Mastering the art of success: Mercedes Racing

DMG Mercedes 35hp

The 2021 F1 season has been filled with all the thrills and spills and just when everybody expected Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to win this season as always, a dramatic and rather amusing last minute overtakes made it an unforgettable day for Verstappen and the Red Bull team. Looking into the last decade of F1 racing, Mercedes has been the most successful team reaching the podium on 7 of the 10 racing years all thanks to Lewis Hamilton the man at the wheel of Mercedes Racing. But Mercedes' connection to Brits at the helm of their racing team goes far off into the past, it was indeed the brits that revived the Mercedes racing team and brought them back into the world of racing. Lets delve into the story of Mercedes racing over the years.

Mercedes Benz Silver Arrow

Mercedes is one of the first companies in the world to build a purpose built race car for the track all the way back in 1902. In 1914,  a DMG Mercedes 35hp, manufactured in collaboration with Daimler-Motoren-Gesselschaft (DMG) went on to win the French Grand Prix in an iconic 1-2-3 formation at the dawn of World War I. Soon after World War I when racing had resumed, Mercedes was back in its former glory, with its iconic Silver Arrows taking the podium from 1923 to 1939, losing only to their arch rivals the Auto Union a.k.a AUDI in 1932 and 1933.  Silver Arrows were perfected to such an extent that the car achieved a top speed of 435 kmph back in the 1930s, but soon the racing had to ceased due to the beginning of World War 2. 

Mercedes Benz W194

Mercedes came back to the racing arena in 1952 as it entered a British dominated 24 Hours of Le Mans. With Austins, Jaguars and Bentleys lining up on the track Mercedes was the sole German contestant . Much to the shock of the Brits, the unearthly looking Mercedes W194 took the podium and continued until 1955 in the W194 derived 300 SLR, but 1955 would be the last year that Mercedes would remain on the racing arena as a major accident during the 1955 Le Mans resulted in the death of eighty people mostly due to parts of the 300 SLR flying into the stands and the subsequent death of the driver. Mercedes as a result pulled out of all form of racing and racing was banned until further notice. 

LLC432P Mercedes 450 SLC

It all came to an end when one employee of the newly created Mercedes Benz UK division decided to put a Mercedes 450 SLC code name LLC432P on the World Rally Championship. Johnathan Ashman, a former rally racer and an accountant at Mercedes Benz UK was the man that decided to put a 450 SLC, a not so rallyish car, on the rally stage. With most of the car remaining stock except for a few tweaks to the 3 speed automatic transmission, YES!!! you read it right, "Automatic Transmission" it was, on the rally stage for 1976. The victory of this car on the World Rally  Championship  along with the AMG tuned 300SEL's victory in the German Touring Car Championship, motivated Mercedes to make a comeback to the global motorsports arena.

Mercedes since then on won a number of races, with major winning streaks at Le Mans, Formula1, GT Racing and DTM. 

Mercedes CLK-GTR Le Mans Prototype

Mercedes later quit from the Le Mans Prototype Racing after winning the 1997 and 1998 championships and constructors trophy only due to the serious accidents that involved two of the three CLK-GTRs flipping and crashing into the overgrowth on the side of the track. Mercedes has since quit form all forms of Sports car racing, leaving the DTM season in 2018 to pursue Formula E. 

Now for 2022, Mercedes has withdrawn from all forms of racing except for Formula 1 due to the constant success it has brought to Mercedes and the legacy it has created. Mercedes will always be remembered for its iconic cars with rich racing heritage and dominance.