The 1990 Sauber-Mercedes C 11 Racing Team: Return of the Silver Arrows

480 km at Monza, April 29, 1990. Mauro Baldi (starting number 1) leads with a Mercedes-Benz group C racing sports car C11. The team Baldi/Schlesser win the race.

 In 1990 the Sauber-Mercedes team won in eight out of nine races of the World Sportscar Championship in Group C. Jean-Louis Schlesser and Mauro Baldi won the drivers’ championship in the Mercedes-Benz Group C 11 sports car and became world champions. As in the previous year, Jochen Mass was runner-up. Sauber-Mercedes defended its title in the teams’ championship.

 As they had already done in the first championship year with the Sauber-Mercedes C 9 in 1989 the German-Swiss team entered with a racing car painted silver. This return of the Silver Arrows to the circuit was down to the impetus of Professor Werner Niefer, who was the chairman of what was then Mercedes-Benz AG and deputy chairman of Daimler-Benz AG. It was on his initiative that the original dark blue racing cars were painted silver – just like their successful predecessors that had written racing history up until 1955.

Innovative technology: The C 11 is the logical progression of the successful C 9, which won the legendary 24-hour race in Le Mans in 1989. The Silver Arrow was also built at Sauber in Hinwil (Switzerland) under the management of head designer Leo Ress. It was the first time a carbon fibre chassis was used, which contributed towards the minimal kerb weight of 870 kilograms and also offered a high level of rigidity. The Mercedes-Benz engineers around Dr Hermann Hiereth optimised the Mercedes-Benz M 119 engine. The V8 turbo engine with four-valve-per-cylinder design had 4973 cubic centimetres of displacement and during the qualifying tuning generated up to 680 kW (924 hp) in the racing car. In normal racing conditions and with continuous stress it was 537 kW (730 hp). The drivers were inspired – they praised the drivability of the deep-rumbling eight-cylinder engine and the well-tempered handling of the C 11.

The Mercedes kids: For the 1990 World Sportscar Championship, Mercedes-Benz race director Jochen Neerpasch wanted the experienced drivers Jean-Louis Schlesser, Mauro Baldi and Jochen Mass to be accompanied by highly promising young drivers. The top three of the German Formula 3 Championship were chosen: Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger. The youngsters were already impressing at the first test drives in Le Castellet at the end of 1989. Peter Sauber summed it up: “Frentzen was the fastest, Schumacher was hardly any slower, drove very consistently and was very interested in the technology even then. Wendlinger was the most cautious and really didn’t want to break anything.”

Successful races: In the 1990 seasons the three junior drivers started as partners with Jochen Mass. The pairings of Mass / Wendlinger and Mass / Schumacher each won a world championship race. All three young drivers had great careers ahead of them. Michael Schumacher won the Formula 1 World Championship seven times. Heinz-Harald Frentzen won three Grand Prix races and was the Formula 1 World Championship runner-up in 1997. Karl Wendlinger had his Formula 1 debut in 1993 with Sauber in Kyalami and today is an AMG Brand Ambassador and instructor at the AMG Driving Academy.