Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives

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Car classic: Mercedes 300 SL W 194 number 5

Number 5 lives: With the blue eyeliner, the 300 SL is a moving legend

Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives-Jensen Larson Zach Stovall Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz at Monterey Car Week. Photos by Jensen Larson and Zach Stovall for Mercedes-Benz. @jensenlarson

There are a few silver wing door, but at first glance you can see this 300 SL from his blue eyeliner, which framed the headlights. Not only among Mercedes connoisseurs is the Mercedes 300 SL of the W 194 series with production number 5.

In order to understand the importance of the 300 wing door, you cannot avoid a jump into the time machine. The spectacular Mercedes engine sports history of modern times began with the 300 SL of Generation W 194. He became not only the series winner of the early 1950s, but also a model for all sports cars with the star.

The newly created 300 SL racing car used existing components and so axes, gearbox and base engine came from the 300 representation limousine of the W 186 series. However, the light tube frame, which is as light as the torsion, was completely newly developed, over which the elegantly curved body made of aluminum-magnesium sheet is curved.

It doesn’t work without wing doors

Because the grid frame is comparatively high on the sides, the W 194 could not be provided with conventional doors – so the racing car came to the characteristic wing doors that were struck on the roof. From 1954, the 300 SL series sports car of the W 198 series developed from the racing car also took over this feature. The 125 kW / 170 hp rows of rows of Type M 194 with 2.996 cubic centimeter displacement.

Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives-number
Mercedes-Benz at Monterey Car Week. Photos by Jensen Larson and Zach Stovall for Mercedes-Benz. @jensenlarson

The racing successes of the different generations of the Mercedes 300 SL are listed. The debut with the production number two won with the driver line-up Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess, among other things, at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1952, when the second Mercedes-Benz 300 SL with Theo Helfrich and Helmut Niedermayr could be distanced with 277 to 276 rounds. After 22 years of absence from Mercedes, a victory at the new entry and then with a completely newly developed car that made a name.

Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives-blue
Daimler AG

At the 24-hour race on the legendary racing course on the Sarthe, the excellent air resistance value of 0.376 had a share in the overall victory. “The W194 is significantly different from a W198.040 ”, explains Daimler classic expert Michael Plag,“ The sports prototype as ancestor of the SL was developed out of nowhere in 1951/52. Our predecessors had little available the years after the Second World War, but they had a huge idealism and were the best of their subject; Mechanic as well as engineers up to the victorious racing drivers of the W 194 like Kling, Lang or Caracciola."

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Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives-number

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A vulture hit the windshield

To date, more spectacular than ever the race of the Carrera Panamericana in 1952 from the southern border of Mexico to the north. With more than 3.The Panamericana was around twice as long as the Mille Miglia. In the third edition in 1952, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL W 194 with Karl Klink and Hans Klenk also won, although a vulture hit the windshield and injured Hans Klenk. This story became a racing sports legend. Previously, the 300 SL had already taken second place with the identical driver occupation at Mille Miglia in 1952 and won the long -distance races in Bern and at the Nurburgring.

Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives-blue
Mercedes-Benz at Monterey Car Week. Photos by Jensen Larson and Zach Stovall for Mercedes-Benz. @jensenlarson

At first glance, the 300 SL with the start number 5 can be recognized by its blue eyeliner. With production number five, Rudolf Caracciola, three -time European champion of the silver arrow from 1934 to 1939, took fourth place at Mille Miglia in 1952. Hermann Lang, European champion in 1939, was second with this 300 SL at the Carrera Panamericana in 1952. At all events, it was the highly resilient engine of the Mercedes-Benz 300 S, which strengthened in the racing car of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL of the W 194 series from 85 kW / 115 hp to 125 kW / 170 hp and leaned at an angle of 50 degrees was installed.

The grid frame weighed only 50 kilograms

The grid frame, which – developed under Rudolf Uhlenhaut – was just 50 kilograms to the milestone in motorsport history, which – developed under Rudolf Uhlenhaut. The luxury coupe of the Mercedes 300 S weighed almost 1.8 tons, the racing SL weighed just 1.100 kilograms. The tank volume in the rear grew to an impressive 170 liters at the same time, so that as little as possible had to be refueled.

The then specification of the Mercedes SL W 194 was the main criterion of lightweight construction. Therefore, many parts of the technology and the body made of aluminum and magnesium were manufactured. Reliability was not a matter of course with a racing car at that time. The elaborate aerodynamics and supposed minor matters such as the convenience for the racing driver at the wheel lowered the risk of accidents. So legends are born.

Mercedes 300 SL W 194: Number 5 with a blue eyeliner lives-mercedes
Mercedes-Benz at Monterey Car Week. Photos by Jensen Larson and Zach Stovall for Mercedes-Benz. @jensenlarson

Jurgen Wolff / Stefan Grundhoff; Press Inform

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