Brief summary: Anniversaries from 130 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history

 

Daimler “Phoenix” 12 hp racing car. Photo from “Nice Week” 1899. Wilhelm Bauer (at the wheel) won the 85-kilometre Nice–Magagnosc–Nice tour with the vehicle on 21 March 1899. Leaning against the vehicle is Hermann Braun, Emil Jellinek’s chauffeur and mechanic. A racing car bearing the name “Mercédès” appeared for the first time in 1899. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: 2001DIG68)

The first automobile race from Paris to Rouen on 22 July 1894 was won by vehicles with engines manufactured under Daimler licence. Albert “George” Lemaître’s Peugeot (starting number 65) crossed the finish line in second position as the first car with an internal combustion engine. It was powered by a two-cylinder V-engine developed by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1888. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: 50106)

In the 5th Gordon Bennett race in the Taunus, Camille Jenatzy took second place in a Mercedes 90 hp racing car on 17 June 1904. (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: A48811-21)

Mercedes won the French Grand Prix on 4 July 1914 with a one-two-three victory. Photo of the Mercedes Grand Prix cars, from left to right: Christian Lautenschlager (starting number 28, winner), Otto Salzer (starting number 39, 3rd place), Louis Wagner (starting number 40, 2nd place). (Photo index number in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: 17053

• 1894 (130 years ago): On 22 July 1894, the French newspaper “Le Petit Journal” organized a race for motor vehicles for the first time. It ran over 126 kilometers from Paris to Rouen. Victory was shared by two vehicles with Daimler license engines from Peugeot and Panhard & Levassor. This competition is regarded as the birth of motorsport.
• 1899 (125 years ago): From 21 to 25 March 1899, the first “Nice Week” took place, a motorsport event consisting of various competitions with international appeal. On the Nice–Colomars–Tourrettes–Magagnosc–Nice tour, Wilhelm Bauer won the two-seater class and Wilhelm Werner the four-seater class. Both started with a Daimler “Phoenix” 12 hp. Two years later, the Mercedes 35 hp would dominate the 1901 Nice Week – the first Mercedes ever and the first modern car.
• 1904 (120 years ago): Thanks to Camille Jenatzy’s outstanding victory in the 1903 Gordon Bennett race with a Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft brought the prestigious race to Germany for 1904. This first major motor race in this country took place on a circuit in the Taunus. In order to maximize its chances of victory, the brand started with two white-painted Mercedes 90 hp racing cars for Germany and three identical vehicles in black and yellow paintwork for Austria. Mercedes came in 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 11th.
• 1914 (110 years ago): Mercedes won the French Grand Prix in Lyon on 4 July 1914 with a one-two-three victory. Christian Lautenschlager crossed the finish line in first place, followed by Louis Wagner and Otto Salzer – all in Mercedes 115 hp Grand Prix racing cars with a 4.5-litre four-cylinder engine with four-valve technology.
• 1924 (100 years ago): Christian Werner won the gruellng road race for the Targa Florio and the Coppa Florio 1924 in Sicily with the Mercedes 2-litre racing car with supercharged engine. Mercedes-Benz Classic is celebrating the anniversary in 2024 with the recommissioning of an original 1924 racing car after extensive restoration.
• 1934 (90 years ago): The new Mercedes-Benz W 25 750-kilogram formula racing cars made their debut in the Eifel race at the Nürburgring on 3 June 1934. Manfred von Brauchitsch won the race.
• 1954 (70 years ago): Mercedes-Benz entered the new W 196 R racing car in Formula One for the first time in the French Grand Prix on 4 July 1954 in Reims. Juan Manuel Fangio won, followed by Karl Kling. Fangio became Formula One World Champion with the new Silver Arrow in 1954 and 1955.
• 1964 (60 years ago): A one-two-three victory in the Argentine Grand Prix for touring cars from 28 October to 7 November 1964 was the fourth success in a row for Mercedes-Benz in the endurance competition. Eugen Böhringer and Klaus Kaiser won the 4,779.6-kilometre race with many full-throttle passages ahead of Dieter Glemser and Martin Braungart as well as Ewy von Korff-Rosqvist and Eva-Maria Falk – all in Mercedes-Benz 300 SE rally cars (W 112). In the summer of the same year, Robert Crevits and Georges Gosselin also won the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps from 25 to 26 July 1964 in a 300 SE.
• 1984 (40 years ago): The new Nürburgring opened on 12 May 1984 with a race of 20 champions with 20 identical Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 cars. Ayrton Senna, still unknown at the time, won ahead of Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann.
• 1994 (30 years ago): In the Penske-Mercedes PC-23 IndyCar, Al Unser Jr. won the Indianapolis 500-mile race on 29 May 1994. The 3.4-litre V8 500I engine from Mercedes-Benz, which was developed in strict secrecy and was vastly superior, was decisive for the spectacular victory. Due to a subsequent change in the regulations, this was the only race outing for the engine.
• 1994 (30 years ago): Mercedes-Benz returned to Formula One in 1994, initially as a partner of Peter Sauber’s Swiss team. Ilmor developed the Mercedes-Benz engines in Brixworth, Great Britain.
• 1994 (30 years ago): Klaus Ludwig became champion in the German Touring Car Championship DTM for the third time in the 1994 season with the AMG-Mercedes C-Class.
• 1999 (25 years ago): Mika Häkkinen became Formula One World Champion with McLaren-Mercedes for the second time in a row in 1999. In the final race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix on 31 October 1999, Häkkinen secured the title in the McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14.
• 2014 (10 years ago): The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 works team, founded in 2010, won its first double world championship in 2014 with the drivers’ title for Lewis Hamilton and the constructors’ title. This was the start of a run of success for the Silver Arrows with eight constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ titles in a row.