primotipo…

Mercedes Benz returned to Grand Prix racing with a vengeance at Reims in 1954, here Fangio leads Karl Kling in the W196 Streamliners…

Mercedes had a habit of re-entering racing in the French Grand Prix every twenty odd years, when doing so bringing new standards of engineering excellence with them.

In 1914 the four cylinder, SOHC 4483cc engined Mercedes 18/100 of Sailer, Lautenschlager, Salzer, Pilette, and Wagner crushed the opposition at Lyon just before The Great War. The course was 37.6 Km long, 20 laps of it took the winner Christian Lautenschlager 7hr 8 min!

In 1934 Auto Union and Mercedes came to Monthlery with cars which would largely sweep the board until war again intervened.

Although on that day an Alfa Romeo triumphed – Louis Chiron won in a Scuderia Ferrari Alfa P3 from Achille Varzi similarly mounted – the three 2.9-litre supercharged straight-eight Mercedes W25s of Rudi Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch and Luigi Fagioli retiring with a variety of maladies.

And so it was that Mercedes returned to racing after a break of fifteen years at Reims on the weekend of July 4th 1954 – 40 years after Lyon and 20 after Monthlery – with the W 196 R, as the car is designated internally…

The W196R was a triumph of complex engineering, the 2.5-litre straight eight cylinder car had a swag of new features.

Direct injection (Bosch) of fuel into the M196R’s cylinders (76×68.8mm) for more precise ignition of the incoming fuel charge was the first of many, the engine lay on its side 53 degrees from the horizontal to the right to allow a lower bonnet line and the driveshaft to pass beside the driver rather than have him sitting on it. Desmodromic, or mechanical operation of the valves allowed higher rpm than the valve springs of the day could handle.

Downstairs, in traditional Mercedes fashion, there were/are two blocks of four cylinders with welded on cooling water jackets. The Hirth type crankshaft was supported by 10 roller-bearings, with central power take-off. Mercedes quoted 256bhp @ 8260rpm with maximum potential revs 9500. The transaxle is 5-speed and mounted behind the rear axle.

The chassis is a multi-tubular spaceframe with upper and lower wishbones, telescopic shocks and torsion bars. At the rear there is a single-joint swing axle, longitudinal torsion bars and again telescopic shock absorbers. Inboard drum brakes front and rear (350/275mm in diameter) to lower unsprung weight and a streamlined all enveloping body helped the car to be quicker thru the air. Steering was worm and sector, wheel/tyres 6-inch and 7-inch wide and 10-inch diameter

The very experienced pre-war engineering team of Dr Fritz Nallinger and Rudy Uhlenhaut were in control of the conception, design, development and testing of the new car.

The purpose of this article is not to write in detail about a car which has had everything written about it, rather the words are a support to the wonderful painting and cutaways originally published in that splendid annual, Automobile Year, in this case in the 1955 edition.

In his Automobile Year technical review of the 1954 season noted journalist/Le Mans Winner/GP driver Paul Frere explains in great detail the technical advances of the car, but also makes clear that in his view all of the Benz victories that season were scored by Fangio, in that the car’s speed was in large part a factor of Fangio’s dominance as a driver rather than it being a function of the cars outright pace; JMF and Alberto Ascari were the standout drivers at the time.

The W196 won four of five 1954 races entered, impressive with a new car, Frere also makes it clear that the development potential of the car was obvious, that point subsequently reinforced in their 1955 season!

At Reims Fangio was on pole with his young German teammate Karl Kling alongside and Alberto Ascari in a factory Maserati 250F.

Alberto and Onofre Marimon were ‘loaned’ to Maserati by Gianni Lancia given his new D50 GP car was still not raceworthy and the drivers were otherwise unemployed for the weekend.

Ascari’s race was over on lap 1 due to either gearbox or engine failure depending upon the report you read, this left Fangio and Kling to run away with the race. Hawthorn and Marimon scrapped for third before the Argentinian stopped for a plug change and dropped to the back of the field.

Pre-war Thai driver Prince Bira drove a great race in a customer 250F dropping from third to fourth having run out of fuel and losing time switching to his auxiliary tank, so Robert Manzon was third in a Ferrari 625.

Hans Herrman in the other W196 took fastest lap early in the race before over-revving the engine and leaving its telltale at 9100rpm!

So, a dominant Mercedes start to a run which sadly only lasted until the end of the 1955 season before their modern era return and the dominance of 2014/5…

Etcetera…

Front row prior to the Reims start. Fangio and Kling taking a sideways glance, and Ascari’s new but somehow antiquated looking 250F in the company of the Mercedes Streamliners whilst Hawthorn fiddles with his goggles on row three.

M 196 R – Mercedes Benz when publishing the car and engine type use the spacing shown, albeit short-form will do me – engine being dyno tested Unterkükheim in 1954. From the left, Engineers Karlheinz Göschel and Heinz Lemm, Werner Wolf and Eckstein.

Fangio’s car being ministered to between sessions. What stands out is the quality of the Streamliner’s build and finish and the enormous inboard brake drums both front and rear – JMF’s seat has been removed allowing a peek at the rear units.

The straight-eight Type 32 Gordini was the last Grand Prix car fitted with an engine of this layout, but the W196 was the last successful one. The compact nature of Vittorio Jano’s 2.5-litre V8 engined 1954-55 Lancia D50 was a reminder of the advantages of engines in Vee formation and was highly influential as such.

Nice cross section of the W196 cylinder head showing the operation of its desmodromic valve gear.

Another detail front end shot sans radiator; the hollow bars either side of the drums are the ends of the torsion bars, note also the short upper suspension links.

Tailpiece…

Majestic and atmospheric Reims as JMF takes his position on the grid.

Credits…

Max Staub, Automobile Year, Jesse Alexander Archive, Getty Images-Maurice Jarnoux, Mercedes Benz Archive

Finito…