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When The Germans Came to Formula One
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brandegee
04/03/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
Awesome photos. Definitely the biggest deal about the W196 is the direct-injection I-8.

The use of Elektron was not really that remarkable except that it was obviously dangerous and probably expensive. The first VW Beetle prototype used 20kg of the stuff in the drivetrain, and many 1920s race cars used it. Magnesium use today is tremendous.

"The car was wrapped in sheets of Elektron, an ultralight and very flammable alloy of magnesium."

So both the chassis and bodywork were Elektron? No wonder Levegh's SLR torched so badly.
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X-Zambian
04/03/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
"No vultures were encountered on the Autobahn...".

Excellent line.

Road legal 300SLR?

Awesome. What would that be worth if it was still around I wonder.
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scroggzilla raids again
04/03/09

@X-Zambian: Uhlenhaut's SLR is still around. It's in the Mercedes Benz museum.
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X-Zambian
04/03/09

@SCROGGZILLA!!!:

Ah. Didn't know that. Unlikely ever to be sold then.
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scroggzilla raids again
04/03/09

@X-Zambian: Only if the Carpocalypse gets much, much worse.
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Peter Orosz
04/03/09

@SCROGGZILLA!!!: I have some old footage of it which I'm editing in the coming days. Yakking in Hungarian with English subs and driving to see the Uhlenhaut in a 34-year old diesel Benz.
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nstrug
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
A beautifully written article as usual Peter.

Of course it should be borne in mind that Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, supplier to McLaren, Force India and Brawn GP are in fact what used to be Ilmor, based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England and acquired by Daimler-Benz in 2005.

That's a British engine that took the 1-2 (almost 1-2-3) on Sunday.

Nick
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Peter Orosz
04/02/09

@nstrug: Wow, I did not know that. Thanks for pointing it out. And, ahem, let's see how to rewrite my post-
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philibuster
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
That man in the trench coat is hiding another man inside his coat.
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Peter Orosz
04/02/09

@philibuster: Does the man inside Alfred Neubauer have another man inside him as well?
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Armand
04/02/09

@philibuster, Peter Orosz: A little-known provision of the German-Soviet nonaggression pact (which divided Poland between the two countries) was that Stalin had to share the USSR's secret nesting doll technology with the Nazis. Since Hitler was interested in keeping German car companies on the cutting edge of technology, Neubauer was one of the first Germans to learn the secrets of these Russian dolls.
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Peter Orosz
04/03/09

@Armand Bengle: I am now enlightened. Perhaps the men inside him are his racing drivers from the Thirties. Caracciola inside von Brauchitsch, with Hermann Lang as the chewy center.
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ThreeLitre
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
what ever happened to these glory days for Mercedes? I am not a Benz fan, generally, but they really showed just how excellent they could be.

They make so many damned cars and have so much damned these days, I wish they would send a team back to GP or Le Mans with something really radical.

Bring back the Silver Arrows I say!
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
04/02/09

@nhubbell84, morphing to ThreeLitre: While the Carpocalypse certainly doesn't help matters, I think the main reason they haven't tried sportscar racing in the last decade is 1999's CLR, more specifically it's tendency to leave the ground.
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BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
Wunderbar, a straight eight with center power take off. Hat off for who has that kind of imagenation.
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leavethegun-takethecannoli
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
What a great story. It is for this reason, the excellent stories, that I don't go to that Canadian automotive forum- even though they offered me TWO stars if I would switch.

I wouldn't even know what to do with two stars. It just seems absurd.
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scroggzilla raids again
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
**MINOR MERCEDES BENZ PHOTO-RELATED THREADJACK**

Sterling Moss in the 300SLR at the 1955 Isle of Man TT
Karl Kling at the 1955 Eifelrennen
Pierre Levegh at 1955 24hrs of LeMans
Hermann Lang at the 1954 German GP
and, arguably, the best photo of Sterling Moss ever

all photos from my secret stash on flickr

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BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ
04/02/09

@SCROGGZILLA!!!: This one is almost as nice. It shows that the man survived the days when sex was save and race cars were dangerous.

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Peter Orosz
04/02/09

@SCROGGZILLA!!!: I used to have a photo on my clothes drawer of Stirling Moss in #722 doing the Mille Miglia and I was fairly certain that was the best photo of him, but you've just made me reconsider.
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scroggzilla raids again
04/03/09

@Peter Orosz: I found it on a thread on a Forum-Auto blog regarding the Tour de Auto. Stirling did bad assed stuff all the time in those days, but that's the only period photo that I've seen that shows him expressing his inner badass.

Forum-Auto's motor sport history section, which is almost entirely in French, has threads full of old racing photos from the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia, Liege-Rome-Liege and many, many more.
[www.forum-auto.com]
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Miscellanea
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
Fantastic article! This is quickly becoming one of my favorite features on Jalopnik. So much info, so much good history...
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.357
04/02/09

In reply to When The Germans Came to Formula One
A vulture through the windshield? Damn. This is great. The Germans really did dominate during this period. The 300SL is one of my favorite cars of all time. Great work.
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