Showing posts with label mille miglia. Show all posts

Mille Miglia 2012 gets under way

By Adji | Published Saturday, 19 May 2012

On 16 May 2012 some 25 SLR owners, all of them SLR. CLUB members, set out from Stuttgart-Untertürkheim on this year's Mille Miglia. With their classics of the future acting as back-up vehicles, they headed off to join the main field of this classic car rally. This marks the 8th time that SLR. CLUB members are taking part in the traditional Italian race. The exclusive field comprised five SLR Coupés, seven Roadsters, three Roadster 722 S models and ten SLR Stirling Moss models. Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, was on hand to wave off the main field of vehicles.

This year's Mille Miglia is taking place from 17 to 20 May over a route from Brescia to Rome and back again. The participants in the race will be passing through some of the most beautiful cities in Italy, such as Verona, Florence and Bologna.

Mercedes-Benz is once again acting as a sponsor of the traditional Italian race. The Stuttgart works team is taking part with a Mercedes-Benz SS, an SSK, and a 300 SLR (W 196 S) racing car, evoking memories of Mercedes-Benz's great victory in the famous 1000-mile race: in 1955, Stirling Moss and his co-driver Denis Jenkinson won the Mille Miglia at the wheel of a 300 SLR in the fastest time ever achieved - their record still stands to this day.

Credits: Daimler AG

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Posted in 2012, classic, mercedes-benz, mille miglia | Leave a comment

60 years of SL: Paying tribute to SL history during the 2012 Mille Miglia

By Adji | Published Saturday, 21 April 2012

Mercedes-Benz’s association with the Mille Miglia is an enthralling story, full of great sporting moments. The high points include the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL racing sports car’s (model series W 194) first entry into the 1000-mile race 60 years ago: in May 1952, Karl Kling scored second and former champion Rudolf Caracciola came fourth. This represented a promising start to Mercedes-Benz’s return to the international motorsport arena.

For this year’s Mille Miglia, Mercedes-Benz Classic is paying homage to that 1952 premiere and other successes achieved by the Stuttgart-based racing department in the legendary road race first held 85 years ago: from 17 to 20 May 2012 an original 300 SL racing sports car will be taking part in the 1000-mile rally from Brescia to Rome and back. These days, the Mille Miglia is an event for vintage vehicles which only those types of classic cars dating from the original road race between 1927 and 1957 may enter. 2012 sees this historic Mille Miglia – one of the most exciting events for classic cars at all – being held for the 30th time.

The organisers aim to fill the field with exemplars of authentic cars and as many original vehicles from the era of the Mille Miglia races of speed as possible. In addition to the 300 SL (W 194) racing sports car, therefore, Mercedes-Benz Classic will be represented by a large number of other exclusive vehicles ranging from the SSK racing touring car to the 300 SLR (W 196 S) racer and the standard 300 SL (W 198 I) sports car. The line-up includes the 300 SLR driven by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1955 Mille Miglia (his starting number then was 658 and he placed second overall) and the 300 SL production car with which John Cooper Fitch won a class victory among the GT sports cars with a displacement above 1300 cc that same year (starting number 417, ranked fifth overall). A Mercedes-Benz 180 D will also be there – a saloon of this model won the diesel class of the 1955 Mille Miglia.

The 2012 Mille Miglia kicks off on 16 May with the technical checks and other items on the agenda in Brescia. There is also a special “Mercedes-Benz Champions at Mille Miglia” exhibition at the Museo Mille Miglia in Brescia. Daimler entered into a strategic partnership with the museum in January 2012 and, among other fascinating topics, the present exhibition covers the 1952 racing debut of the 300 SL prototypes and the legendary victories by Rudolf Caracciola in 1931 in a Mercedes-Benz SSKL and by Stirling Moss in 1955 in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR.

On 17 May, the 376 participating vehicles will be presented to the public in the old town of Brescia before the first car sets off at 6.30 p.m. All cars will then head to Ferrara, the end of the first stage, arriving by late evening and passing Lake Garda via Verona, Vicenza and Padua en route. From Ferrara, the event continues next morning (18 May) to Ravenna, through the Republic of San Marino and then on to Rome. The third and final leg goes from Rome to Viterbo, Siena, Florence, Bologna, Modena, Reggio nell’Emilia and Cremona before the participants arrive back in Brescia on 19 May. The awards ceremony takes place on 20 May. This year, the Mille Miglia’s route crosses the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany.

Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the 2012 Mille Miglia

Mercedes-Benz SSK (W 06), 1928–1932
Of the supercharged six-cylinder sports cars in the Mercedes-Benz S-series, the SSK (model series W 06) is the most exclusive and beguiling. The model designation is an abbreviation of “Super-Sport-Kurz” (German for Super-Sport-Short) because it combines a short wheelbase with extreme sportiness. On 29 July 1928, the brand-new SSK was driven straight to victory by factory racing driver Rudolf Caracciola in the Gabelbach race and other races such as the Schauinsland hill climb near Freiburg and at Mont Ventoux. In 1930 and 1931 the SSK helped Caracciola win the European Hillclimbing Championship. With its weight reduced and performance enhanced further, the 1931 version – also known as the SSKL (Super-Sport-Short-Light) – achieved equally spectacular successes. One of the most significant was victory in the legendary 1000-mile Mille Miglia: in April 1931, Rudolf Caracciola in the SSKL became the first non-Italian to win the gruelling road race from Brescia to Rome and back.

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 194), 1952
Mercedes-Benz returned to international motorsport in 1952 with the 300 SL racing sports car (model series W 194). A lightweight space frame forms the basis of this sports car over which a light alloy body made of aluminium/magnesium sheet metal elegantly curves. Because the space frame sits comparatively high at the sides it was not possible to fit the W 194 with conventional doors, which is how the racing sports car comes to have its distinctive, upwardly opening gullwing doors. This detail became part of the production model 300 SL sports car (W 198 I) in 1954. The W 194 is powered by the 175 hp (129 kW) M 194 six-cylinder in-line engine with a displacement of 2996 cc. The 300 SL made its racing debut in May 1952 at the Mille Miglia, having been unveiled for the first time that March. Some of the W 194’s greatest successes in the 1952 racing season were a threefold victory in the Prix de Berne race, double victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 3rd Carrera Panamericana and victory in the Nürburgring Anniversary Sports Car Grand Prix.

Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W 196 S), 1955
Mercedes-Benz won the 1955 World Sportscar Championship with the 300 SLR. This sports car is based on the chassis of the W 196 Formula One racing car but has two seats and a three-litre, eight-cylinder in-line engine made of light alloy in place of the 2.5-litre Formula One engine with its steel cylinders. Delivering 310 hp (221 kW), the 300 SLR is superior to its competitors from 1955, as documented by gaining first and second place in the Mille Miglia, the Eifel race on the Nürburgring, the Swedish Grand Prix and the Targa Florio. The 1955 Mille Miglia was won by Stirling Moss assisted by navigator Denis Jenkinson at an average speed of 157.65 km/h, a record that has never been beaten. Pacenotes proved invaluable in achieving this victory and at the time were a new technique allowing Jenkinson to direct the driver Moss very effectively. Juan Manuel Fangio came second driving solo. In Sweden and the 24 Hours of Le Mans the 300 SLRs were assisted by an “air brake” – a 0.7-square metre hood over the rear axle that could be hinged up when braking to increase braking performance. At Le Mans Mercedes-Benz withdrew the 300 SLRs, which were in the lead, after an accident involving the Belgian Pierre Levegh through no fault of his own.

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 198 I), 1954–1957
The 300 SL gullwing made its debut in February 1954 at the International Motor Sports Show in New York. This high-performance sports car is based on the legendary racing sports car from the 1952 season. A lightweight, torsionally stiff space frame carries the engine, transmission and axles. As with the racing version, there is no room for conventional doors and so the gullwing doors are a distinctive feature of the 300 SL (model series W 198 I). The gullwing model is also a champion of innovation in other respects: it was the world’s first production passenger car to be powered by a four-stroke engine featuring petrol injection. This boosted efficiency as well as engine output to 215 hp (158 kW), a 20 percent increase on the carburetted competition-only version and permitting a top speed of up to 260 km/h, depending on the transmission ratio installed. This makes the 300 SL the fastest production vehicle of its time and the dream sports car of the 1950s. It was also driven to victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia by the team comprising John Fitch and Kurt Gesell, winning the Gran Turismo production class above 1600 cc and coming fifth overall. Also in the Gran Turismo class, the team comprising Olivier Gendebien and Jacques Washer ranked seventh overall. The 300 SL took part in the 1956 Mille Miglia too: in the big GT class the team of Prince Metternich and Count Einsiedel came in sixth.

Mercedes-Benz 180 D (W 120), 1954–1959
The first diesel-engined version of the Mercedes-Benz 180 (model series W 120) was premiered in January 1954. The Stuttgart-based brand now offered its modern “Ponton” saloon with a compression-ignition assembly outputting 40 hp (29 kW) with a displacement of 1767 cc. From 1953 (preproduction series) to 1959, a total of 114,046 model 180 D saloons were built. With a top speed of up to 110 km/h, this diesel saloon cannot compare with the racing and sports cars that were favourites to win the Mille Miglia overall in 1955. However, the 180 D is a highly contemporary car with a self-supporting body and what is known as a subframe to which the front wheels, located by double wishbones, were attached. The car proved its strength and reliability in the Italian road race: Mercedes-Benz entered several 180 D vehicles, culminating in a threefold win in the diesel class for the cars with starting numbers 04, 09 and 010A.

Credits: Daimler AG

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Posted in 2012, 60SL, mercedes-benz, mille miglia, SL | Leave a comment

TRIVIA: Mercedes-Benz Champions in the Museo Mille Miglia

By Adji | Published Tuesday, 14 February 2012

“Mille Miglia” stands for the fascinating history of motor racing legends. Again and again, the famous racing sports cars from Mercedes-Benz and their drivers have reached new heights in this legendary Italian thousand-mile race. This is now being marked by the “Mercedes-Benz Champions at Mille Miglia” exhibition at the Museo Mille Miglia in Brescia. This event is the first highlight of the strategic cooperation between Daimler and the Museum in Italy, which was concluded in February 2012. “Mercedes-Benz Champions at the Mille Miglia” will open its doors on 15 February, and can be seen until this year's 2012 Mille Miglia (16 to 20 May 2012).

See and read more on this theme >> HERE

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Posted in champions, mercedes-benz, mercedes-benz-blog, mille miglia, museo, trivia | Leave a comment

Daimler AG establishes an official cooperation with the Museo Mille Miglia

By Adji

Daimler AG has entered into a strategic cooperation with the Museo Mille Miglia in Brescia, Italy. The aim is to highlight and strengthen the commonalities between the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Museo Mille Miglia. Planned activities include a mutual exchange of exhibits.

The first event will be an exhibition featuring five racing cars from the Mercedes-Benz Classic collection, which go on display on 15 February 2012 at the Museo della Mille Miglia - a museum whose history is closely linked with what is probably the most famous road race in Europe.

“Mercedes-Benz is part of the high level of continued fascination with the Mille Miglia road race,” says Michael Bock, Head of Mercedes-Benz Classic and Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Museum GmbH. “This collaboration with the renowned museum in Brescia ties in with a tradition of joint projects.” And Cavaliere Attilio Camozzi from the Museo Mille Miglia adds: “Brescia and Stuttgart, the Museo della Mille Miglia and the Mercedes-Benz Museum – both are linked by art and a shared passion for motorsport. This is the basis for a partnership with a great future: sport as the ideal ambassador for economic progress and enrichment of the social life in both cities. Together we are strong.”

Mercedes-Benz is the only foreign automotive brand to have twice won Italy’s legendary 1,000-mile race on the original route. Rudolf Caracciola and Wilhelm Sebastian secured victory in the SSKL model in 1931, and Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson won the race in 1955 – with a fastest time that remains unbeaten to this day.

The cooperation pays homage to racing history – but it goes even further. Planned activities include exhibiting works of art from the Daimler AG collection at the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, which is unique throughout Italy and Europe in terms of its location and exhibition concept.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum

- A place of innovation with 160 vehicles and more than 1,500 exhibits in total
- Committed to the history of the brand - then and in the future

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is the only museum in the world that seamlessly documents the 125-year history of the automotive industry from day one. Covering an area of 16,500 square metres on nine levels, it features 160 vehicles and a total of more than 1,500 exhibits. The museum regards itself as a place of innovation and shows that history, too, is always looking ahead to the future.

The exhibition not only presents the exhilarating history of the Mercedes-Benz brand; it also offers an insightful glimpse into the future. This is also reflected in the architecture of the Mercedes-Benz Museum created by van Berkel and Bos of the UN Studio in Amsterdam. The building’s interior is modelled on the double-helix DNA spiral containing the human genetic code. This is entirely in keeping with the Mercedes-Benz brand’s concept of originality based on reinventing the automobile, again and again.

The museum takes visitors on a fascinating journey through automotive history, which starts when they take the lift up to the top floor of the museum. From here, two tours lead in opposite directions from the dawn of automotive history in 1886 back to the starting point, sweeping in long curves through the extensive collection - and intersecting at various points along the way.

The first tour runs through seven Legend (Mythos) rooms – each one dedicated to a specific era – that document the history of the brand in chronological order. The second tour features the entire range of Mercedes-Benz vehicles set out in five themed Collection rooms, presenting the brand portfolio and the collection in all their diversity through the decades. Visitors can switch between the two tours at any time. Both tours finish at the ‘Silver Arrows – Races and Records’ banked corner. The exhibition also includes the ‘Fascination of Technology’ section, which offers visitors an insight into everyday life at Mercedes-Benz and also takes a look at the future of the motor car.

Mercedes-Benz Classic

- Making the Mercedes-Benz legend accessible to everyone
- Museum, Classic Center, Archive and Club Management
- Activities with an international focus

For more than 125 years, the Mercedes star has been shaping the future of the automobile with unique innovations and timeless elegance. Mercedes-Benz Classic gives everyone access to the Mercedes-Benz legend and its traditions – through the Mercedes-Benz Museum, and in a number of other areas and locations.

Mercedes-Benz Classic Centers

The Mercedes-Benz Classic Centers in Fellbach and Irvine (USA) are the first port of call for service and expertise in relation to classic cars bearing the three-pointed star. Classic Center experts restore, check and service classic cars based on the experience and knowledge gained from 125 years of automotive engineering. They have access to 50,000 original parts and custom products can also be manufactured on request.

For prospective buyers of classic cars, the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center has something very special: the showroom presents a selection of exclusive Mercedes-Benz vehicles, each of which has been thoroughly checked over in the workshop before being offered for sale. These include vehicles such as the legendary Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘gullwing’ and rare compressor vehicles from the pre-war era.

Mercedes-Benz Clubs

Clubs that are officially recognised by Mercedes-Benz provide an important interface between the classic car scene and the manufacturer. Members of the worldwide community of official Mercedes-Benz clubs enjoy a host of benefits including support at events, rallies and trade fairs, as well as exclusive offers from Daimler AG.

The activities of the official Mercedes-Benz clubs are regarded as ‘highly valuable’ by Mercedes-Benz Classic. They aim to ensure that vehicles are perfectly maintained and our traditions are upheld.

Archive and Collection

Often referred to as the company’s memory, the Archive and Collection department preserves documents and vehicles from the history of the company and its products dating back more than 125 years. Providing a level of expertise on all car-related matters that is unique within the automotive industry, it is particularly useful for establishing the authenticity of vehicles. Above all, the archives are used by Daimler AG itself, which draws upon this wealth of information to uphold the traditions of the brand. Selected archives are also made available to the public – primarily to journalists, scientists, historians and writers.

A place where fascinating automotive history is still very much alive

If you look at the notable achievements of the last few centuries, there’s one key invention that stands out as having significantly changed the world: the motor car. This is a story which has captured our imagination for more than 125 years. The Stuttgart region has a number of attractions associated with the history of the motor car – the house where Gottlieb Daimler was born, Gottlieb Daimler’s memorial site, Carl Benz House, the Dr. Carl Benz Car Museum, the Maybach Museum and the Unimog Museum are all well worth a visit.

The Museo Mille Miglia

- Dedicated to the legendary road race through Italy
- Divided into nine time periods
- An atmosphere that brings motorsport history to life

The Museo Mille Miglia vividly documents the history of the Mille Miglia, Brescia’s legendary motor race. It opened its doors on 10 November 2004. The idea of the museum was conceived and implemented by the Associazione Museo della Mille Miglia Città di Brescia (Museo Mille Miglia Association of the city of Brescia), formed expressly for this purpose by a few Mille Miglia enthusiasts together with the Automobile Club of Brescia.

The museum dedicated to the legendary race for historic cars is situated inside the Monastery of Sant’Eufemia della Fonte, a magnificent building complex just outside Brescia on Lake Garda. Its wonderful location and historical significance add to the prestige of the Museo Mille Miglia.

The Museo Mille Miglia gives visitors a greater appreciation of this extraordinary sporting event, while illustrating a slice of Italian history, culture and social customs between 1927 and 1957 in the regions along the race route.

The museum is divided into nine time periods: seven sections are devoted to the Mille Miglia races between 1927 and 1957; one to the Mille Miglia races between 1958 and 1961; and one to the contemporary Mille Miglia. The exhibition also includes vintage cars associated with the legendary race. The tour is marked throughout by a red line running along the walkway and through all sections of the exhibition.

At the end, the route continues into an area reserved exclusively for institutions and companies, where particular settings or situations that have contributed to the adventure of the historical or current Mille Miglia can be recreated.

Finally, before leaving the museum, visitors can explore some of the rarest and most important collections dedicated to the historic Mille Miglia race, housed in the monastery’s former stables.

Museo di Santa Giulia

- A modern exhibition space covering 14,000 square metres
- History, art and spiritual life of Brescia from prehistory through to the present day
- A close relationship between building and exhibits

The Santa Giulia city museum in Brescia is housed in the historical complex of a former monastery dating back to the days of the Lombard rule and it is unique throughout Italy and Europe in terms of its design and location. With its modern exhibition space covering approximately 14,000 square metres, it takes visitors on a journey through the history, art and spiritual life of Brescia from prehistory through to the present day.

The Benedictine convent San Salvatore-Santa Giulia was founded in 753 under the last Lombard king Desiderius and his wife Ansa, and it played a very important role in the spiritual, political and economic life, even after the Lombards had been conquered by Charlemagne. According to tradition and as described in Alessandro Manzoni’s great tragedy Adelchi, Santa Giulia provided the setting for the dramatic story of Ermengarda, daughter of Desiderius and rejected bride of the Frankish emperor.

The monastery complex documents a period spanning several centuries with exhibits that include many extraordinary finds from various historical epochs that have shaped the city. In Roman times, the site on which the monastery was later built was a sprawling district with impressive residences known as Domus. The city museum also includes the Lombard Basilica of San Salvatore with its crypt, the Romanesque chapel of Santa Maria del Solario, the nuns’ choir, the sixteenth-century Renaissance church of Santa Giulia and the monastery cloisters.

The most distinctive feature of this museum is the close relationship between its monumental architectural elements and the objects and works of art on display. It has a total of around 11,000 exhibits, including Celtic finds such as helmets and decorative discs, Roman portraits and bronze figures, relics from the Lombard period, burial artefacts, frescos, art collections and handmade objects dating from the Middle Ages through to the 18th century. One of the main highlights is the large bronze statue of a winged Victory, the city’s symbol, which was found in the Capitolium.