DTM
7 of the coolest Mercedes racing cars
With Merc’s 2016 DTM challenger breaking cover, we look back at the marque’s racing greats.
Mercedes have unveiled their latest DTM racer, with the aggressive-looking Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM set to wade into battle against BMW and Audi in the championship next season.
Mercedes' new DTM racer will take on Audi and BMW
© Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes have got one of the richest racing heritages of any car company out there, so to celebrate their new DTM charger's release, we’ve delved back into the archives to find the company’s seven coolest racing cars.
SSK
Ralph Lauren's 'Count Trossi'-bodied SSK
© Mercedes-Benz
The SSK, or Super Sport Kurz was one of the stars of pre-World War II Grand Prix racing, taking its most famous victory at the 1931 Mille Miglia. Managing to produce up to 300bhp from its seven-litre straight-six engine, the SSK was one of the fastest racers of its day, and is now one of the most sought-after cars in the world. Incidentally, the SSK’s designer, Ferdinand Porsche, went on to start his own car company – but we can’t remember what they were called…
300 SLR
Stirling Moss in the 300 SLR
© Mercedes-Benz
The Mille Miglia connection continues with the 300 SLR – definitely one of the prettiest racing cars ever built. In 1955, Stirling Moss famously drove a 722-numbered 300 SLR to victory at the Mille Miglia, driving flat-out for 10 hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds and averaging 98mph on Italy’s public roads. The 300 SLR was also involved in the darkest chapter of Mercedes’ racing history, however, when the one being driven by Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours, killing 83 spectators.
W196
The open-wheeled W196
© Mercedes-Benz
The W196 was the utterly dominant car of the 1954 and 1955 Formula One seasons, driven most famously by Stirling Moss and the great Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio, who took the world title in both those years. Mercedes built two different bodies for the W196, the open wheel-arch version and the streamlined version used for fast tracks like Silverstone and Monza – although Fangio famously didn’t get on with the streamlined W196, complaining that he didn’t like not being able to see his front wheels.
190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II DTM
It’s one of the classic images on 1980s motorsport: chunky-bodied Mercedes 190s going toe-to-toe with nimble BMW M3s as Stuttgart faced off against Munich in the DTM series. The road car that Mercedes’ DTM racer inspired, the 190 E Cosworth, also has a special racing connection. Mercedes used the car at a 1984 demonstration race for current and former F1 drivers like Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Stirling Moss at the newly-built Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit. The winner of the race? A young Brazilian called Ayrton Senna, who at that point had competed in just six F1 races.
Watch highlights from that famous Nürburgring race above.
Sauber-Mercedes C11
Sauber’s C11 – so pretty, it didn’t need a livery
© Mercedes-Benz
Built by F1 team owner-to-be Peter Sauber to run in the 1990 World Sports-Prototype Championship, the Mercedes-backed C11 used the firm’s five-litre turbocharged V8 engine to devastating effect, winning every race that season bar the Le Mans 24 Hours. And speaking of devastating, just look at it.
CLK GTR
The CLK GTR is one of the most radical looking racing cars of all time, and was properly successful too, taking the Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships in the 1997 and 1998 FIA GT Series. Unfortunately, the car also had the annoying habit of flipping itself into the great blue yonder when too much air was forced underneath it, as Mark Webber famously found out at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours – check out the video above to see what we mean.
SLS GT3
Call us childish, but there’s something about a massive GT3 car with a honking great 6.2-litre V8 engine, lots of aero kit and gullwing doors that appeals to us. The SLS AMG road car that was released five years ago looked like a souvenir from a NASA exploratory mission, and the car’s racing iteration was similarly jaw-dropping. Sounds pretty good too, as you can hear in the video above...
