Author Topic: Rudolf Caracciola's 1931 victory in a Mercedes-Benz  (Read 3817 times)

Offline fasteddy

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Rudolf Caracciola's 1931 victory in a Mercedes-Benz
« on: May 02, 2011, 11:08:50 AM »
Mille Miglia 2011 recalls Rudolf Caracciola's 1931 victory in a Mercedes-Benz

    On 13 April 1931, Caracciola becomes the first non-Italian driver to win the Mille Miglia
    The regularity rally from Brescia to Rome and back is a highlight on the international classic-car racing calendar
    Mercedes-Benz vehicles will be well represented with compressor racing cars, 300 SLR and 300 SL
    The works team will include Juan Manuel Fangio II, racing driver and nephew of the world-famous racing driver

Stuttgart – Mercedes-Benz Classic will have three of the legendary compressor cars lined up on the starting grid at the 2011 Mille Miglia: Two Mercedes-Benz cars – an SS model and an SSK model – will commemorate Rudolf Caracciola's fabled victory in April 1931 at this year's exclusive event, which takes place from 11 to 15 May 2011. Back in 1931, with an average speed of 101.1 km/h, the Mercedes-Benz driver along with his co-driver Wilhelm Sebastian was the first non-Italian driver to win the Mille Miglia.
In the year which would have seen the 100th birthday of Juan Manuel Fangio, who died in 1995, his nephew – who bears the same name – will participate along with Mika Häkkinen in the Mille Miglia for the Mercedes-Benz works team in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Driving an identical car with the starting number 658, Juan Manuel Fangio took second place in the 1955 Mille Miglia.
Juan Manuel Fangio II, as he is usually known, was born in 1956 and was a professional racing driver like his famous uncle. He achieved his main successes in the 1980s and 1990s, when he won two championship and two manufacturer titles in the North American IMSA GT series. He is also a two-times winner of the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring race.
And to mark the 125th anniversary of the motor car, we will also be exhibiting two vehicles that span that period from 1886 to 2011 in the centre of Brescia: a replica of the motor car patented by Carl Benz as well as the Mercedes-Benz F 800 research vehicle.
Once again, Mercedes-Benz is sponsoring the revival of this distinguished Italian road race. In the Mille Miglia 2011, the works team will be fielding the SS and SSK as well as a 300 SLR racing car (W 196 S), recalling Mercedes-Benz's second great triumph in this, the most famous 1,000-mile race. Stirling Moss and his co-driver Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia in a 300 SLR, setting the fastest ever time.
Racing drivers and eminent guests will be in the cars of the Mercedes-Benz team. In 2011, the 300 SLR racing car from 1955 will be driven by two-times Formula 1 world champion Mika Häkkinen and Juan Manuel Fangio II, who is involved in motor sports just like his famous racing-driver uncle, who won the world championship for Mercedes-Benz in 1954 and 1955. Former Formula 1 driver Jochen Mass and 15-times motorcycling world champion Giacomo Agostini will be behind the wheel of an SS. Racing drivers Bernd Mayländer and Roland Asch will take part in an SLS AMG. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG has close ties with motor sport, for example it is the official F1™ safety car and ensures maximum safety in dangerous race situations. Five-times German Touring Car (DTM) champion Bernd Schneider will be driving a 300 SL (W 198), as is the racing driver Klaus Ludwig.
Another racing car lining up at the start will be a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 194 model series) from 1952 – the car in which Rudolf Caracciola took fourth place in the 1952 Mille Miglia, the last time that he competed in the event. Finally, the brand team will also be represented by eleven Mercedes-Benz 300 SL cars (W 198 model series) with their famous gullwing doors, as well as a 220 model (W 180) and a 180 D model (W 120). A total of 18 cars will be starting for Mercedes-Benz. Cars of all the model types mentioned took part in the Mille Miglia between 1927 and 1957 – the prerequisite for all cars participating in the revival, which was first held in 1977.
Motor Klassik magazine is offering a remarkable opportunity in 2011: it is holding a draw to select one lucky reader to be the co-driver of a black Mercedes-Benz 300 SL with starting number 417 in the 2011 Mille Miglia. John Fitch and his co-driver Kurt Gessl drove this sports car model to victory in the GT category in 1955, coming fifth in the overall standings.
The opening and preparation day will take place on 11 May 2011 in Brescia. This year's Mille Miglia race, for which 375 cars have registered, will start at 7 p.m. on 12 May 2011 in Viale Venezia, with the cars setting off at intervals. From Brescia, the route heads through Sirmione and Ferrara to Bologna, where the first leg ends. The cars will arrive there from 0:30 a.m. On 13 May 2011, the cars will leave Bologna from 8 a.m., travelling via Gambettola, San Marino, Sansepolcro, Spoleto, Terminillo and Rieti to Rome. The high-speed cavalcade will arrive in the Italian capital from 8:30 p.m., heading for the Castel Sant'Angelo near the Vatican.
The third and final leg begins at 6:30 a.m. on 14 May 2011 in Rome, with the route leading through Vallelunga, Viterbo, Radicofani and Pienza before reaching Sienna and Florence. A highlight en route will be the two passes, Passo della Futa and Passo della Raticosa, from where the cars will head to Bologna, Modena, Maranello, Reggio Emilia, Parma and Cremona before crossing the finish line back in Brescia. At 10:55 p.m. the first participants are expected to return to Viale Venezia, where all the vehicles will again be presented to the public. The awards ceremony on 15 May will mark the end of the 2011 Mille Miglia.

Offline fasteddy

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Re: Rudolf Caracciola's 1931 victory in a Mercedes-Benz
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2011, 11:10:00 AM »
The car: the Mercedes-Benz SSKL racing car (W 06 model series)

    Development of the compressor vehicles led by Paul Daimler
    W 06 model series commonly known as 'white elephants'
    Setting the standard on the road and on the world's race tracks

The design department at Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) – which had not yet merged with Benz & Cie – began developing Mercedes compressor vehicles in 1919. Gottlieb Daimler's son Paul, who had succeeded Wilhelm Maybach as technical director and board member in 1907, drove the development work forward. DMG already had some experience with mechanical supercharging because compressor technology was used in aircraft and submarine engines.
The first Mercedes compressor racing cars made their debut in 1922 at the Targa Florio in Sicily. They included, besides the 1.5-litre racing cars driven by Paul Scheef and Fernando Minoia, a Mercedes 28/95 PS, whose engine had been fitted with a compressor for this race and had an output of 140 bhp (103kw). With this car, Max Sailer secured a win in the category for series production cars with a cubic capacity of more than 4.5 litres. The Mercedes team went on to achieve overall victory in this important international race in 1924, when Christian Werner won in a 2.0-litre compressor racing car. A whole host of successes followed. In 1926, Mercedes notched up another spectacular win with the 2.0-litre, eight-cylinder compressor racing car: 25-year-old Rudolf Caracciola took first place in the Grand Prix of Germany in Berlin with an average speed of 135 km/h – a pace that been considered completely impossible until then.
The next generation of Mercedes-Benz competition cars were K, S and SS racing touring cars and, based on them, the SSK and SSKL racing cars. In contrast to the vehicles previously used, which had been intended purely as racing cars, the new cars were also designed to be sporty road cars. Commonly known (in a positive sense) as 'white elephants' and fitted with supercharged six-cylinder engines, they set the standard on normal roads and on race tracks worldwide between 1926 and 1933. These racing events were significant social occasions at that time.
Development culminated in the SSKL model, which Caracciola drove in the Mille Miglia in April 1931. The SSKL was based on the SSK, whose short wheelbase made it very light and manoeuvrable. Also known as the 'SSK, 1931 model', the SSKL was even lighter – as indicated by the 'L' in its model designation. It weighed around 1,350kg, not much for a six-cylinder compressor car with a cubic capacity of 7,065cc and an output of 300 bhp (221kw). The SSKL's maximum speed was an impressive 235 km/h. The final version to be developed of the formidable SSKL was entered in the 1932 Avus Race in Berlin. Private driver Manfred von Brauchitsch, who had decided to have the racing car fitted with a streamlined body, won the race with an average speed of 194.4 km/h.
Mercedes-Benz SSKL (W 06 RS)
Year: 1931
Cylinders: 6 (in-line) Cubic capacity: 7,065cc
Output: 240 bhp (177kw) without, 300 bhp (221kw) with the compressor at 3,400 rpm Maximum speed: up to 235 km/h