Interestingly, Sauber prototypes did not carry the letter C to identify their category, but that was the initial of Christiane, Peter Sauber's wife. The history of this prototype leaves memories such as the victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1989 and the top speed record at 407 km/h.
In 1985 the Sauber Mercedes C8 was introduced, the first of the prototypes to emerge from the association between Sauber and Mercedes Benz as an engine supplier. Sauber adopted the chassis of the C7 as its design base, but modified it to replace the previous 6-cylinder engine in line with the Mercedes V8.
Mercedes didn't want to invest in the development of a chassis, that's why they took advantage of Sauber's proven ability as the team leader. Mercedes used technology derived from Formula 1 and developed the M117 impeller, a 4.965 cm3 V8 engine supercharged by a turbocharger.
In 1985 the Sauber Mercedes C8 qualified 17th at Le Mans, although an accident in training prevented them from presenting the prototype in that race. In 1986 the team changed its name to Kouros Racing Team, with Kouros the main sponsor. In his first two races the Sauber Mercedes C8 finished eighth and ninth, showing some potential.
After an abandonment at Le Mans, the Sauber Mercedes C8 had its first glory in the 1,000 km of Nürburgring, where it won in front of the Mercedes Benz executives. They demonstrated conditions and subsequently obtained official support.
For the 1987 season the Kouros Racing Team used the new Sauber Mercedes C9, although it was presented in a single race. The previous C8 was sold to a French private team that ran without any success.
The 1988 season was really very successful. The C9 won 5 races and finished second in the championship behind the TWR Jaguarteam. The only and big disappointment was Le Mans, where the team decided at the last minute not to participate given problems with Michelin tires.
The great dedication of the Sauber Mercedes team came to fruition in 1989. With the all-silver body evoking the “silver arrows”, the revamped C9 incorporated a new lighter and more powerful Mercedes M119 engine. With aluminum block and caps plus titanium cranks, this 4.973 cm3 impeller delivered 720 hp power at 7,000 rpm in race, while in rating they increased turbo pressure to get 800 hp.
The 1989 season left a balance of brilliant results: 7 wins in eight competitions, including a forceful 1-2 at Le Mans. The Sauber Mercedes team won the Team Championship almost doubling the Porsche score.
Sauber drivers Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jochen Mass, Mauro Baldi and Kenny Acheson took the first four places in the Drivers Championship. And to all this are added records for speed and reliability.
By 1990 the Sauber C9 would win the first competition at Suzuka and then be replaced by the redesigned C11. The name of the successor was not C10 since in German C and 10 sound similar and would be difficult to pronounce.
The Mercedes Benz C11 debuted triumphant at Monza, occupying the top two places. He subsequently did not compete at Silverstone and then won all the remaining races, securing the second consecutive championship.
The team did not show up in the 24 Hours of Le Mans since in that year the race would not score points for the championship. Drivers Jean-Louis Schlesser and Mauro Baldi shared the first place in the leaderboard.
For 1991 Mercedes replaced the C11 with the new C291 with which they had various technical problems. That is why they kept in campaign some C11 with which they obtained a few good results.
The Mercedes Benz C291 achieved his first victory in his last race at Autopolis, although the championship was already lost. In their final season, the Sauber Mercedes team took third place in the standings, behind the Jaguar XJR-14 Champion and the Peugeot Runner-up.
Although a Mercedes Benz C292 was designed for 1992, the car was never introduced as Mercedes decided to leave the category at the end of the 1991 season.
© Adrián Blanco 2007 - No full or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —
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