Oamenii din spatele mitului Mercedes-Benz

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GOTTLIEB DAIMLER
Industry pioneer
March 17, 1834-March 6, 1900

The workaholic who made the automotive revolution possible


The man who is widely credited with pioneering the modern automobile industry apparently did not like to drive and may never have driven at all. Certainly Gottlieb Daimler was a passenger in 1899 during a rough, bad weather journey that accelerated his declining health and contributed to his death the following spring.

Daimler, pioneer of the modern internal combustion engine, was a workaholic before the term was invented. A relentless perfectionist, he drove himself and his co-workers mercilessly.

He did not invent the internal combustion engine, but he improved it. With his partner Wilhelm Maybach, he made engines small, lightweight and fast-running, which made the automotive revolution possible.

Daimler was a cosmopolitan man, instrumental in founding auto industries in Germany, France and England. His core competency was engines, and he didn't care whether they were powering cars, boats, trams, pumps or airships.

Daimler was born in Schomdorf, Germany in 1834. Early in his engineering career, he became convinced steam engines were an outmoded form of power, and he started building experimental gas engines.

He was difficult to get along with, and he left a series of engineering firms because they did not share his vision or his work ethic. At one of them he met Maybach, a man who understood him. Maybach became his partner, inseparable friend and engineering soulmate.

In 1872, Daimler worked as technical director of Deutz Gasmotorenfabrik, where one partner was Nikolaus Otto, a pioneer of the four-stroke engine. Daimler assembled a team of the best people from all the shops he had previously worked in, with Maybach on the top of the list.

He insisted on the utmost precision and he instituted a system of inspections. By 1874, they were making two engines a day, but Daimler was unsatisfied. He wanted to spend more on research and development, while Otto wanted to produce more engines. Daimler left.

In Cannstatt, he and Maybach patented their four-stroke engine in 1885. That same year, they created what was probably the world's first motorcycle by mating a Daimler engine to a bicycle. In 1886, they adapted an engine to a horse carriage.

In 1889, they made their first purpose-built automobile and founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. Ten years later, Maybach designed the first car named Mercedes, after his daughter. During this period, Daimler was persuaded by a group of investors to take his company public. They seized majority control and eventually blackmailed him into selling his own shares. Daimler became bitter.

With his health failing in the autumn of 1899, he was told to stay in bed, but the workaholic insisted on being driven in bad weather to inspect a possible factory site. On the way home he collapsed and fell out of the car. He died with his family around him early on March 6, 1900.

Gottlieb Daimler was an engineer with a peerless ability to synthesize ideas others had developed before and to create something better. That spirit lives still in the industry today.

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Oamenii din spatele mitului Mercedes-Benz


KARL FRIEDRICH BENZ
First patent
Nov. 23, 1844-April 4, 1929

A genius whose three-wheeler is seen as the first car


If ever a man depended on the energy of his spouse to pull him through, Karl Friedrich Benz was he. To speak about Karl Benz without mentioning his wife Bertha Benz, nee Ringer, is telling only half the story.

Karl Friedrich Benz was a typical inventor, grand in his ideas, a wonderful craftsman, but hopeless in business matters. Bertha Ringer believed in Karl's ability much more than he did.

While he was torn by doubts on the direction he should take, she had none. He nearly lost his little mechanics shop to an associate until Bertha, then his fiancee, came along with a dowry prematurely cajoled from her parents.

Whenever the little gas engine in the tricycle that Karl built failed, Bertha would buck him up. When he wanted to give up the quest for the carriage that didn't need horses, she pushed him to continue. To finance the development, she saw to it that the mechanics shop got some jobs.

At last, on January 29, 1886, Karl registered his patent DRP 37435, for a three-wheeler with a four-stroke 0.9 PS engine. DRP 37435 today is recognized as the official birth certificate of the motor car.

But rich people, who should have bought the vehicle, doubted its reliability. The resolute Bertha came up with a grand public relations idea: a woman and two children all alone on a long distance tour. In those times, it was an un-heard of adventure. On an August morning in 1888, while her husband was occupied with other things, Bertha packed up their two sons, aged 14 and 15, swung herself into the driver's seat and drove 100 kilometers on rough roads from Mannheim to Pforzheim near Stuttgart. The expedition arrived just when the sun was setting.

By telegram she and the boys let the father know that they had successfully completed the first long distance trip in the history of the automobile.

The tale of the unbelievable adventure spread quickly and ignited wild conjectures on who in the world had helped this woman. It was grand publicity, and the business began to thrive.

But as the industry grew and changed, Karl Benz did not. He would have nothing to do with fast-running engines or with vehicles other than motorized horse carriages. Benz & Cie was in danger of losing its world leadership in car building at the turn of the 20th century, but Karl Benz saved the firm again, this time by resigning in 1903.

Benz died in his house in Mannheim 26 years later, three years after his Benz & Cie was joined with Daimler Motorengesellschaft, and 29 years after the death of Gottlieb Daimler, a man he never met.

In his autobiography Karl Benz wrote: "In those days when our little boat of life threatened to capsize, only one person stood steadfastly by me, my wife. She bravely set new sails of hope." Bertha, the resolute, died aged 95 in 1944.

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Oamenii din spatele mitului Mercedes-Benz


WILHELM MAYBACH
1846-1929


The genius in Daimler's shadow


A number of key contributors to the automobile worked in the shadows of the great pioneers. Wilhelm Maybach was one of them.

Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler became friends in the late 1860s. The pair worked on Daimler's Reitwagen (1885) and Motorwagen (1886), which along with similar efforts by Carl Benz are considered the world's first self-propelled vehicles.

Maybach contributed his engineering skills to those cars as well as future Daimler milestones. The Maybach-designed V-twin engine built in 1889 was so advanced that Daimler sold its production rights to third parties such as French automakers Peugeot and Panhard-Levassor.

Maybach's focus on components led him to achieve firsts with the gearwheel transmission (1889), the float-chamber spray-jet carburetor (1893) and the honeycomb radiator core (1896). But his strength was combining many such individual solutions to create the complete concepts that turned engine-driven carriages into motorcars.

Maybach's masterpiece was the 1901 Mercedes 35 Horsepower in which he combined his two decades of automotive engineering experience. The rear-wheel drive car had a front-mounted four-cylinder engine -- partly made of light alloy -- and a three-speed transmission.

The Mercedes also featured a revolutionary low-to-the-ground design, setting it apart from the tall, clumsy looking cars of that period, as well as front wheels that were turned by a round steering wheel on an angled steering column.

Wilhelm Maybach left the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in 1907, seven years after Daimler's death. Just before departing, Maybach created an overhead valve twin-ignition 120hp racing engine.

Maybach produced engines for his son's premium-car brand as well as the Zeppelin airships prior to his death in 1929.

DaimlerChrysler has honored his work and that of his son, Karl, by reviving the Maybach brand for its super-luxury models.

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Oamenii din spatele mitului Mercedes-Benz

Stranse legaturi cu evolutia Mercedes-Benz au mai avut si altii, cum ar fi :



RUDOLF DIESEL
Diesel engine
March 18, 1858-Sept. 29, 1913


Renaissance man set the automobile industry on fire


The laws of thermodynamics fascinated Rudolf Diesel. He saw in them a way to change society, to protect small craftsmen and artisans from the tide of big business.

Diesel had been born in Paris, son of a leather merchant, but he studied at Munich Polytechnic where he was a sort of renaissance man. Arts, linguistics and social theories then in development all held him in a spell.

He saw how large factories, which had the capital to invest in large steam engines to power their equipment, were ruining small businesses.

How could the little enterprises withstand this pressure? Only by having at their disposal an easily adaptable source of energy. Steam engines then had a mechanical efficiency of 10 percent, so Diesel set out to apply the three laws of thermodynamics to the creation of an engine that would not waste so much energy.

One day Diesel saw something strange: A pneumatic cigarette lighter. Small pieces of tinder are in a little glass tube. With a piston, air is compressed in the tube and the tinderstarts to glow. This vision set him afire.

He set up a laboratory in Paris in 1885, and took out his first patent in 1892. In August 1893 he went to Augsburg, Germany, where he showed the forerunner of MAN AG (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nuerenberg) a three-meter-long iron cylinder with a piston driving a flywheel. It was an economic thermodynamic engine to replace the steam engine. Diesel called it an atmospheric gas engine, but the name didn't stick.

He worked on. On New Year's Eve 1896 he proudly displayed an engine that had a theoretical efficiency of 75.6 percent. Of course, this theoretical efficiency could not be attained, but there was nothing to equal it -- and there is nothing to equal it to this day -- in thermodynamic engines.

The self-igniting engine was a sensation of the outgoing century, though Rudolf Diesel's dream of enabling the small craftsmen to withstand the power of big industry did not ripen. Instead, big industry quickly took up his idea, and Diesel became very rich with his royalties.

From all over the world money flowed to him as his engines became the standard to power ships, electric plants, pumps and oil drills.

In 1908 Diesel and the Swiss mechanical firm of Saurer created a faster-running engine that turned at 800 rpm, but the automotive industry was slower to adopt Diesel's engine.

MAN was the first, and in 1924, a MAN truck became the first vehicle to use a direct-injection diesel engine.
At the same time Benz & Cie in Germany also presented a diesel truck, but Benz used the mixing chamber that Daimler-Benz kept into the 1990s. The first diesel Mercedes-Benz hit the road in 1936.

But Rudolph Diesel didn't get to see his inventions' victorious march through the automotive world. He drowned in 1913 in the English Channel.

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Oamenii din spatele mitului Mercedes-Benz

Cel de la care a preluat Gottlieb Daimler conceptul de motor cu ardere interna si l-a dezvoltat :


NICOLAUS OTTO
Compressed-charge engine
1832-1891

The foundation of the modern engine


Nicolaus Otto was a happy-go-lucky young man who traveled through western Germany in the 1850s selling rice, coffee, tea and sugar.

He was trying to make enough money to wed his beloved Ann, who he met at a carnival in Cologne in 1858, when he was 26.

But young Otto had a fascination for things mechanical. In 1860, he heard about Frenchman Jean-Joseph Etienne Lenoir's successful experiments with internal combustion engines.

"In his youthful enthusiasm he thought of this day and night," wrote Kurt Rathke in his biography of Otto. "He had the wildest plans about the future, all to do with the gas engine and its possibilities."

According to Rathke, Otto was inspired by watching smoke rise from a chimney.

"He decided that the place of explosion in a gas engine, which he likened to the chimney, should receive a rich fuel mixture. His idea was to let only fresh air enter first and fall down on unburned gases from the previous working stroke. Only then should the gas mixture be inducted."

Otto's early attempts at building a combustion engine failed. But they impressed Eugen Langen, a technician and proprietor of a sugar factory, who took on Otto as a partner. The two men established N.A. Otto & Cie., the first engine company in the world - and the forerunner of today's Deutz AG. Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach later joined the company.

Lenoir built the first commercially practical internal combustion engine in 1859. Two years later, Alphonse Beau de Rochas set forth the principle of the four-stroke engine. But it was Otto who in 1876 built the first practical high-compression, four-stroke engine with ignition device.

On its first stroke the piston would draw in an explosive mixture of fuel and air. The second, return stroke would compress the mixture. Ignition would then explode the charge, the resulting expansion driving the piston for its third stroke. The final stroke would exhaust the burnt gases, clearing the cylinder to start the cycle again.

Otto patented his construction in 1877. He never became involved directly in car manufacturing, but his compressed-charge engine marked the beginning of an era of pioneering and was the foundation of the modern engine.

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Primul Mercedes-Benz

Primul automobil din lume a fost patentat de Karl Benz in 1885:

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Prima motocicleta din lume

Gottlieb Daimler este si inventatorul motocicletei :

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Nasterea Mercedes-Benz

Karl Benz si Gottlieb Daimler pun bazele automobilului


Partea 1 :


Partea 2 :

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Fondatorii AMG

De unde vine AMG ?

A = Aufrecht Hans-Werner Aufrecht

M = Melcher Erhard Melcher

G = Großaspach Großaspach localitatea natala a lui H. Aufrecht

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Alfred Neubauer - the First “Don” of Motor Racing


Born in 1891 he fell in love with automobiles when at the age of seven he saw his first car, a Benz drive through his village, Neutitschein in North Moravia. Even as a small boy he would claim that "petrol already ran in his blood." After a stint as a motor pool officer during the First World War he joined Austro-Daimler as a race car driver.
When Ferdinand Porsche left Austro-Daimler in a fit of pique he brought Neubauer with him to Mercedes. At Mercedes he found his home and would work there for the rest of his life. He was a company man who would stay loyal through thick and thin.

It soon became apparent to Neubauer as it had been to his wife earlier that he was not destined to become a great race car driver. In fact his wife remarked that he drove like a night watchman! While working for Mercedes he heard of Rudolf Caracciola's exploits at the first Grand Prix of Germany at Avus in 1926.
Caracciola driving under the most appalling conditions was not aware that he had actually won the race. Neubauer believed that a driver on the racetrack was the "world's loneliest human being."
He thought that if a driver could be informed, during the race, of his position, speed, race distance and other particulars he would have a better chance of achieving his ultimate potential.

Neubauer brought his ideas to his superiors and luckily for him and Mercedes he found a willing supporter in Wilhelm Kissel.
Head of the entire firm, Kissel was also a racing enthusiast and understood the benefits of a racing program in publicity and the development of road cars. Neubauer was a very large man with a voice to match. He could be a strict disciplinarian or a amiable dinner host with his impersonations of der Führer, Marilyn Monroe and others.

His love of food and parties rivaled a modern day Bacchus. His loyalty to his drivers and to Mercedes though could not be questioned. He was called the big man or the fat man or simply Don Alfredo.
At his first race as team manager, Neubauer organized a Mercedes team of three cars. Neubauer assigned a crew for each car. Signal boards and flags were prepared and a sign language was created for the drivers and pit crews. They were similar to the signs used in American Baseball without the theatrical spitting and grabbing of one's crotch!

In fact they started out rather simply: circling the right index finger in the air asked the remaining number of laps, a finger pointed forward asked how far the car in front was, pointing a thumb towards the back asked the converse. He had his mechanics practice pitstops for hours on end till they got it right. At the beginning of each race Alfred Neubauer took his place at trackside, a black and red flag in his hand.

An official seeing this strange sight tried to have him removed but to no avail. There is even a photograph of Neubauer at the front of the grid holding up 4 fingers to signal four seconds to start. Amazingly all eyes are on him rather than on the starter! From that moment on a race without Don Alfredo could not have been very important.

Amazingly Neubauer had almost left Mercedes in 1932 to join Ferdinand Porsche at Auto Union when Mercedes quit racing during the depression. But he was promised that Mercedes would soon return to racing. Wilhelm Kissel could not afford to lose his once and future team manager. Alfred Neubauer would lead Mercedes' racing team through its golden period and then would come back for an encore in 1954 as if to show the world that he was still the master.
His many innovations continue on to this day. He is famous for creating the "silver arrows" by removing the paint from his white cars but this was actually a suggestion by his driver von Brauchitsch to meet the weight requirements. He created a secret racing elixir of black coffee, egg yolk, sugar, a little wine, and a few spices.

He guaranteed that it would work wonders ... at least for a few laps. Neubauer had his pitcrews practice pit stops with the changing of all for tires until they were able to accomplish this with unheard of speed and precision. Not all of his ides worked though. For one race he flew in a plane to get a better view but has communication with his driver and pitcrews had failed or were nonexistent, and such was the legend of Alfred Neubauer this most singular man.

Stirling Moss would say of him that "He was an amazing character, who could have anybody snapping to attention if necessary, but would also show great thought and understanding, in relaxed moments he could have us all rolling about with laughter."

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Rabdare...e in lucru.

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Rudolf Caracciola - 1901-1959


Una din marile personalitati ale motorsportului, dupa unii cel mai mare pilot din epoca sa.
A lucrat impreuna cu Alfred Neubauer care spunea despre el : " ... of all the great drivers I have known - Nuvolari, Rosemeyer, Lang, Moss or Fangio - Caracciola was the greatest of them all."
O inregistrare in acest sens : http://190slprototype.com/prototype/Neubauer.html



Caracciola was born in the town of Remagen, Germany in 1901 the son of parents who originally came from Italy. He won his first race at the age of 22. He worked as a salesman at newly formed Daimler-Benz and was allowed to race on weekends if the race was within driving distance of the Dresden agency.
After convincing the general manager at Daimler to lend him a factory racecar he was required to enter the Grand Prix of Germany at Avus under his own name. This 25-year-old weekend racer started the most important race of his young career and promptly stalled his car. His mechanic Otto Salzar was forced to jump out and push start the lonely Mercedes. At last the car sputtered to life. Starting from dead last in a 44-car field was not what the young Caracciola had in mind.

Shortly it began to rain and cars were flying off the track. One crashed into a timekeeper's stand and killed the course worker. The 500,000 spectators were to get the shock of their afternoon when it was announced that a new driver, one completely unknown to them had gone into the lead. But this lead was short lived as the Mercedes began to suffer from serious misfire.
Caracciola pulled into the pits and in those days the driver had to do any repairs required on the car so Caracciola pulled each of the eight spark plugs out one by one.

It was not until the last plug did he discover the culprit. By then it seamed that all was lost and he was urged to quit. Caracciola would hear none of this and chose to continue spurred on by a sense of duty to the factory. By the 13th lap the rain had stopped but Caracciola had no sense of his position but still he soldiered on.

After driving flat-out for nearly three hours and 243 miles he crossed the finished line totally exhausted. Only then did he learn that he had won the first Grand Prix of Germany.
Caracciola would gain fame throughout Germany racing the legendary white SSK for Mercedes. He was renowned for his wet weather prowess. In 1929 he scored one of his greatest victories at the Tourist Trophy in Northern Ireland. Racing against the cream of Great Britain, including Bentley ace Tim Birkin, he came from a five lap handicap to win the thirty lap race in a rain storm. His victory in the 1931 Mille Miglia was not equaled by another non-Italian for 24 years until Stirling Moss won it in 1955.

The starting positions were still selected by drawing lots in the 1935 Spanish Grand Prix. Caracciola would have to start from the last row. His style had always been to get to the front as quickly as possible but this time things would be a little more difficult. The flag fell and Caracciola roared off down to the first corner. Mistaking the pedal arrangement in his Grand Prix car with his touring car, he stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. The leaders seeing this maniac charge from way behind could only give way and in spite of almost crashing out on the first corner did he garner the lead! The year 1935 had been a special year as he returned to racing after suffering serious injuries to his body and his heart.

His beloved wife, Charly, had died in an avalanche. Still hobbled by injuries his come back victory at the Grand Prix of Tripoli had a legendary quality to it. That year he became European Champion. In 1936 he won the Grand Prix de Monaco but the year belonged to Bernd Rosemeyer and Auto Union. Mercedes came back in 1937 and Caracciola was again European Champion.
In 1938 he won the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara and won his third title. Rudolf Caracciola's career was plagued by painful leg injuries and later ill health yet he continued to win many honors.

His battles with Bernd Rosemeyer and Auto Union ended in the World Land Speed Record for Caracciola and the tragic death of Rosemeyer. During World War II he lived in exile at his home in Lugano, Switzerland.
After the war, his love of racing unabated, he continued to race through worsening health brought on by bone disease. He died at the age of 58 in 1959.

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Stirling Moss - fost pilot Mercedes


In the United States when you hear the name Mario Andretti the first image that comes to your mind is auto racing. The same can be said for Stirling Moss on the "other side of the pond." Moss was born to racing with both parents involved in motorsports. His father Alfred Moss raced at Brooklands and when his studies took him to America he raced at Indianapolis. His mother competed in various trials and rallies.
At the age of nine his father bought him an old Austin Seven in which the young Moss would drive around the fields surrounding their home. The family was also involved in horses and competitive riding which saw Stirling and his sister Pat entering various horse show competitions. While his sister continued to compete Stirling's heart lay more in horsepower of the mechanical variety. Despite being a natural athlete he suffered from various childhood health problems including a kidney affliction which made him medically unfit for National Service.
This would later involve some controversy before his father had his medical records published. While motorsports ran through the family it was soon time to consider a proper career. Like his compatriot Tony Brooks it was once thought that he would follow his dad's footsteps and become a dentist and take over the family business.
His father owned a lucrative business providing dental care to lower income patients which Stirling would call a "quick yank and out, next please" operation. But his indifferent school record made that impossible. He next tried a "crammer" school but this too failed to dislodge any innate brilliance. At age seventeen it was decided that the young Moss would go into the hotel trade. His training included serving as a waiter and later night porter - another occupation he was totally unqualified for.
Still Moss maintained his interest in cars and was soon driving on the open road, when of legal age, in a three wheeled Morgan. His next car was a MG and after seeing an advertisement for a racing car with an Aspen engine he promptly ordered one for 50 British Pounds. When his father found out, he angrily contacted the car company and had the order rescinded.
Stirling was crestfallen but eventually his father relented and allowed Stirling to borrow his BMW sports car that he had recently purchased. It was in this BMW that Moss would start to compete in local speed trials. His first proper race car was a Cooper 500 which he used to compete in local hillclimbs. This car and its descendants formed the breeding grounds of future champions.
Moss became aware of these cars through fellow competitors and went looking for the Cooper factory which he found in Surbiton. Factory may be to the wrong word to use as it was actually just a garage but one with a showroom that had on display one of the little jewels.
Stirling contrived to drive past the showroom one day with his father as his unsuspecting passenger. Remarking on the car in the showroom he impressed upon his father how wonderful it would be to race such a car as this.
His father agreed that it would be so if only Stirling would assume most of the cost. Reduced to selling most of his worldly possessions he was still short of the Ł600 needed but on his 18th birthday his parents made up the difference. This would be the beginning of a long association which saw him driving Coopers on and off for much of his career.

Since all of the pre-war racing venues were no longer available racing in Britain was very much a small time affair, that is to all except the competitors. Great Britain was still feeling the effects of World War II with the rationing of Petrol, yet almost every weekend played host to some form of competition as most of the race cars used methanol.
This tradition of numerous events every weekend continues to this day as any visitor to this country can attest. Britain is the center of motorsports because more of it is happening at any one time than anywhere else in the world and Moss would enter as many races as he could and began to win more than his share. His obvious racing talent finally convinced his parents where his future lay if they needed any convincing as his weekend races had long become family affairs. With this support group Moss was on his way driving and racing anything that he could get his hands on. This became a trademark of his success.
In 1950 Moss got his first works team drive for HWM. Created by John Heath and George Abecassis, partners in Hersham & Walton Motors the team consisted of three four-cylinder Formula 2 cars. The team leader was the free spirited Lance Macklin. Moss would learn his racing craft from HWM and lessons about life from Macklin. HVM's chief mechanic was an Polish ex-serviceman by the name of Kovaleski who adopted the English name of Alf Francis and who would later become a legend himself.
At the Monza Autodrome GP he was involved in a terrific dice with the veteran Ferrari driver Villoresi who later congratulated the young Moss on his skill. His record with HWM was uneven to say the least with the cars breaking down more often then not but Moss would remember this period as a great learning experience.
During this time he also raced other cars including the Jaguar C-Type in which he won the sports car race leading up to the French Grand Prix. This would be the first win for a car using disk brakes.

In 1951 he was contracted to race for Ferrari at selected events but when practice began for the first race at Bari he was told unceremoniously that the car he supposed was his had been given to Taruffi. Deeply embarrassed he vowed to exact his revenge against the red cars. In 1955 driving for Mercedes alongside Fangio, he tasted his first victory at Aintree. In 1956 he drove a Maserati and won twice more.
The following year although again pursued by Ferrari he chose to drive for the British Vandervell team. This decision to drive for British teams whenever possible may have cost him future World Championships. A telling example that shows the measure of this man happened in 1958 at the Grand Prix of Portugal. During the race Mike Hawthorn spun his car but was able to continue and eventually finished second.
Which when added to his fastest lap gave him 7 points to Moss' 8 for the win. Hawthorn though, was accused by the officials of breaking the rules by restarting in the opposite direction. Moss who witnessed the incident came to his rival's defense and a relieved Hawthorn was able to keep his 7 points. Moss would eventually lose the championship to his rival by one point even though he bested his fellow countryman in race wins 4 to 1. It makes one ponder what any of the current racers would do today in similar circumstances.
Moss would continue to win against larger teams but the championship was always just beyond his reach. In 1962 a terrible accident at Goodwood would eventually force his retirement. To say that his career was in any way a failure is not to know of the achievements that were made in his name in such legendary races as the Targa Florio, Pescara and the Mille Miglia. At home in any type of car he partnered with journalist Denis Jenkinson to win the historic Mille Miglia in 1955, the first foreigners since Caracciola and the only Britons to ever do so.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans he was partnered with Fangio in the lead Mercedes, Neubauer rightly believing that if they were to race in separate cars they would race each other to the possible determent of finish the endurance race.
While leading the race they had to withdraw with the rest of the team after tragedy struck and 78 spectators lay dead. The result of a racing accident involving one of the Mercedes.

Moss was considered by many as being the first modern professional driver who raced for the love of the sport but also was intent on earning a sizable income. Staying in top physical shape he would travel all over the world to race. He was not above haggling for more appearance money and between races he would work at his home office dealing with correspondence, managing endorsements or recording his thoughts for his latest book.
He had begun writing books about the sport and would later comment that when he would race in a particular country the sales of his book there would increase. This would help to increase his fame and conversely the amount of money he could require in exchange for his appearance. He courted endorsements as no other driver of his day and was sometimes ridiculed for this when in truth he was just ahead of his time. In the end he was a racer who enjoyed driving all sorts of cars and raced only to win.

2010 Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR "Stirling Moss"


Moss still keeps track of the current Grand Prix scene and is not hesitant to voice his opinion on current circuit design and their vast run-off areas and ubiquitous chicanes. "To race a car through a turn at maximum speed, is difficult", he said, "but to race a car at maximum speed through that same turn when there is a brick wall on one side and a precipice on the other - Ah, that's an achievement."

Site oficial Stirling Moss

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Ralph de Palma - 1882-1956


Early motor racing in Mercedes cars is closely associated with the name Ralph de Palma. One of the highlights in his career was February 26, 1914. At the wheel of a Mercedes racing car named "Gray Ghost", the American of Italian origin competed for the Vanderbilt Cup staged in Santa Monica, California/USA in that year – a thrilling race which he won, as he had done already in 1912, in a 140 hp Mercedes Grand Prix racing car. This, however, had not been foreseeable after the start.

The trade journal "Automobile Quarterly" reported that Ralph de Palma was not to be discovered among the leading cars in the early stages of the race – much in contrast to his main competitor, Barney Oldfield, who really put his foot down, at the expense of his tires. Even in those days, driving skill was not everything that counted; the tactical approach to fuel quantities, tires and pit stops also played a role – and this was one of Ralph de Palma's strengths. Unlike the others, he didn’t drive recklessly but nevertheless moved closer to the leading pack bit by bit. When Oldfield turned off into the pits for a change of tires on the thirteenth lap, de Palma had pushed his 37/95 hp Mercedes into second position. Five laps later, he was out in the lead. Oldfield, running on fresh tires, caught up with de Palma quickly and overtook him. All other competitors had long since fallen behind – this had become a duel among two cars.

Another ten laps to go. The spectators – an enormous crowd of 200,000 people – cheered the cars on frenetically, enjoying the thrill. De Palma caught up with Oldfield in the bends, only to fall behind again on the straights. Then he realized that the front left tire on Oldfield's car began to crumble, and he saw his chance in prompting Oldfield to put in another pit stop. Oldfield reduced his speed to save the tires. De Palma overtook him and clearly signaled to his pit crew that he would come in on the next lap, hoping that Oldfield had seen the signal and believed that his competitor needed new tires, water or oil. The clever ruse proved to have been unnecessary: Oldfield's worn-out tire burst just a few moments later, forcing him to come into the pits. After that, he did not succeed in catching up with de Palma again. The gray Mercedes was the first car to cross the finishing line, and Ralph de Palma had won the Vanderbilt Cup. At the same time, he had provided ample proof of the car's reliability: it had reached a top speed of 121.5 km/h on a total distance of 470 kilometers, distributed to 35 laps.

Vanderbilt Cup (on the Santa Monica racetrack near Los Angeles, California) on February 26, 1914. Ralph de Palma crossing the finishing line. He won this race in a 37/95 hp Mercedes racing car.


Vanderbilt Cup near Los Angeles, 1914. Ralph de Palma at the wheel of his Mercedes racing car, chased presumably by Barney Oldfield in another Mercedes.


Vanderbilt Cup near Los Angeles, 1914. Ralph de Palma at the wheel of his Mercedes racing car, chased presumably by Barney Oldfield in another Mercedes.

In retrospect, there is one thing that can safely be said about Ralph de Palma: he was a truly great racing driver. He was successful not only during the early years of motor racing – his career lasted 27 years. During this time, he competed in 2889 races, most of them on sand tracks, and won 2557 of these. He is the only driver who ever won races on every type of track: hillclimbs, sand tracks, wood tracks, concrete tracks, paved tracks, you name it.

Ralph de Palma was born in Troia, Italy, on December 31, 1882, the son of a hairdresser. He was nine when his parents emigrated to America with him and his three brothers. His father set himself up with his own hairdresser's shop in Brooklyn/New York, and all four sons learnt the craft from him.

Young Ralph soon became interested in bicycle racing. Working in his father's hairdresser's shop and additionally delivering vegetables, he earned the money to buy his first bicycle. In 1897, aged fifteen, he competed in his first race in New York. He clinched his first victory two years later, in the Velodrome of Vailsburg, New Jersey. Cycling had become his passion, so he trained as a bicycle maker and started working in a large bicycle store. When his boss obtained the dealership rights for "Indian" motorcycles, talented young de Palma was allowed to drive a couple of laps on a motor bike – to be captured by a new fascination. From then on, he competed in motorcycle races. The probably most strangest of these should be mentioned at this point: it was an amateur race over 16 miles (approx. 26 km) in the Coney Island Driving Park, with just six competitors lining up at the start. One after the other dropped out because of engine damage – but not de Palma on his Indian. He crossed the finishing line as the winner of the race for which three medals – gold, silver and bronze – were held in store.

The racing organizers were so happy that at least one competitor had successfully finished the race and had thus spared them from looking like fools that they gave de Palma two prizes, the gold medal for the winner and, for some mysterious reason, the bronze medal as well. Two medals in one race, not bad at all! The organizers then asked de Palma to top things by driving a mile at the highest possible speed – and de Palma was only too happy to oblige. In the process, he established a speed record – and received the remaining silver medal as a reward.

Around 1904, his interests and professional activities moved to cars. In the same year, he even got a job as a track marshal in the first race for the Vanderbilt Cup – and his passion for motor sport on four wheels was roused. He was determined to build his own racing car. He received support from his employer, and by 1906, the car was ready, powered by a 45 hp four-cylinder engine. However, the car was rejected by the American Automobile Association (AAA) because it allegedly did not conform with the racing regulations in several points. De Palma was determined to modify the car accordingly but was then offered a price for it he couldn't turn down.

Fred Moscovics, a car accessories dealer from New York, had had a look at the car and recognized de Palma's talent. He consequently offered him a job as a racing driver. He had good contacts with the Allen-Kingston car factory where he showed de Palma around immediately after signing him on. De Palma, in his turn, learnt almost in passing during the tour that he had already been registered for a car race at the wheel of an Allen-Kingston – a complete nobody in this business. De Palma started into this race in reverse.

Lining up at the start with the engine running, he didn't notice he moved forward a few inches and across the starting line. The starter saw this and instructed de Palma to move back. The second de Palma engaged reverse gear, the starting pistol was fired. Needless to say that this race was not exactly a success for de Palma. Incidentally, one of his competitors in that race was Barney Oldfield.

De Palma had ample opportunity to prove his talent in the following years. In 1909, for instance, he emerged as the winner from 34 races and established 18 world records. De Palma was now a member of the motor sport elite.

In 1908, he changed over to the importer of Fiat cars which were highly successful in motor sport, driving the dashing "Cyclone", a car that was by far superior to other cars in terms of its engineering, with a four-cylinder engine developing 60 hp. In his very first race at the wheel of a Cyclone, de Palma scored a superior victory – his car was virtually invincible. He continued to drive Fiat cars until 1911. In the following years, he changed makes several times, driving Packard, Studebaker, Chrysler, Ford and others.

In 1912 he had the 140 hp Mercedes Grand Prix racing car at his disposal and entered it not only in the Vanderbilt Cup but also in the 500 mile race of Indianapolis. De Palma soon conquered the lead, everything went smoothly: after 250 miles, he was two complete laps ahead of his competitors and as much as five laps after 450 miles. The race seemed to have been decided; nobody doubted that de Palma would win, and the spectators started going home. Then suddenly, on lap 197, three laps before the finish, the Mercedes lost power – a connecting rod had broken. De Palma continued with just three of the cylinders working. His speed dropped and the driver in second place rushed past him. At 15 miles per hour (24 km/h), de Palma tackled the 198th lap, still leading in terms of time. Finally the engine stopped altogether. But de Palma did not give up. Together with his racing mechanic, he pushed his car, weighing just under 1.3 tons, towards the finishing line – a brave though rather useless gesture where the outcome of the race was concerned. The race was won by someone else, but the spectators celebrated de Palma.

Ralph de Palma was an extremely fair sportsman. According to reports dating back to 1912, his Mercedes once brushed an opponent's car in the final spurt and skidded off course. While still in hospital, he told journalists that the accident had not been the other man's fault. In another race, a boy crank-started his engine but the engine hit back and the crank broke the boy's arm. After the race, which was won by de Palma, he didn't show up for the winner's ceremony to receive he cup; he preferred to spend the evening by the injured boy's bedside.

Time and again, de Palma also competed in races in Europe, for instance in the French Grand Prix in 1912 and 1914. In the 1914 race, de Palma drove a British Vauxhall – but places one through to three were taken by a trio driving 115 hp Mercedes Grand Prix racing cars. Two of these were confiscated by the French authorities before they left the country. De Palma traveled to Untertürkheim to talk to Paul Daimler, asking him whether he could buy the third Mercedes. Daimler consented, fixing a price of 6,000 dollars for the car plus spares. De Palma was happy and during the following days watched the car being overhauled. On July 25, 1914 Daimler summoned de Palma to his office and urged him to pack his suitcases immediately, telling him that the vehicle papers and a road map showing him the way to Antwerp were ready to be collected. From Antwerp, the car was to be shipped to America on a German freighter called "Vaterland" ('Fatherland'). De Palma himself left Europe on the steamer "Olympic" from Le Havre, to learn only a few days later, out on the Atlantic, that war had broken out in Europe. It has never been officially clarified why Daimler helped bringing a German racing car out of the country in those days. De Palma had his own theory, saying that motor racing was an international sport. Over and above this, he had clinched the only Mercedes victories in America, and Daimler's help could have been a reward.

In 1915, de Palma tackled the 500 miles in Indianapolis in his new Mercedes – and again a connecting rod broke under the enormous strain, three laps before the finish. But this time, the engine kept working and the Mercedes crossed the finishing line as the winner.

He drove different cars in the following years, in 1919, for instance, a white Packard with streamlined bodywork and a huge V12 engine. In this car, de Palma thundered along the sand at Daytona Beach, Florida, at a top speed of 149.87 miles per hour (241 km/h) and thus became the fastest man on earth.

The 500 miles of Indianapolis were on his agenda again in 1920. Shortly before the flying start, a tire burst on de Palma's French Ballot. The tire was replaced quickly but de Palma was a full lap behind the competition. The performance he then put in became legend: he thundered along at enormous speed, overtaking one car after the after. After 150 miles, de Palma had finally conquered the lead. But then, bad luck stroke again, on the last laps before the finish: flames leaped out of the engine compartment. De Palma reduced his speed to 80 miles per hour (approx. 130 km/h). In the pits, his mechanic crept underneath the engine hood and put out the fire with a hand-held extinguisher. However, the engine caught fire again on the next lap. Again, the brave mechanic did his fire-fighting job, but then the engine stalled, with an empty fuel tank, as de Palma suspected. The mechanic ran back to the pits to fetch a fuel can. But de Palma had meanwhile succeeded in starting the car again, the problem having been ignition failure. Only four of the Ballot's eight cylinders were still working. De Palma just made it across the finishing line – in fifth place.

After this feat, Ralph de Palma was invited by Ernest Ballot to compete in the 1921 Grand Prix in Le Mans. He and his mechanic reckoned that they could gain a full six minutes over the entire racing distance if gears were changed by the co-driver and the driver concentrated on steering the car. So they moved the shift lever into the middle, mounting it on top of the transmission housing. Ballot was incensed when he saw this: his design had been modified! He gave instructions to move the shift lever back into its original position. De Palma finished the race in second place.

De Palma also drove Chrysler cars, winning a hillclimb race and a track race with this brand. He also competed in races at the wheel of Chrysler cars in 1925.

De Palma drove his last Indianapolis race in 1925. He clinched the Canadian championship in 1929 and in the following years worked for Packard, Studebaker, Chrysler, Ford, Ranger Aircraft Engines and General Petroleum Corporation. In April 1954, Ralph de Palma was admitted to the Racing Hall of Fame of the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield Village, Dearborn. He died in Pasadena, California, on March 31, 1956, aged 73.

The successes of Ralph de Palma on Mercedes-Benz :

1911:
Vanderbilt Cup, Milwaukee: 2nd
American Grand Prix, Savannah: 3rd

1912:
Indianapolis: 3rd
Elgin Race: 1st, twice, lap record
Vanderbilt Cup, Milwaukee: 1st

1914:
Vanderbilt Cup, Santa Monica: 1st, speed record
American Grand Prix: 4th
Elgin National Trophy: 1st, twice
Brighton Beach (September): 1st, four times
Trenton: 1st, three times
Brighton Beach (November): 1st, four times

1915:
Vanderbilt Cup: 4th
Indianapolis: 1st

1916:
Omaha: 1st
Kansas City: 1st

1928:
Atlantic City: 1st, twice


Mercedes 115 hp Grand Prix race car, 1914.



Ralph de Palma in his 115 hp Mercedes Grand Prix race car, 1914.

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Manfred von Brauchitsch - 15.08.1905 - 5.02.2003


He won three Grands Prix - the 1934 ADAC Eifelrennen which saw the first appearance of Silver Arrows Mercedes Race cars, the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix (considered his greatest victory), and the 1938 French Grand Prix. His fastest lap in the 1937 Monaco race (1 minute 46.5 seconds, 11.9 seconds faster than the old record lap) set a record that stood for 18 years.
He was twice runner-up in the European Championship, in 1937 and 1938, and finished third in 1939.
He was noted for his red helmet and his bad luck, losing a number of other Grands Prix when he was on the very verge of winning (no less than five, by some counts). His most famous loss was the 1935 German Grand Prix, when a tire blew while he was leading the last lap, handing victory to Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo in one of the latter's most famous victories - the only time during the reign of the Silver Arrows when a Grand Prix was won by a car other than a Mercedes or Auto Union.


He was called die Pechvogel, the unlucky bird. He was known more for the races that he lost than those that he had won, but to dismiss him as a journeyman driver would do him a great disservice. While not at the level of his teammates Caracciola, Fagioli and Lang he was an extremely fast and courageous driver. What he was lacking was the sensitivity for his car that would guide him in when to push and when to hold back.
Born in Hamburg on the 15th of August 1905, to a military family. His father had been a major in the German Army while his uncle was appointed Army Commander in Chief and promoted to Field Marshall by Hitler. A military career was in the offing for the young Manfred but a motorcycle accident and a fractured skull made him unfit for military service.
While convalescing at his cousin’s house he became interested in one of his cousin’s cars, a super-charged Mercedes. He persuaded his cousin to teach him how to drive. While visiting a local movie house his attention became riveted to a newsreel that showed some racing cars. With his cousin’s support he entered a hillclimb near Salzburg on 8 September 1929.
Driving a Mercedes he finished first in class. In 1931, still supported by his cousin, he competed in the Eifel GP and finished third to his future teammate Rudolf Caracciola and H. J. von Morgan. In 1932 von Brauchitsch won the race that made him famous.
Entering the Avus GP as a private entrant a friend convinced him that he needed an edge to compete with the works drivers. That edge would come from a special streamlined body fitted to a Mercedes SSKL. At first the car, which looked like a large cigar was considered something of a joke and nobody gave the car or driver much of a chance until he passed the works Alfa of Caracciola and won the race by a car length.
Von Brauchitsch was invited by Mercedes to join their team who were at the same time preparing all new cars for the 1934 season. His first start for Mercedes occurred at the Eifel GP and von Brauchitsch won his first race for the works team. After this fantastic start to his professional career he was not to win another major race for three years. At the German GP he crashed and suffered several broken ribs, a broken arm, shoulder blade and collarbone. Unbeknownst to the doctors he had also suffered a fractured skull! After returning to race in Switzerland the skull fracture was discovered and the remainder of the season was lost to von Brauchitsch.


1935 was a continuation of mechanical and mental breakdowns. His times in practice were always very fast but the race would be another matter. Von Brauchitsch was though a crowd favorite as he always gave of himself all that there was. At the Belgian GP his car failed but Fagioli, after being prevented from passing Caracciola pulled into the pits and refused to continue. Von Brauchitsch was summoned to continue in the Italian’s car, which had just been passed by Dreyfus and Chiron into fourth place. Neubauer told his driver that he was to drive as fast as possible and try for a Mercedes 1-2 behind Caracciola. This was just the kind of challenge that von Brauchitsch enjoyed as he passed Dreyfus on lap 27 and Chiron on the 29th at the famous Eau Rouge bend. As Harold Nockolds wrote in MotorSport, "van Brauchitsch does not posses the genius of a Caracciola, a Fagioli or a Chiron, but he gets amazingly good results all the same. His approach to a corner is always rather ragged, and involves a great deal of vigorous work with the steering wheel and some violent use of the brakes."

The next race could have been his greatest victory but the day belonged to another, Tazio Nuvolari. Von Brauchitsch’s name would go down in history, not as a victor but as the vanquished in the legendary German Grand Prix where Nuvolari raced into history. Von Brauchitsch had a seemly secure lead despite a furious charge by Nuvolari but he continued to drive as if the devil himself was on his tail.
He may well have been that day and von Brauchitsch in sight of the finish line suffered a burst tire allowing Nuvolari to claim a stunning victory. Von Brauchitsch ended his race in tears, oblivious to the cheers of the crowd and the commiseration of his teammates and rivals. At his hotel Chiron visited him and Nuvolari presented him with a bouquet of flowers. 1936 was more of the same and prior to the 1937 season there was a question of whether von Brauchitsch would continue with the team.


Neubauer still had faith in his driver and for the new year Mercedes was determined not to repeat the failures of the preceding season. To that end they fielded a new four-man team which consisted of Caracciola, von Brauchitsch, Fagioli’s former mechanic and future star Hermann Lang and promising British driver Dick Seaman.
It is ironic that the often-ragged von Brauchitsch would finally taste victory at the circuit that required the most precision but Monaco was always a race that he enjoyed. In the early laps he lay second to Caracciola with Rosemeyer hot on his heels. Rosemeyer tried all of his tricks to pass von Brauchitsch but not this year or this race.
The steering on the Auto Union failed and Rosemeyer crashed into the sandbanks at the Gasometer hairpin. Their main rival now out of the race everyone expected a routine Mercedes 1-2 but von Brauchitsch had other ideas. Setting a new lap record on lap 21 he was now right on his team leader’s tail. Neubauer began to wave his flag furiously to signal von Brauchitsch to hold his station. In response his rebellious driver would only stick out his tongue at Don Alfredo.
Caracciola was up to the challenge and answered his teammate with a lap record of his own but the strain wore on his engine and he had to pit for new plugs. When he returned to the race he began a charge that saw him make up lost ground and to assume the lead when von Brauchitsch pitted for fuel and tires. Just as he re-entered the race Caracciola’s Mercedes appeared and off they screamed side by side as they passed the pits. Von Brauchitsch was just able to squeeze into the lead.


The whole team was in an uproar as half the team waved for von Brauchitsch to relent and allow his team leader to pass into the lead while the other half of the team urged their Pechvogel to press on! Von Brauchitsch had nothing to lose for losing is all that he had done for the last three years. Caracciola now had the bit firmly in his teeth and on his next lap he set a record that wasn’t equaled for eighteen years. Caracciola was able to wrest the lead but his tires were now shot and he had no choice but to pit.
Von Brauchitsch crossed the finish line first and the three-year drought was over, he had finally won another race. After the race the Mercedes team held a great victory party and the two teammates/rivals joined in the celebration. Later that year Neubauer pulled Von Brauchitsch from a burning car during a pitlane fire caused by spilled gasoline. 1939 was the last year of racing before war engulfed Europe and the last race happened on the day, September 3, 1939, that England declared war on Germany.
This was also the day of the Yugoslav GP. Von Brauchitsch thought better of it and caught the next flight out of Belgrade for Switzerland! Neubauer upon hearing of this was able to reach the plane before it took off and literally dragged his reluctant driver back to the circuit.
The race was won by Nuvolari and von Brauchitsch’s life went downhill from there. Being the son and nephew of military men was not of much use in post war Germany and after several failed businesses von Brauchitsch turned to Caracciola for help.
Sympathetic to the plight of his friend and former teammate he arranged some contacts in Argentina for von Brauchitsch. Unfortunately for von Brauchitsch he was not able to make a new life for himself there and returned to Germany a bitter man, just the sort of victim the Communists were looking for. In 1951 the German Grand Prix ace came under suspicion by the West German government for involvement in espionage.
He was soon arrested but while out on bail he defected to East Germany leaving his wife behind. In a final tragedy his wife committed suicide the following year. If only Neubauer had allowed the plane to take off.


Manfred von Brauchitsch in 1986 with Mercedes-Benz K.