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46-458: The W154 was created as a result of a rule change by the sports governing body AIACR, which limited supercharged engine capacities to 3000cc. Mercedes' previous car, the supercharged 5700cc W125 , was therefore ineligible. The company decided that a new car based on the chassis of the W125 and designed to comply with the new regulations would be preferable to modifying the existing car. Although using

92-795: A conrod severed the fuel pipe to his car's engine; the fire burnt away all of the aluminium bodywork. After the war, the W154 designated as chassis nine was discovered in Czechoslovakia . This was the car with which Lang had won the Coppa Ciano in 1938. The car was sold to Don Lee, an American racing team owner. During 1938, the rules for the Indianapolis 500 were modified to allow the European Grand Prix cars to compete, and in 1947, Lee entered his W154 with Duke Nalon as

138-541: A drive for the previous season's race. Hepburn later decided to instead drive a Novi for team owner Lew Welch. Meanwhile, one of Welch's drivers, Chet Miller , had decided that the Novi was too difficult to drive. Miller agreed to drive the W154 for Don Lee. He qualified the car in 19th position, but come the race, had to rely on a relief driver after 29 laps. Ken Fowler took over on lap 30 and he handed it over to Louis Tomei on lap 50. Tomei continued through to lap 108, when

184-529: A fourth W154 for Richard Seaman , but the organisers insisted on a maximum of three cars per team. Lang took pole position, with von Brauchitsch second and Caracciola third, ahead of the two Auto Unions of Christian Kautz and Rudolf Hasse . The Mercedes-Benz cars led from the start. After two laps, four cars had retired, leaving only the Mercedes-Benz and Talbot cars in the race, the Talbots already

230-470: A maximum capacity of 3000cc with a supercharger or 4500cc without. This meant Mercedes-Benz's previous car, the supercharged 5700cc W125 , was ineligible to continue. Its new car was based on the W125 chassis, with a supercharged 3000cc engine determined after both types had been tested. The chassis was largely based on that of the preceding W125. The frame was constructed using oval tubes made of nickel-chrome molybdenum to provide stiffness. The suspension

276-642: A minute behind. Lang had difficulties in a pit-stop and Caracciola's engine started firing on only eleven of its twelve cylinders. This left von Brauchitsch to claim victory ahead of Caracciola and Lang. The only other finisher was René Carrièrè in a Talbot, ten laps behind. Three weeks after the French Grand Prix came the second race of the European Championship, the German Grand Prix . Four W154s were entered and they took

322-491: A power of 726 hp (736 PS) at 5,800 rpm. The weight of this engine caused the car to weigh over the 750 kg maximum limit, so it never appeared in Grand Prix. Due to the uncompetitiveness of their W25 car, Mercedes pulled out of the 1936 Grand Prix Season midway through the year in order to concentrate on designing a car that would see them return to the top of the rankings. A new racing department ('Rennabteilung')

368-689: The Belgian Grand Prix . Following Seaman's success in the Vanderbilt with the new supercharger system, it was fitted to all of the W125s. The following two races were also both part of the European Championship. The next round in Germany saw both Mercedes and rivals Auto Union competing on home soil. Mercedes triumphed, as Rudolf Caracciola took his first victory of the year and Manfred von Brauchitsch followed him home in second position. In

414-523: The Coppa Ciano at Montenero and the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara . For the Coppa Ciano, Caracciola was entered in an experimental car with a larger saddle tank and a shorter tail section. Pole position went to Carlo Felice Trossi in a Maserati 8CTF , but he retired on lap eight with engine troubles. Caracciola retired due to a punctured fuel tank, leaving von Brauchitsch to win from Lang. After

460-540: The W154 , and the W125 was withdrawn from racing. (results in bold indicate pole position ) †Seaman's car was destroyed in practice and did not start. During the race, Seaman took over Caracciola's car and finished fifth. Rudolf Hasse Rudolf Hasse (30 May 1906 – 12 August 1942) was a German racing driver who won the 1937 Belgian Grand Prix . Hasse was born in Mittweida , Saxony , and died while serving on

506-426: The conrods and one piston . A new piston was hastily sand cast in time for the race. Although Nalon set the second fastest qualifying speed, the qualifying system meant that he would start the race from 18th position. During the race, the replacement piston failed after 119 laps and the car had to retire from the race. Nalon was not rehired for the 1948 race. Ralph Hepburn was to be the driver, having not found

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552-421: The 2-stage supercharged version recorded a test bed power of 476 BHP (483 PS) at 7,800 rpm. Each one of these engines reputedly cost 89,700 German reichsmarks in 1938 (US$ 949,601 today). To compensate for the smaller engine compared to the W125, the W154 had an extra gear with a 5-speed manual transmission. The first gear was protected by a latch to avoid being engaged accidentally. To achieve an extremely low car,

598-482: The W125. Bore & stroke were 94 mm × 102 mm (3.70 in × 4.02 in) and actual displacement was 5,662.85 cc (345.57 cu in). Utilizing a Roots type blower the M125 produced 632 lb⋅ft (857 N⋅m) of torque at the start of the season. The engines built varied in power, attaining an output between 560 and 595 horse power (418-444 kW) at 5800 rpm- an incredible figure for

644-539: The appearance of turbo-charged engines. The W125 reached race speeds of well over 300 km/h (190 mph) in 1937, especially on the AVUS in Berlin , equipped with a streamlined body. In land speed record runs, a Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen was clocked at 432.7 km/h (268.9 mph) over a mile and a kilometre. This car was fitted with a DAB V12 engine (82 x 88 mm) of 5,576.75 cc (5.6L, 340.31 CID) with

690-457: The car had to retire with oil problems. In 1949, Don Lee sold his W154 to Joel Thorne , another team owner. Thorne had the Mercedes engine removed and a Sparks straight-six engine installed. The car's bonnet no longer fit, so a new one had to be manufactured. Thorne drove the car himself, but failed to qualify for the race. Alfred Neubauer attended the 1949 race, in order to investigate

736-412: The car retired. Mercedes-Benz W125 The Mercedes-Benz W125 was a Grand Prix racing car produced by German auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz to race during the 1937 Grand Prix season . Designed by head designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut , the car was used by Rudolf Caracciola to win the 1937 European Championship and W125 drivers also finished in the second, third and fourth positions in

782-571: The championship marked a return to Italy, where at the Livorno Circuit, Caracciola held off teammate Lang to win the race by 0.4 seconds and become European Champion. von Brauchitsch retired from the race and took second place overall in the Championship. Kautz and Lang took third and fourth places meaning Mercedes drivers occupied the top four positions in the championship table. The W125 entered into two non-championship events before

828-404: The championship. The W125 was powered by a supercharged double overhead camshaft 5,663  cc (345.6  cu in ) capacity 94 mm × 102 mm (3.70 in × 4.02 in) inline 8 which produced 595 hp (444 kW) in race trim. Its highest test bed power measured was 637 BHP (646 PS) at 5,800 rpm, with 245 BHP (248 PS) developed at a mere 2,000 rpm. In 1938,

874-427: The driver. Nalon discovered that Riley Brett , an Offenhauser mechanic, had obtained some Mercedes engine blueprints. Nalon was able to make copies and from these, the team was able to prepare the engine. The mechanics started the engine but left it running on idle which caused the fuel to condense in the engine manifold . Due to the engine being mounted at an angle, the rear cylinders filled up with fuel, breaking

920-567: The end of the season. The Masaryk Grand Prix in Czechoslovakia gave the W125 its final victory when Caracciola won the race, von Brauchitsch finished second and Seaman came in third. The race was marred as Hermann Lang had crashed into spectators on lap five, resulting in twelve injuries and two deaths. The final competitive race Mercedes entered the W125 into was the 1937 Donington Grand Prix . Rosemeyer prevailed, von Brauchitsch finished in second place and Caracciola in third while both of

966-588: The engine capacity of supercharged Grand Prix cars was limited to 3000cc, and the W125 was replaced by the Mercedes-Benz W154 . The W125 was considered the most powerful road racing car ever for three decades until large capacity American-built V8 engines in CanAm sports cars reached similar power in the late 1960s. In Grand Prix racing itself, the figure was not exceeded until the early 1980s (when Grand Prix racing had become known as Formula One ), with

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1012-459: The engine is slightly off-set and the transmission tunnel passes next to the seat and not under the seat.In order to reduce the weight, it did not have a starter motor and an external starter was used to start it. The W154 made its debut in the opening race of the 1938 season, the non-championship Pau Grand Prix in April. Cars were entered for both Caracciola and Lang. Lang crashed during practice and

1058-519: The feasibility of a works Mercedes entry at Indianapolis. Neubauer studied Lew Welch's Novi team, and based on the information he had gained, Mercedes attempted to adapt the W154 for oval racing. The target was an entry in the 1951 Indianapolis 500. The cars were entered for two races in Argentina that year and attained two second-place finishes, with Herrmann Lang, Karl Kling and home favorite Juan Manuel Fangio driving. However, Mercedes discontinued

1104-451: The first four positions on the starting grid; von Brauchitsch took pole position from Lang, Seaman and Caracciola. At the start, Lang took the lead but on lap three his car's spark plugs oiled up and he had to make an emergency pit stop. Shortly afterwards, team manager Alfred Neubauer brought Lang into the pits so that Walter Bäumer , a reserve driver for Mercedes-Benz, could take over. Lang's mechanical problems allowed von Brauchitsch to take

1150-478: The gears to be spinning at roughly the same speed when engaged; otherwise, the teeth would refuse to mesh. The W125 made its first competitive outing in May at the 1937 Tripoli Grand Prix with Mercedes-Benz entering four cars. German Hermann Lang won his first Grand Prix motor race to give the W125 a victory on its debut and provide Mercedes with their first victory over rivals Auto Union since May 1936. The next race

1196-466: The lead of the race. When his car's fire had been extinguished, von Brauchitsch also left the pits, only to crash his car later during the lap. Seaman continued on to win the race, followed by Lang in Caracciola's car. Lang's car, being driven by Bäumer, retired from the race with engine problems. Following the French Grand Prix, Mercedes-Benz travelled to Italy to contest two non-championship races -

1242-408: The lead. Meanwhile, Caracciola had been struggling with abdominal pain and stopped on lap ten to allow Lang to take over his car. Von Brauchitsch came in for his second pit stop on lap sixteen, followed by Seaman in second position. During von Brauchitsch's pit stop, a mechanic spilt fuel over the car which was then ignited by a spark from the car's exhaust pipe. This allowed Seaman to exit the pits in

1288-555: The next race, Mercedes split their entries between two races which occurred within a week of another. Two cars were sent to the US to compete in the Vanderbilt Cup , one of which was fitted with the suction carburettor supercharger used on Kautz's car, and three cars went to Belgium to compete in the first round of the 1937 European Championship. Richard Seaman finished second in the Vanderbilt, and third and fourth place were achieved in

1334-463: The next round at Monaco, the positions were reversed as von Brauchitsch won and Caracciola finished in second. A third Mercedes W125, driven by Christian Kautz, took third place. The non-championship Coppa Acerbo in Italy was the next event the W125 entered. During practice Richard Seaman crashed into a house and destroyed his car. Therefore, only von Brauchitsch and Caracciola started the race. During

1380-434: The old W25 car, Uhlenhaut remarked that the suspension was too stiff, preventing the wheels from following the road. During the test session, a wheel came off the car, yet Uhlenhaut continued to drive the car as if nothing had happened. This stiffness caused the chassis to flex and the rear axle to bend by up to 7–10 cm (2.8–3.9 in) under braking. The brief for the new car included a stiffer chassis and more travel on

1426-399: The other W125s failed to finish. The British ERA were outclassed, failing to get classified in their home race. 1938 saw changes in the rules, with the maximum limit on weight being replaced with a maximum limit on engine capacity and a minimum weight for the car being introduced; the W125 was no longer eligible for entry without major modification. Instead, Mercedes-Benz developed a new car,

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1472-569: The programme. The ex-Don Lee W154 made one final appearance at Indianapolis in 1957. The car was now owned by Edward Shreve, and had a Jaguar straight-six engine fitted. Danny Kladis drove the car, but failed to qualify for the race. Bold  – Pole Italics  – Fastest lap † The Grand Prix class was run at the same time as the Voiturette class. * Fowler and Tomei were relief drivers for Miller. Miller drove laps 1-29, Fowler drove laps 30-50 and Tomei drove from 51 to 108, when

1518-404: The race non-stop. Lang's car developed a spark plug problem and finished the race in second place, nearly two minutes behind. The car's next outing at Tripoli, again a non-championship race, was much more successful. The three cars that were entered for Lang, von Brauchitsch and Caracciola qualified first, second and third respectively. The gap from Caracciola to fourth placed Clemente Biondetti

1564-457: The race, Seaman took over from Caracciola and despite an engine fire, he finished the race fifth. von Brauchitsch fared better finishing in second position. The Swiss Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 1937 European Championship. Like in Monaco, Mercedes W125s finished in the top three places, Caracciola taking the win with Hermann Lang in second and von Brauchitsch third. The final round of

1610-512: The race, von Brauchitsch was disqualified for receiving outside assistance, which left Lang as the winner. At the Coppa Acerbo, Mercedes-Benz failed to win the pole position for the second race in a row; Tazio Nuvolari took pole position for Auto Union. In the race, Nuvolari retired when his differential broke, leaving Caracciola to win. The two other W154s of von Brauchitsch and Lang retired with engine problems. Lang's car caught fire after

1656-512: The same chassis design as the 1938 car, a different body was used for the 1939 season and the M154 engine used during 1938 was replaced by the M163. As a result of the new engine, the 1939 car is often mistakenly referred to as a Mercedes-Benz W163. For the 1938 season, Grand Prix racing's governing body AIACR moved from a formula limited by weight to one by engine capacity. The new regulations allowed

1702-413: The same colour) the nickname of Silver Arrows , the racing colours of Germany being silver (German racing colours were white but stripped paint to the aluminium for weight savings). In the absence of any limitation on engine size (and only a 750 kg (1,650 lb) total car weight limit to work against), Mercedes designed a supercharged double overhead camshaft 5.7 litre inline 8 engine for

1748-684: The streamliner. The streamliner had a top speed 25 km/h (16 mph) faster than the regular car. On lap three of the race, the streamliner retired while leading due to a gearbox failure. Seaman's regular W125 finished in fifth position. At the Eifelrennen held at the Nürburgring circuit, Mercedes entered five W125's, including one driven by Christian Kautz fitted with the new suction carburettor supercharger system. Kautz finished in ninth, while teammates Rudolf Caracciola and Manfred von Brauchitsch finished in second and third places. For

1794-550: The suspension to avoid the problems experienced in the 1936 car. The W125 had a much stiffer tubular frame construction compared to the previous W25 model. This was achieved using oval tubes made of nickel-chrome molybdenum steel which flexed considerably less than the frame used in the W25. The bodywork of the W125 was aluminium, which like its predecessor was left unpainted in its bare silver colour. This brought Mercedes' cars during this period (and rivals Auto Union , whose cars were

1840-410: The team withdrew his car. René Dreyfus took pole position in a Delahaye , but Caracciola was second and managed to beat Dreyfus away from the line at the start of the race. Despite leading, Caracciola was suffering from an old leg injury, and when he pitted for fuel he handed the car over to Lang. Dreyfus took the lead and would not need to pit as his car's lower fuel consumption meant he could complete

1886-438: The time. Fuel used was a custom mix of 40% methyl alcohol, 32% benzene, 24% ethyl alcohol and 4% gasoline light. The engine weighed 222 kg (489 lb) - approximately 30% of the total weight of the car, and was mounted in the front of the car. The engine ran rough, but if it started running smooth, the crankshaft would begin to crack. Like its W25 predecessor, the W125 used a 4-speed manual transmission. The gearbox design

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1932-592: Was also near identical to the W125. The rear consisted of a De Dion tube , designed to keep the rear wheels parallel using a solid tubular beam. It also had hydraulic rear dampers, adjustable from within the cockpit during a race. The bodywork of the W154 was aluminium, left unpainted like its predecessors, making it another of Mercedes' famed Silver Arrows . The new M154 engine was a 2,961  cc (180.7  cu in ) capacity 67 mm × 70 mm (2.64 in × 2.76 in) supercharged V12, attaining an output between 425 and 474 horse power. In 1939,

1978-473: Was changed to a constant mesh type , which provided better reliability compared to the sliding mesh transmission of the M25. In a constant mesh gearbox, the transmission gears are always in mesh and rotating, but the gears are not rigidly connected to the shafts on which they rotate. Instead, the gears can freely rotate or be locked to the shaft on which they are carried. The previous sliding mesh transmission required

2024-463: Was held at the AVUS motor-racing circuit in Germany, a 12-mile (19 km) long circuit consisting of two long straights of approximately 6 miles (10 km) length joined at either end by a curve. As such, it was possible for a car to reach its top speed. Mercedes entered two W125 cars, a streamliner which was modified from the original design to increase its top speed on the straights and a standard car driven by Richard Seaman in case of problems with

2070-656: Was over three seconds. The cars retained these positions at the end of the race and although von Brauchitsch and Caracciola had both suffered engine problems, Caracciola still finished over eight minutes ahead of fourth placed Raymond Sommer . The first race of the European Championship was the French Grand Prix , held at the Reims-Gueux circuit. Three cars were entered, for Caracciola, von Brauchitsch and Lang. A poor turnout meant that there were only nine competitors. Team manager Alfred Neubauer offered to enter

2116-480: Was set up within Mercedes-Benz in order to work on the car. Rudolf Uhlenhaut , previously a production car engineer for the company, was selected to lead the design team in late 1936. Uhlenhaut had not previously designed a racing car, but had significant experience testing road cars on the Nürburgring race track, experience which allowed him to adapt his knowledge relatively easily to racing cars. When testing

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