Comprehensive road tests of the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut are rather thin on the ground, so this article, written by Gordon Wilkins and published in the January 1957 issue of Motor Racing, seems like a good one to share. Gordon explains the circumstances surrounding the test in the opening paragraphs, so here it is.
Etcetera…
What I hadn’t realised until reading the spiel about these two cars on Mercedes Benz’ fantastic website, is that the first of the cars built was the very first W196S – 300 SLR – built, in November 1953.
Because Benz were running behind completion of the W196R Grand Prix car, resources being devoted to the sports car were redeployed to ensure the W196 race debut at Reims in July 1954 could be met.
Mercedes had planned to build a mix of 300 SLR coupes and spyders to driver preference, but when it became clear to Alfred Neubauer that most of the drivers preference was to race an open car – noise inside the car was the perceived issue – the build program was amended accordingly with the first of the open cars finished in June 1954.
The 300 SLR Coupé made its first public appearance in August 1955, with Rudolf Uhlenhaut at the wheel during practice for the Swedish Grand Prix in Kristianstad.
By then 300 SLR spyders had already clinched a spectacular one-two in the Mille Miglia and in Sweden. The 300 SLR build program was completed in late summer 1954 after the successful start of the Formula 1 season.
In the 1955 World Sports Car Championship, which began for Daimler-Benz with the Mille Miglia on 30 April-1 May in Brescia, only the open-top version initially appeared.
Mercedes planned to race in the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico in November 1955 and in 1956, and therefore reactivated production of the coupé version in the summer of ’55 when two cars were completed.
For long-distance races, the aim was to give drivers the option of open or closed cars, but the two exotic machines weren’t raced after the Daimler-Benz Board withdrew from motorsport on October 11, 1955 after the Le Mans disaster.
As a consequence the 300 SLR Coupé’s motorsport outings were limited to practice and test drives at the Swedish Grand Prix, at Monza, the Tourist Trophy in Ireland and the Targa Florio.
Mercedes Benz, ‘The first completed coupé covered more than 10,000 kilometres; Rudolf Uhlenhaut was mainly at the wheel; Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, a newcomer to the Mercedes-Benz racing team, was given the opportunity to familiarise himself with the 300 SLR on the trip to the Tourist Trophy in Ireland. With a third place, which he achieved in a team with André Simon in the open-top version, the talented young driver contributed to the Mercedes-Benz one-two-three victory in this race.’
Uhlenhaut, a master test driver, had already demonstrated the reliability and suitability of the 300bhp racer for everyday use with his extensive journeys across Europe and thought it sensible to make the spectacular car available to the press for an extensive test.
‘In July 1956, journalists from the Swiss Automobil Revue magazine, led by its editor-in-chief Robert Braunschweig, subjected the 300 SLR Coupé to a long-distance test covering a total of 3500 kilometres. One concession to road traffic was the huge exhaust silencer on the right-hand side of the vehicle, which reduced the deafening background noise to a more bearable level. At the beginning of July and in mid-September, high-speed test drives and top speed measurements were carried out with both examples of the coupé in the presence of Rudolf Uhlenhaut.’
‘The “Uhlenhaut Coupé”, as the car has been called by car enthusiasts since the late 1980s, is considered one of the most important icons of the Mercedes-Benz brand and also the most valuable car in the world. In May 2022, one of the two vehicles built in 1955 was sold to a private bidder for 135 million euros at an auction in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The proceeds are used to finance the “Mercedes-Benz Fund” – a global scholarship program that aims to encourage a new generation of schoolchildren and students to develop new technologies, in particular for decarbonisation and resource conservation. The second vehicle has been on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum for many years and is one of the most spectacular exhibits there.’
Credits…
Bob King Collection, Motor Racing January 1957, Mercedes Benz
Finito…
primotipo... 