The Mercedes-Benz W154 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut. The W154 competed in the 1938 and 1939 Grand Prix seasons and was used by
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wor ...
to win the 1938 European Championship.
The W154 was created as a result of a rule change by the sports governing body AIACR, which limited supercharged engine capacities to 3000cc. Mercedes' previous car, the supercharged 5700cc
W125, was therefore ineligible. The company decided that a new car based on the chassis of the W125 and designed to comply with the new regulations would be preferable to modifying the existing car.
Although using the same chassis design as the 1938 car, a different body was used for the 1939 season and the M154 engine used during 1938 was replaced by the M163. As a result of the new engine, the 1939 car is often mistakenly referred to as a Mercedes-Benz W163.
Concept
For the 1938 season, Grand Prix racing's governing body AIACR moved from a
formula
In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...
limited by weight to one by engine capacity. The new regulations allowed a maximum capacity of 3000cc with a
supercharger
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
or 4500cc without. This meant Mercedes-Benz's previous car, the supercharged 5700cc
W125, was ineligible to continue. Its new car was based on the W125 chassis, with a supercharged 3000cc engine determined after both types had been tested.
Chassis and suspension
![LangH-MB-W154-1986-08-16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/LangH-MB-W154-1986-08-16.jpg)
The chassis was largely based on that of the preceding W125. The frame was constructed using oval tubes made of nickel-chrome molybdenum to provide stiffness.
The suspension was also near identical to the W125. The rear consisted of a
De Dion tube
De Dion rear axle
A de Dion tube is a form of non-independent automobile suspension. It is a considerable improvement over the swing axle, Hotchkiss drive, or live axle. Because it plays no part in transmitting power to the drive wheels, it is ...
, designed to keep the rear wheels parallel using a solid tubular beam. It also had hydraulic rear dampers, adjustable from within the cockpit during a race.
The bodywork of the W154 was aluminium, left unpainted like its predecessors, making it another of Mercedes' famed ''
Silver Arrows
Silver Arrows (german: link=no, Silberpfeil) was the nickname given by the press to Germany's dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix motor racing cars between 1934 and 1939. The name was later applied to the Mercedes-Benz Formula ...
''.
Engine and transmission
The new M154 engine was a 3000cc (2,961.54 cc, 67.0 x 70.0 mm) supercharged V12, attaining an output between 425 and 474 horse power. In 1939, the 2-stage supercharged version recorded a test bed power of 476 BHP (483 PS) at 7,800 rpm. Each one of these engines reputedly cost 89,700 German reichsmarks in 1938 (US$949,601 today).
To compensate for the smaller engine compared to the W125, the W154 had an extra gear with a 5-speed manual transmission. The first gear was protected by a latch to avoid being engaged accidentally.
To achieve an extremely low car, the engine is slightly off-set and the transmission tunnel passes next to the seat and not under the seat.In order to reduce the weight, it did not have a starter motor and an external starter was used to start it.
Racing history
1938
![1938 Mercedes Benz W154 pic1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/1938_Mercedes_Benz_W154_pic1.JPG)
The W154 made its debut in the opening race of the 1938 season, the non-championship Pau Grand Prix in April. Cars were entered for both Caracciola and Lang. Lang crashed during practice and the team withdrew his car.
René Dreyfus
René Dreyfus (6 May 1905 – 16 August 1993) was a French driver who raced automobiles for 14 years in the 1920s and 1930s, the Golden Era of Grand Prix motor racing.
Early life
Dreyfus was born and raised in Nice to a Jewish family. He show ...
took pole position in a
Delahaye
Delahaye was a family-owned automobile manufacturing company, founded by Émile Delahaye in 1894 in Tours, France. Manufacturing was moved to Paris following incorporation with two unrelated brothers-in-law as equal partners in 1898. The compa ...
, but Caracciola was second and managed to beat Dreyfus away from the line at the start of the race. Despite leading, Caracciola was suffering from an old leg injury, and when he pitted for fuel he handed the car over to Lang. Dreyfus took the lead and would not need to pit as his car's lower fuel consumption meant he could complete the race non-stop. Lang's car developed a
spark plug
A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/air ...
problem and finished the race in second place, nearly two minutes behind.
The car's next outing at Tripoli, again a non-championship race, was much more successful. The three cars that were entered for Lang, von Brauchitsch and Caracciola qualified first, second and third respectively. The gap from Caracciola to fourth placed
Clemente Biondetti
Clemente Biondetti (18 October 1898 – 24 February 1955) was an Italian auto racing driver. Born into a working-class family, Biondetti raced motorcycles before turning to automobiles where he had greater success.
Biography
Born in Buddusò, Sa ...
was over three seconds. The cars retained these positions at the end of the race and although von Brauchitsch and Caracciola had both suffered engine problems, Caracciola still finished over eight minutes ahead of fourth placed
Raymond Sommer
Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950) was a French motor racing driver. He raced both before and after WWII with some success, particularly in endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in both and , and altho ...
.
The first race of the European Championship was the
French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...
, held at the
Reims-Gueux
The circuit Reims-Gueux was a Grand Prix motor racing road course, located in Gueux, Marne, Gueux, 7.5 km (5 miles) west of Reims in the Champagne (historical province), Champagne region of north-eastern France, established in 1926 as the sec ...
circuit. Three cars were entered, for Caracciola, von Brauchitsch and Lang. A poor turnout meant that there were only nine competitors. Team manager
Alfred Neubauer
Alfred Neubauer (29 March 1891 in Neutitschein – 22 August 1980 in Stuttgart) was the racing manager of the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955.
Biography
Neubauer's father, Karl Neubauer, was a furniture-maker in Neutitschein () ...
offered to enter a fourth W154 for
Richard Seaman
Richard John Beattie Seaman (4 February 1913 – 25 June 1939) was a British Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937 to 1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 cars, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix. He died o ...
, but the organisers insisted on a maximum of three cars per team. Lang took pole position, with von Brauchitsch second and Caracciola third, ahead of the two
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
s of
Christian Kautz
Christian Kautz (born 23 November 1913 – died on 4 July 1948) was an auto racing driver from Switzerland.
Son of a Swiss multi-millionaire, his career started with Mercedes-Benz as a junior driver in 1936, then as an Auto Union junior driver in ...
and
Rudolf Hasse
Rudolf Hasse (30 May 1906 – 12 August 1942) was a German racing driver who won the 1937 Belgian Grand Prix.
Hasse was born in Mittweida, Saxony, and died while serving on the Russian front during World War II in a military hospital in Makiivka, ...
. The Mercedes-Benz cars led from the start. After two laps, four cars had retired, leaving only the Mercedes-Benz and
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...
cars in the race, the Talbots already a minute behind. Lang had difficulties in a pit-stop and Caracciola's engine started firing on only eleven of its twelve cylinders. This left von Brauchitsch to claim victory ahead of Caracciola and Lang. The only other finisher was
René Carrièrè in a Talbot, ten laps behind.
Three weeks after the French Grand Prix came the second race of the European Championship, the
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
. Four W154s were entered and they took the first four positions on the starting grid; von Brauchitsch took pole position from Lang, Seaman and Caracciola. At the start, Lang took the lead but on lap three his car's spark plugs oiled up and he had to make an emergency pit stop. Shortly afterwards, team manager Alfred Neubauer brought Lang into the pits so that
Walter Bäumer
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
, a reserve driver for Mercedes-Benz, could take over. Lang's mechanical problems allowed von Brauchitsch to take the lead. Meanwhile, Caracciola had been struggling with
abdominal pain
Abdominal pain, also known as a stomach ache, is a symptom
Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than ...
and stopped on lap ten to allow Lang to take over his car. Von Brauchitsch came in for his second pit stop on lap sixteen, followed by Seaman in second position. During von Brauchitsch's pit stop, a mechanic spilt fuel over the car which was then ignited by a spark from the car's exhaust pipe. This allowed Seaman to exit the pits in the lead of the race. When his car's fire had been extinguished, von Brauchitsch also left the pits, only to crash his car later during the lap. Seaman continued on to win the race, followed by Lang in Caracciola's car. Lang's car, being driven by Bäumer, retired from the race with engine problems.
Following the French Grand Prix, Mercedes-Benz travelled to Italy to contest two non-championship races - the
Coppa Ciano
The Coppa Ciano was an automobile race held in Italy. Originally referred to as Coppa Montenero or Circuito Montenero, the Coppa Ciano name was officially in use between 1927 and 1939.
History
During the years immediately following World War I se ...
at
Montenero and the
Coppa Acerbo
The Coppa Acerbo was an automobile race held in Italy, named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. Following Italy's defeat in World War II, and the consequent demise of fascism, the race was renamed the ...
at
Pescara
Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...
. For the Coppa Ciano, Caracciola was entered in an experimental car with a larger saddle tank and a shorter tail section. Pole position went to
Carlo Felice Trossi
Count Carlo Felice Trossi (27 April 1908 – 9 May 1949) was an Italian racecar driver and auto constructor.
Racing career
During his career, he raced for three different teams: Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo and, briefly, Maserati. He won the 1947 Ita ...
in a
Maserati 8CTF, but he retired on lap eight with engine troubles. Caracciola retired due to a punctured fuel tank, leaving von Brauchitsch to win from Lang. After the race, von Brauchitsch was disqualified for receiving outside assistance, which left Lang as the winner. At the Coppa Acerbo, Mercedes-Benz failed to win the pole position for the second race in a row;
Tazio Nuvolari
Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari (; 16 November 1892 – 11 August 1953) was an Italian racing driver. He first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and single-seaters. A resident of Mantua, he was known as 'Il Mantovano Volante' (Th ...
took pole position for Auto Union. In the race, Nuvolari retired when his
differential broke, leaving Caracciola to win. The two other W154s of von Brauchitsch and Lang retired with engine problems. Lang's car caught fire after a
conrod
A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the cranksha ...
severed the fuel pipe to his car's engine; the fire burnt away all of the
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
bodywork.
1947–1957: Indianapolis 500
![Mercedes w154 indianapolis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Mercedes_w154_indianapolis.jpg)
After the war, the W154 designated as chassis nine was discovered in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
. This was the car with which Lang had won the
Coppa Ciano
The Coppa Ciano was an automobile race held in Italy. Originally referred to as Coppa Montenero or Circuito Montenero, the Coppa Ciano name was officially in use between 1927 and 1939.
History
During the years immediately following World War I se ...
in 1938.
The car was sold to Don Lee, an American racing team owner. During 1938, the rules for the Indianapolis 500 were modified to allow the European Grand Prix cars to compete, and in 1947, Lee entered his W154 with
Duke Nalon
Dennis "Duke" Nalon (March 2, 1913 – February 26, 2001) was an American midget car, sprint car, and Indy 500 driver from Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Racing career
Nalon began as a pit crew member for Wally Zale. Nalon occasionally warmed u ...
as the driver. Nalon discovered that
Riley Brett, an
Offenhauser
The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers.
History
The Offenhauser engine, familiarly ...
mechanic, had obtained some Mercedes engine blueprints. Nalon was able to make copies and from these, the team was able to prepare the engine. The mechanics started the engine but left it running on
idle
Idle generally refers to idleness, a lack of motion or energy.
Idle or ''idling'', may also refer to:
Technology
* Idle (engine), engine running without load
** Idle speed
* Idle (CPU), CPU non-utilisation or low-priority mode
** Synchronous ...
which caused the fuel to
condense
Condensation is the change of the state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle. It can also be defined as the change in the state of water vapor to ...
in the engine
manifold
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a n ...
. Due to the engine being mounted at an angle, the rear cylinders filled up with fuel, breaking the
conrods and one
piston
A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tig ...
. A new piston was hastily
sand cast
Sand casting, also known as sand molded casting, is a metal casting process characterized by using sand as the mold material. The term "sand casting" can also refer to an object produced via the sand casting process. Sand castings are produced ...
in time for the race.
Although Nalon set the second fastest qualifying speed, the qualifying system meant that he would start the race from 18th position. During the race, the replacement piston failed after 119 laps and the car had to retire from the race.
Nalon was not rehired for the 1948 race.
Ralph Hepburn
Ralph R. Hepburn (April 11, 1896 – May 16, 1948) was a pioneer United States, American Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racing champion and an Indianapolis 500 Auto racing, racecar driver.
Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, Hepburn's family mo ...
was to be the driver, having not found a drive for the previous season's race. Hepburn later decided to instead drive a
Novi for team owner Lew Welch. Meanwhile, one of Welch's drivers,
Chet Miller
Chester Miller (July 19, 1902 – May 15, 1953) was an American racecar driver. He was killed in a crash in the south turn of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during practice for the 1953 Indianapolis 500. Yates, Brock W. "The Indianapolis 500 ...
, had decided that the Novi was too difficult to drive. Miller agreed to drive the W154 for Don Lee. He qualified the car in 19th position, but come the race, had to rely on a relief driver after 29 laps.
Ken Fowler Ken Fowler (15 March 1907 in Fargo, North Dakota – 16 January 1981 in St. James City, Florida) was an American racecar driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of ...
took over on lap 30 and he handed it over to
Louis Tomei
Luigi Gilbert "Louis" Tomei (February 17, 1910 in Portland, Oregon – May 15, 1955 in Los Angeles) was an American racecar driver active during the 1930s and 1940s, and a stuntman active during the 1940s and 1950s.
Indy 500 results
St ...
on lap 50. Tomei continued through to lap 108, when the car had to retire with oil problems.
In 1949, Don Lee sold his W154 to
Joel Thorne
Joel W. Thorne (16 October 1914 New York City – 17 October 1955 North Hollywood, California) was an American racecar driver, engineer, and playboy. He died when he crashed his private plane, after what witnesses described as "stunting", into ...
, another team owner. Thorne had the Mercedes engine removed and a ''Sparks''
straight-six engine
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...
installed. The car's
bonnet
A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap
Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include
Scottish
* Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations:
**Feath ...
no longer fit, so a new one had to be manufactured. Thorne drove the car himself, but failed to qualify for the race.
Alfred Neubauer attended the 1949 race, in order to investigate the feasibility of a works Mercedes entry at Indianapolis. Neubauer studied Lew Welch's Novi team, and based on the information he had gained, Mercedes attempted to adapt the W154 for oval racing. The target was an entry in the 1951 Indianapolis 500. The cars were entered for two races in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
that year and attained two second-place finishes, with Herrmann Lang,
Karl Kling
Karl Kling (; 16 September 1910, Gießen – 18 March 2003, Gaienhofen on Lake Constance, Germany) was a motor racing driver and manager from Germany. He participated in 11 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 4 July 1954. He achieved 2 podiums - ...
and home favorite
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...
driving. However, Mercedes discontinued the programme.
The ex-Don Lee W154 made one final appearance at Indianapolis in 1957. The car was now owned by Edward Shreve, and had a
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
straight-six engine
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...
fitted.
Danny Kladis
Danny Kladis (February 10, 1917 – April 26, 2009) was an American racecar driver. He was born in Crystal City, Missouri and died at Joliet, Illinois. 92-year-old Kladis was the oldest living Indy 500 starter at the time of his death.
Racin ...
drove the car, but failed to qualify for the race.
Complete results
Race results
European Championship results
Non-championship results
† The Grand Prix class was run at the same time as the
Voiturette
A voiturette is a miniature automobile.
History
''Voiturette'' was first registered by Léon Bollée in 1895 to name his new motor tricycle. The term became so popular in the early years of the motor industry that it was used by many makers t ...
class.
* Fowler and Tomei were relief drivers for Miller. Miller drove laps 1-29, Fowler drove laps 30-50 and Tomei drove from 51 to 108, when the car retired.
Formula One results
Hill climb results
Notes
References
*
*
External links
{{Silver Arrows
W154
Grand Prix cars
American Championship racing cars