Mercedes-Benz racing car books - history and models

Mercedes and Benz Racing 1900-1955 - An appreciation

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This illustrated volume presents the first 55 years of Mercedes and Benz racing history, showing both achievements and challenges. Over 1.200 period photographs, many previously unpublished, accompany the story, drawn from archives including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Audi.

The book begins with Daimler and Benz and traces the evolution of the Mercedes name. It covers major motorsport events from the early 20th century through the mid-1950s, including Grand Prix racing, board track competitions, endurance races such as the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, and Carrera Panamericana, as well as hill climbs and land speed records in Europe, North and South America.

Notable figures featured include Emil Jellinek, Ferdinand Porsche, Camille Jenatzy, Christian Lautenschlager, Otto Salzer, Ralph DePalma, Barney Oldfield, Alfred Neubauer, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Rudolf Caracciola, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Stirling Moss.

The book also highlights famous race cars such as the Gordon Bennett racers, Blitzen Benz, 1914 Supercharged Mercedes, and models W25, W125, W154, W196, and 300SL.
This nearly 600-page volume provides a detailed visual and historical overview of the early Mercedes-Benz racing legacy and is intended for readers with an interest in classic motorsport.

Product details

Author:	Roy Smith
Details:	608 pages, 25 x 30.5 x 5.1 cm / 9.8 x 12 x 2.01 in, hardback
Illustrations:	1300 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	Veloce Publishing Ltd (GB, 2025)
ISBN:	9781836440024

Silver Arrows - The Story of Mercedes-Benz in Motor Sport

Lewis Hamilton's record-breaking achievements in F1 are the latest successes in a glorious motor sport record for Mercedes and Benz that stretches back to the very first races in the 1890s.
For the first time, this book tells the story of Mercedes in motor sport from the very beginning, with those pioneers of the 19th century, right through to today's hybrid F1 cars. It covers the triumphs and disasters, from the early Grand Prix machines and the extraordinarily advanced and massively powerful racers of the 1930s to the highs of F1, Le Mans and Mille Miglia glory and the sorrow of the 1955 Le Mans disaster.

The story is brought right up to date, tracing Mercedes victories in sports car racing, Indycar, F1 and Formula E - and this book celebrates the achievements of some of the world's greatest drivers, from Caracciola, Fangio and Moss to Hakkinen, Unser and Hamilton.

Product details

Author:	Andrew Noakes
Details:	292 pages, 26 x 21.5 x 2 cm / 10.25 x 8.5 x 0.79 in, hardback
Illustrations:	numerous b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	The Crowood Press Ltd (GB, 2022)
ISBN:	9780719840159

Mercedes and Auto Racing in the Belle Epoque, 1895-1915

The history of the Mercedes provides the thread for this book that narrates the early history of automobile racing. The sport had its origins in Paris, and French marques and the Automobile Club de France dominated the early scene.
But in 1901 a foreign troublemaker emerged, the Mercedes. This German machine was to play a leading role, its career and evolution becoming an image of the whole period. The individuals who built and drove these early racers laid the foundation of a new industry, conceived the modern, high-performance engine, and gave magic to a series of thrilling races.

This richly illustrated history answers many questions from this time. Early chapters discuss the marketing of the original Daimler engine in France, the influence of Emil Jellinek and Wilhelm Maybach, and the great town-to-town and Gordon Bennett races.
Later chapters focus on the French Grand Prix, the great crisis of 1909, the voiturette movement, the Mercedes and Benz successes in America, and the role of Ernest Henry in the development of the revolutionary Peugeot. Final chapters describe the career of the 4.5-litre Mercedes and its impact on future designs.

Product details

Author:	Robert Dick
Details:	371 pages, 25.5 x 18 x 2.5 cm / 10 x 7.1 x 0.98 in, paperback
Illustrations:	314 b&w photos
Publisher:	McFarland & Co Inc (USA, 2014)
ISBN:	9780786477326

The Incredible Blitzen Benz - Mighty Machines from Mannheim

One of the most evocative names ever bestowed on an automobile, "Blitzen Benz" came to express the ultimate in power and speed. The car itself, with its sharp-tailed body, aggressively beaked radiator and colossal exhaust pipes, still stands as an unrivaled icon of velocity on land.

Karl Ludvigsen weaves an engrossing saga of the men and machines of the era covering:
- founder Karl Benz and why he was not keen on racing
- a talented Belgian who designed a great German engine
- how a choleric and driven French racer inspired the first 200 PS Benz
- stunning new world records set in 1909 and 1910
- marrying the Benz with American racing hero Barney Oldfield
- and, why the four-passenger model was fastest of all the Benzes at Brooklands
- rare period images bring the Blitzen's exploits to life
- shattering records with "Wild Bob" Burman
- and, record-breaking at Brooklands with a stove-pipe exhaust.

In his work, Ludvigsen clarifies for the first time the tangled careers of these great cars. He concludes his narrative with the exciting revival of several of the Type RE Benzes, alive again to give a hint of the immortal achievements that made these the most daunting and respected racing cars of their time.

Product details

Author:	Karl Ludvigsen
Details:	170 pages, 26 x 26.5 x 2.2 cm / 10.25 x 10.4 x 0.87 in, hardback
Illustrations:	197 b&w photos
Publisher:	Dalton Watson Fine Books (USA, 2006)
ISBN:	9781854432230

Mercedes Benz Grand Prix W196: Spectacular Silver Arrows 1954-1955

Few racing cars have had the sensational impact of the W196 introduced by Mercedes-Benz in the French Grand Prix on July 4, 1954. It was a feast of exotic features from its streamlined bodywork and direct fuel injection to its inboard brakes and valve-spring-free straight-eight engine.

The W196 scored a one-two debut triumph 40 years to the day after a one-two-three victory by Mercedes in the same event. Its two seasons, 1954 and '55, took iconic Argentinean driver Juan Manuel Fangio to his second and third world championships against strong competition from Ferrari and Maserati. Stirling Moss, Hermann Lang, Piero Taruffi and Karl Kling were other drivers of these post-war Silver Arrows in epic contests at Monaco, Monza, Zandvoort, Silverstone, the Nurburgring and other classic tracks.

Rare and dramatic images from the world-famed Ludvigsen Library evoke the drama of the W's races under the direction of burly team manager Alfred Neubauer, while Karl Ludvigsen's intimate introduction and insightful captions take the reader inside these amazing cars and their creators.

Product details

Author:	Karl Ludvigsen
Details:	128 pages, 21.5 x 26 x 1 cm / 8.5 x 10.25 x 0.39 in, paperback
Illustrations:	121 b&w photos
Publisher:	Iconografix (USA, 2009)
ISBN:	9781583882504

Two Summers : The Mercedes-Benz W196R Racing Car

A fresh, revealing and highly personal window into the culture of Grand Prix racing as it was during the 1954 and 1955 championships. The core of this book is devoted to individual portraits of the twelve races that comprised the 1954-55 seasons in which the W196R participated. Of those races, Fangio won seven and Moss won two.

This book captures the decisive moments when victory - hanging in the balance - was tilted towards Fangio by his own steady hand on the wheel and iron discipline.
The W196R's racing days may be long gone, but it remains a shining star of Mercedes-Benz' participation in motor sport heritage events world wide.
It's this timeless appeal of the W196R that gives this book its vitality, charm and enduring attraction.

Product details

Author:	Robert Ackerson
Details:	192 pages, 25 x 25 cm / 9.8 x 9.8 in, hardback
Illustrations:	171 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	Veloce Publishing Ltd (GB, 2015)
ISBN:	9781845847517

Sauber-Mercedes - the Group C Racecars 1985-1991

This illustrated book offers a detailed account of the Sauber-Mercedes race cars that dominated Group C racing in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
After Peter Sauber began using Mercedes V8 engines in 1985, the team secured World Championship titles in 1989 and 1990. The cars proved highly successful, outperforming strong rivals such as TWR Jaguars and Nissans. In 1990, the team also introduced Michael Schumacher to factory racing.

The book includes interviews with key figures involved in the Sauber-Mercedes program, such as Jochen Mass, Mauro Baldi, Kenny Acheson, David Price, Bobby Bell, and Leo Ress. It is richly illustrated with high-quality colour photographs that document the development and performance of the race cars.

Additionally, the book provides a detailed chassis-by-chassis record of each vehicle used by the team. It serves as both a technical and historical reference for motorsport enthusiasts and historians alike.

Product details

Author:	John Starkey
Details:	128 pages, 23 x 21 x 0.9 cm / 9.1 x 8.25 x 0.35 in, paperback
Illustrations:	profusely illustrated
Publisher:	Veloce Publishing Ltd (GB, 2019)
Series:	Veloce Classic Reprint
ISBN:	9781787114937

Mercedes-Benz CLR

The unfortunately inglorious history of this very beautiful Mercedes-Benz CLR race car during his performance at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1999 made it quite foreseeable that the author would not be supported by the vehicle's manufacturer. However, other potential external sources, such as the people responsible at the time, the responsible motorsport associations, and even the manufacturers of the relevant model cars, showed only a deafening silence, too.

During the more than five years of research for this book, the author Martin Mahle finally set about gathering everything he could find about the Mercedes-Benz CLR without any support.
The result is a very rich, exclusively colorfully illustrated work that impressively documents the history of its creation, its appearance in Le Mans, the reasons for its failure and the rapid disappearance of this unique Le Mans Grand Touring prototype racing car.

Product details

Author:	Martin Mahle
Details:	260 pages, 28 x 21.5 x 1.6 cm / 11 x 8.5 x 0.63 in, paperback
Illustrations:	260 colour photos
Publisher:	CreateSpace (USA, 2018)
ISBN:	9781723021787

Sternstunden - 60 Jahre - Die Mercedes Formel 1 - Erfolgsstory

Sometimes one race, one brilliant lap, one fantastic overtaking manoeuvre, one maneuver is enough to enter the hall of fame of motorsport - quite simply a race to immortality.
Mercedes' history in Formula 1 is rich in such moments and the 2014 season was the crowning achievement of this fantastic reach for the stars.

In this wonderful and unique book, Michael Schmid looks back on six decades of Mercedes motorsport in the premier class, remembering the legendary vehicles, the greatest drivers and the most spectacular races.

Product details

Author:	Michael Schmidt
Details:	160 pages, 26.5 x 23 cm / 10.4 x 9.1 in, hardback
Illustrations:	44 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	Motorbuch Verlag (D, 2015)
ISBN:	9783613037809