/4, Goodwood Festival of Speed

#151.002 was driven by Maurice Trintignant and Lucien Bianchi in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying 7th, slowest of the three Maserati 151 models and retiring after completing 152 laps with suspension issues.

Maserati 151/4, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In April 1963 #151.002 reappeared at the Le Mans Test with a 5 litre / 302 cui V8 motor replacing the original 4 litre / 244 cui unit. André Simon and Lloyd Casner drove the car to the 4th fastest time and returned in June to qualify 5th for the 24 Hour race but retired after 40 laps with gearbox issues.

Maserati 151/4, Baxter / Mass, Goodwood Revival

#151.002, also known at the time as 151/2, appeared in three more events in 1963 scoring a best 8th place finish in the Trophée d’Auvergne at Clermond Ferrant (F) with Lucien Bianchi at the wheel.

Maserati 151/4, Baxter / Mass, Goodwood Revival

For 1964 #151.002 was further upgraded with a dry sump motor mounted lower in the chassis which was also altered to accommodate wire tires and wheels. Finally the car also had a new Piero Drogo penned unpainted aluminium body fitted just in time for the 1964 Le Mans test, the new body quickly earned the “Racing Van” sorbriquet.

Maserati 151/4, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Maurice Trintignant and France’s Maserati importer André Simon set 4th fastest time in the reworked Maserati and found it capable of 196 mph on the Mulsane straight. For the ’64 Le Mans race the Maurice and André qualified #151.002 15th, but retired after 99 laps with electrical issues. The same drivers were entered to drive #151.002 in two more events but retired with ignition issues from the Reims 12 Hours and after an accident from the Paris 1000 kms at Circuit de Linas-Montlhéry.

For 1965 the final incarnation of #151.002 also known as 151/4 included fitting a slightly larger 5055cc / 308 cui V8 which produced 450 hp. The car was again taken to the Le Mans Test weekend where Lloyd “Lucky” Casner of Camoradi Racing Team fame met his untimely demise in #151.002 at the kink on the Mulsanne Straight being fatally thrown from the car which was effectively destroyed in the accident.

During the 1980’s Herr Kaus of the Bianco Museum owned one of the 151/3 spec motors from the crashed #151.002, as he did the uncrashed #151.006 car, and was supplied by Maserati with drawings to build a new 151/3 spec chassis and the original 151/3 body buck so that Sig Allegretti, who built the original body, could build another !

Herr Kaus never got the project finished, but more recently Barrie Baxter, seen sharing the car with Jochen Mass at Goodwood Revival, has.

My thanks to Doug Nye and driverider at The Nostalgia Forum for their comments.

Thanks for joining me on this “Racing Van” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

38.907 sec Champion – Ferrari F2008

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After an acrimonious 2007 season in which a Ferrari employee had been caught passing sensitive Ferrari documents to a McLaren employee after the McLaren Employees wife was dobbed in by a photocopy shop the 2008 season was relatively calm. The big story of 2008 being the on track battle between sophomore sensation Lewis Hamilton driving for McLaren and Ferrari’s de facto number two driver Felipe Massa who unexpectedly stepped up to the plate while his team mate reigning Champion Kimi Räikönnen experienced a post championship slump that saw him get bought out of a very expensive contract by the seasons end.