In the best German style, Mercedes established a design group composed of technicians to evaluate new engineering solutions and the feasibility of their application to the racing car. The W196 (nicknamed Silver Arrow for its silver color) debuted at the French Grand Prix in 1954.
The car, in its fully carried-out version, looked totally stunning, a type of vehicle never seen before. The aerodynamic advance was remarkable with respect to its rivals.
The engine was also pure innovation. It was an 8-cylinder in-line 2,496 cm3 inclined at 37 degrees to reduce the height of the front section. The impeller also had direct fuel injection and desmodromic system. The brakes were drum but located within the diameter of the rims
The Mercedes Benz W196 opened the season in the full-body version. Thus the Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio won the Grand Prix of France in Reims. But the next race in Silverstone (England) was an embarrassment for Mercedes, where the cargoes proved to be unagile.
Studying the results, the Mercedes team decided to use the cars with discovered wheels except in the few circuits of maximum speed, where their large bodies would gain aerodynamic advantages over rival cars.
By 1955 Fangio had a new teammate: the great driver Stirling Moss. Now Mercedes could aspire to the best results with two stars behind the wheels of the W196.
The cars were technically improved. We worked very closely for 1955 and that brought good results again. The meticulousness of German engineers came to the point of building three different chassis with different wheelbase distances. This resource was specially designed for each type of circuit where Formula 1 races ran.
Argentine champion Fangio won again four Grand Prix to be crowned World Champion for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, the pilot Stirling Moss won a win at the British Grand Prix was runner-up.
Daimler-Benz withdrew the Mercedes racing team from the competitions at the end of the 1955 season with a 75 percent win percentage, spectacular figures in sports motorsport.
© Adrián Blanco 2006 — Prohibited the total or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —
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