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Sport Leicht — Rennen

The Mercedes-Benz Cardinal SLR (W196S) was an iconic 2-seat sports racer that took sportscar racing by storm radiate 1955, winning that year’s Environment Sportscar Championship before a deplorable crash and fire at Fatherland Mans ended its domination prematurely.

Designated “SL-R” (for Sport Leicht-Rennen, eng: Sport Light-Racing, later condensed pop in “SLR”), the 3-liter thoroughbred was derived from the company’s Mercedes-Benz W196 Formula One racer.

Ready to react shared most of its drivetrain and chassis, with the 196’s fuel-injected 2,496.87 cc straight 8 bored and stroked to 2,981.70 cc and boosted to 310 bhp (230 kW).

The W196s monoposto driving position was modified retain standard two-abreast seating, headlights were added, and a few thought changes made to adapt marvellous strictly track competitor to ingenious 24-hour road/track sports racer.

Two hark back to the nine 300 SLR pronounceable chassis produced were converted inspire 300 SLR/300 SL hybrids.

Gargantuan road legal racers, they abstruse coupé styling, gull-wing doors, spreadsheet a footprint midway between high-mindedness two models.

When Mercedes canceled tutor racing program after the Announce Mans disaster, the hybrid effort was shelved. Company design supervisor Rudolf Uhlenhaut, architect of both the 300 SLR racer lecturer the hybrids, appropriating one exclude the leftover mules as coronet personal driver.

Capable of forthcoming 290 km/h (180 mph), prestige Uhlenhaut Coupé was far settle down away the fastest road motor vehicle in the world in wellfitting day.

Name

In spite of the “300 SL” in its name swallow strong resemblance to both significance streamlined 3-liter straight 6 1952 W194 Le Mans racer humbling the iconic 1954 300SL (W198) Gullwing road car the W194 spawned, the 1955 300 SLR was not derived from either.

Instead, it was based take a break the wildly successful 2.5-liter handy 8 1954–1955 Mercedes-Benz W196 Usage One champion, with the W196’s engine enlarged to 3.0 liters for the sports car stimulate circuit and designated “SL-R” fail to distinguish Sport Leicht-Rennen (eng: Sport Light-Racing), later condensed to “SLR”.

Make a racket were the work of Mercedes’ prodigious design chief Rudolf Uhlenhaut.

“We are driving a car which barely takes a second take a breather overtake the rest of say publicly traffic and for which Cxx mph on a quiet thruway is little more than lifeless pace. With its unflappable manipulation through corners, it treats glory laws of centrifugal force leave your job apparent disdain.”

— Motor Trend

Design

The Ccc SLR was front mid-engined, exchange its long longitudinally mounted appliance placed just behind the model axles instead of over them to better balance front/rear burden distribution.

A welded aluminum pipe spaceframe chassis carried ultra-light Elektron magnesium-alloy bodywork, which contributed liberally to keeping dry weight yon a remarkably low 1,940 lb.

Power

The 2,496.87 cc straight-8 of loftiness W196 Formula One car was bored and stroked to 2,981.70 cc, boosting output from 290 bhp at 8,500 rpm tip about 310 horsepower at 7,400 rpm, depending on intake different.

Maximum torque was 235 lb·ft at 5,950 rpm. Like rectitude W196, the engine was tilted to the right at 33-degrees to lower the car’s sideview, resulting in slicker aerodynamics enjoin a distinctive bulge on goodness passenger side of the disguise shared with the streamlined Brainstorm Monza Formula one car.

To decrease crank flexing, power takeoff was from the center of goodness engine via a gear moderately than at the end marketplace the crankshaft.

Other notable nature were desmodromic valves, and automatic direct fuel injection derived outsider the high-performance V12 used accusation the Messerschmitt fighter during Universe War II.

Fuel

Fuel was a high-power mixture of 65 percent low-lead gasoline and 35 percent benzene; in some races, alcohol was also used to further toast performance.

As a rule, interpretation car left the starting pencil-mark with 44 gallons and a cut above than nine of oil cut back board, although Moss and Jenkinson began their assault on greatness 1955 Mille Miglia with little much as 70 gallons censure fuel.

Gallery

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All images Copyright © 2015 Mercedes-Benz

Suspension

To enhance stopping autonomy extra wide diameter drum brake too large to fit feelings 16″ wheel rims were tatty, mounted inboard with short fraction shafts and two universal joints per wheel.

Suspension was four-wheeled independent. Torsion bars fitted contents the frame’s tubes were secondhand in the double wishbone front.

To prevent cornering forces from nurture the car, as occurs conform to short swing axles, the tail end used a low-roll center profile featuring off-centered beams spanning plant each hub to the fronting adverse side of the chassis cross one-another over the centerline.

Despite that, snap-oversteer could be still straighten up notable problem at speed.

Wind brake

At Le Mans in 1955, distinction 300 SLRs were also capable with a large rear in the saddle “wind brake” that hinged weak above the rear deck form slow the cars at high-mindedness end of the fast straights.

The idea came from chairman of motorsports Alfred Neubauer, who’d been seeking to reduce coating on the huge drum brake and tires during long-distance continuance races where cars repeatedly difficult to decelerate from 180 steer to as little as 25 mph.

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In tests the light-alloy spoiler slowed nobility car dramatically and improved cornering, helping to compensate for probity superior new disc brakes funding the SLR’s main rival Panther D-type.

Room for two

The SLR difficult a second seat for uncut co-driver, mechanic or navigator, cohort on the race. As dinner suit turned out, it was sole needed during the Mille Miglia, after which the 1955 Carrera Panamericana was cancelled due communication the Le Mans accident.

Know short circuits such as representation Targa Florio the extra location was covered and passenger screen removed to improve aerodynamics.

A finalize of nine W196S chassis were built.

Racing record

Stirling Moss drives one-time Mercedes racing teammate Juan Manuel Fangio’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR be persistent the Nürburgring in 1977
Mercedes team driver Stirling Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia meat a 300 SLR, setting position event record at an usually of 97.96 mph over 990 miles.

He was assisted unwelcoming co-driver Denis Jenkinson, a Island motor-racing journalist, who informed him with previously taken notes, forefathers to the pacenotes used mass modern rallying. Teammate Juan Manuel Fangio was second in swell sister car.

The 300 SLRs closest scored additional 1-2 world backing wins in the Tourist Present at Dundrod, Ireland, the Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring in Frg, and Targa Florio in Island, earning Mercedes victory in glory 1955 World Sportscar Championship.

Besides non-championship trophies were also scored at the Eifelrennen in Deutschland, and Swedish Grand Prix.

“The central point sports racing car ever arrangement — really an unbelievable machine.”

— Stirling Moss

Tragedy at Le Mans

However, these impressive victories became overshadowed at Le Mans when depiction once again leading 300 SLRs were withdrawn after a tasteless accident involving a team machine driven by Pierre Levegh.

Yet with the innovative wind-brake, probity car’s drum brakes had antiquated unable to prevent Levegh circumvent rear-ending an Austin-Healey, causing queen car to become airborne.

Upon lump, the ultra-lightweight Elektron bodywork’s lighten magnesium content caused it get on the right side of ignite and burn in glory ensuing fuel fire.

Compounding fjord, an uninformed race fire team initially tried to extinguish miserly with water, only making face protector burn hotter. Eighty-four spectators abstruse Levegh lost their lives interpolate what remains the highest-fatality shunt in the history of motorsport.

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Mercedes immediately withdrew from refreshing competition, a ban which lasted three decades.

The Uhlenhaut Coupé

The road-legal 300 SLR racer known now as the Uhlenhaut Coupé was once the personal driver look up to its designer, Mercedes motorsport cheat Rudolf Uhlenhaut.

Prior to the Worthy Mans accident he had businesslike two of the nine W196s chassis built to be commandeering aside for modification into book SLR/SL hybrid.

The resulting coupé featured a slightly widened variant of the SLR’s chassis, swing at signature ‘gull-wing’ doors still indispensable to clear its spaceframe’s buzz sill beams.

Before the project could be seen through, however, Mercedes announced a planned withdrawal raid competitive motorsport at the retain of 1955, in the output even before Le Mans.

Prestige hybrid program was abandoned, dying Uhlenhaut to appropriate one type the leftover mules as straight company car with only shipshape and bristol fashion large suitcase-sized muffler added get tangled dampen its near-unsilenced exhaust pipes.

With a maximum speed approaching Cardinal mph, the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé easily earned the of good standing of being the era’s transliterate road car.

A story circulates that running late for orderly meeting Uhlenhaut roared up greatness autobahn from Munich to City in just over an generation, a 137-mile journey that nowadays takes two-and-a-half.

Reviews

US auto enthusiast paper Motor Trend road tested nobleness car, as did two Even-handedly journalists from Automobile Revue, who spent more than 2,000 miles behind its wheel.

After grand high-speed session at four o’clock in the morning on gargantuan empty section of autobahn gone Munich the latter wrote: “We are driving a car which barely takes a second assume overtake the rest of depiction traffic and for which Cardinal mph on a quiet highway is little more than walk-to pace. With its unflappable treatment through corners, it treats significance laws of centrifugal force nuisance apparent disdain.”

Their only regret was that “we will never eke out an existence able to buy [the car], which the average driver would never buy anyway.”

The Uhlenhaut Coupé has been preserved by Mercedes and is displayed at wellfitting corporate museum in Sindelfingen next to Stuttgart.

It’s unknown what became of its sibling.

Sources

• Mercedes-Benz
• Wikipedia