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09/04/2022 1:39 pm
Mercedes Benz W 196 R Monoposto 2.5 Ltr. Formula 1 1954
The Mercedes-Benz W196 was a Formula One racing car produced by Mercedes-Benz for the 1954 and 1955 F1 seasons. Successor to the W194, in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss it won 9 of 12 races entered and captured the only two world championships in which it competed.
Firsts included the use of desmodromic valves and Daimler-Benz developed mechanical direct fuel injection adapted from the DB 601 high-performance V12 used on the Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter during World War II.
The first W 196 was the aerodynamic closed-wheel aluminium "Type Monza" streamliner body for the high speed tracks. Attractive as the Monza was, its streamlined body was really only suited to high-speed tracks made up of straights and slow corners, leading to defeat at its second race, the British Grand Prix at the high-speed corner dominated Silverstone circuit, where Fangio hit a number of oil barrels that marked out the circuit.
This W 196 R open-wheel-version was introduced for the most important race on the calendar for Mercedes, the German Grand Prix at the twisty and long Nürburgring. Fangio, who had already won the first two GPs of 1954 with a Maserati in his home city of Buenos Aires and at Spa, won this and the following GP in Switzerland with the 'open wheel’ version.
After capturing the two world championships it competed in, Mercedes withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1955 season. Despite its strong reliability and good track performance, drivers Fangio and Moss described the car in MotorSport magazine as being "a bit difficult to drive, with a tendency for snap oversteer". Moss also later said that "I'm surprised that the Merc wasn't a little bit easier to drive, because it wasn't. It was a driver's car, but not an easy car to drive.
Here is my 1964 Mercedes Benz W 196 R Monoposto 2.5 Ltr. Formula 1 from the Mercedes-Benz Classic Collection by Spark.
09/04/2022 11:05 pm
Sadly I missed out on that Spark. Still looking for Fangio's '54 Swiss GP ride and his '55 British GP car (not Brumm).
David Green and David Green reacted