The automotive giant, Daimler-Benz, made significant advances in engineering during the 1930s and showcased their prowess through motorsport. Their Mercedes-Benz cars dominated grand prix and sportscar racing and the cars, with their unpainted aluminium bodies, became known worldwide as the Silver Arrows.
1938 German GP Mercedes W154 von Brauchitsch 12
In an attempt to slow the increasingly powerful grand prix cars, at the end 1937 the sports ruling body instigated a change that saw the supercharged 5700cc engines reduced to 3000cc with a supercharger or 4500cc without; the revised model was titled the W156 and was designed to contest the 1938 and 1939 seasons. The V12, 480 horsepower front-engined car retained the chassis of the previous grand prix model, the W125, and changed from a 4-speed to a 5-speed ZF gearbox. Such was the complexity of the V12 engine, each unit cost approximately €1 million to build in today’s money. During the 1938 season the driver line-up consisted of Hermann Lang, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Rudolf Caracciola and the British driver Richard Seaman. The European Championship season consisted of just four races held in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy and the W156 won three of them albeit with a different driver each time. Manfred von Brauchitsch won the second race, the French grand prix and no doubt was expected to win the following race held at the Nurburgring in Germany. The photograph shows him in action during the race where he qualified in pole position with the another two W156’s alongside him on the starting grid even though the large cars were not suited to the twists and turns of the track. At the start it was the car of Lang that took the lead before a mechanical issue forced an unscheduled pit stop. This allowed von Brauchitsch inherited the lead but during a pit stop spilt fuel came into contact with the exhaust and his car caught fire. After two minutes it was brought under control and he rejoined the race only to retire shortly afterwards when his car left the circuit due to damage incurred during the pit stop. The following grand prix was held in Switzerland where von Brauchitsch finished third but the final race in Italy resulted in another retirement.
