Mercedes-Benz 300SLR

Mercedes-Benz 300SLR

When Mercedes-Benz returned to motor racing in the 1950s it did so with an aggressive attack across the board. It planned to launch both its Grand Prix cars and its new sports-racing cars in 1954, but delays with the latter meant that the sports-racers didn’t appear until 1955. When they did, the results were sensational.

With unique and rarely seen images, Karl Ludvigsen presents the dramatic story of these racers with their tubular space frames, inboard brakes and fuel-injected desmodromic-valved eight-cylinder engines. Featured also are secret tests at Hockenheim, the never-raced coupe version of the 300SLR and the new design that was being prepared for 1956—a season that these cars never experienced.