By the Porsche Curves, with the iconic pit building over my shoulder, I pinch myself as I watch Bugattis, Bentleys, BMW 328s, Talbots, even a Lagonda snaking their way around Circuit de la Sarthe. At speed, with commitment. Hallowed territory indeed, and those cars – which earned their right to race here nearly a century ago – still look right, even silhouetted as they are above the painted surface of the modern track. It actually brings a lump to my throat. Doubtless the 200,000 or so visitors to Le Mans Classic will feel the same as they devour the sight of 750 racing cars of all eras, battling in a variety of grids, day and night over a very special long weekend.
My turn soon, and in a very special Mercedes-Benz. It’s 70 years since the Stuttgart works team scored a 1-2 here on its first time back at Le Mans in 22 years, with the pairings of Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess (the winners) and Theo Helfrich and Helmut Niedermeyr. The third pairing of Karl Kling and Hans Klenk retired with electrical trouble nine hours in, though they had notable success later, as will become apparent.
Their mounts were the new Mercedes-Benz W194, the first Mercedes to be badged ‘300SL’ and the progenitor of the subsequent ‘Gullwing’ production car. Ten were built; their victories included that 1-2 as well as wins at Bern-Bremgarten, the Nürburgring Eifelrennen, and the Carrera Panamericana (Kling and Klenk) in Mexico. One finished second on the W194’s very first outing, the 1952 Mille Miglia.
Some regard the W194 as the most significant post-war Mercedes-Benz made: it marked the company’s return to competition, after all. While Mercedes-Benz’s most treasured possession remains the Moss/Jenks 300 sold at auction), it’s important to remember that – and it didn’t go on for long. The Uhlenhaut car was unraced because Mercedes turned its back on competition after the Pierre Levegh crash at La Sarthe in 1955. And the car I’m sitting in right now is chassis number 0005, driven to second place 70 years ago in the Carrera Panamericana by Hermann Lang and Erwin Grupp, behind Kling and Klenk. It has belonged to Mercedes-Benz ever since.
