1937 Mercedes-Benz W125

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1972. 

It's the 5,663cc straight-8 supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 with which Colin Crabbe took part in the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race and which he won later that day. Rescued by Colin Crabbe from East Germany in the 1960s, it's the only Mercedes-Benz W125 in private hands and was subsequently owned by Neil Corner and Bernie Ecclestone.

1937 Mercedes-Benz W125

I took this photograph at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's Colin Crabbe driving the 5,663cc straight-8 supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 out of the paddock to take part in a practice session for the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race which he won later that day. Rescued by Colin Crabbe from East Germany in the 1960s, it's the only Mercedes-Benz W125 in private hands and was subsequently owned by Neil Corner and Bernie Ecclestone. A note in the programme had this to say about the car (after discussing the expected duel between the ERAs of Martin Morris and Neil Corner):

 

'Also on the front row will be one of the fabulous 1937 Grand Prix Mercedes of 5.6 litres, the most powerful Grand Prix car ever built with an engine capable of giving over 600 bhp, perhaps double that of a 2 litre ERA. The driver is Colin Crabbe, whose brave bid to bring one of these formidable cars back into racing after a lapse of over 30 years will be watched with interest.'

Mercedes-Benz W125

These photographs were taken at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1971.

It's the 5,663cc straight-8 supercharged 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 of Colin Crabbe in which he won the Richard Seaman Memorial Historic Trophy Race that day. Rescued by Colin Crabbe from East Germany in the 1960s, it's the only Mercedes-Benz W125 in private hands and was subsequently owned by Neil Corner and Bernie Ecclestone. A note in the programme had this to say about the car (after discussing the expected duel between the ERAs of Martin Morris and Neil Corner):

'Also on the front row will be one of the fabulous 1937 Grand Prix Mercedes of 5.6 litres, the most powerful Grand Prix car ever built with an engine capable of giving over 600 bhp, perhaps double that of a 2 litre ERA. The driver is Colin Crabbe, whose brave bid to bring one of these formidable cars back into racing after a lapse of over 30 years will be watched with interest.'

Here's Colin Crabbe just past Old Hall Corner during the race.

Mercedes Benz W125

On 22 March 2015 and 2 May 2016 I showed photographs of the 1937 Mercedes Benz W125 that was taken from the Mercedes Benz museum to the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007. Here are some more photographs of the car I took that day, both in the paddock and during demonstration runs round the circuit driven by Tony Dron.

This photograph was taken at McLeans Corner

These two photographs were taken at Redgate

Mercedes Benz W125 & W154 at Oulton Park

On 3 April 2012 I showed photographs of the Mercedes Benz W125 that Colin Crabbe took to Oulton Park in 1970 and 1971, and I referred to the fact that in June 1958 Mercedes Benz had taken a W125 and also a W154 to the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park to be driven in demonstration runs by Peter Collins and Tony Brooks. Here are photographs of those cars I took that day returning to the paddock after one of those runs.

The 1937 Mercedes Benz W125

The 1939 Mercedes Benz W154 (sometimes called the W163)

Mercedes Benz W125

On 22 March 2015 I showed some photographs of the 1937 Mercedes Benz W125 that was sent from the Mercedes Benz museum to the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007 to give demonstration runs in the hands of Tony Dron. The W125 had taken part in a Grand Prix race at Donington Park in 1937. Here are some more photographs I took of the car at that SeeRed meeting.

There was no motor racing World Championship in 1937, but Rudolf Caracciola became European Champion by winning 3 of the 5 races in the series.

The 1937 race at Donington Park was a non-Championship race and was won by Berndt Rosemeyer in an Auto Union C type.

That 1937 race was known as the Donington Grand Prix as the RAC would not let the organisers call it the British Grand Prix.

Here's Tony Dron at McLean's Corner in one of his demonstration runs......

......and here he is at Redgate corner on a later run.

Birthday Card

This is a card I bought for my brother's recent birthday:

When I picked it up I expected that there would be something on the back of the card saying what race was being depicted and giving some information about the cars and drivers shown, but instead.....

.....all that it says is 'Flags 1936'. The cars shown are obviously an Alfa Romeo 8C 35 or 12C 36 leading a Mercedes-Benz W125 - the Alfa could have been in a race during 1935, 1936 or 1937, but the W125 was only raced in 1937 so the date of 1936 is incorrect. Trawling through the major races of 1937 the only race this could possibly be is the 1937 Italian Grand Prix at Livorno, where the number 22 Alfa Romeo 12C 36 was driven by Tazio Nuvolari, who handed the car over later in the race to Guiseppe Farina, and the number 6 Mercedes-Benz W125 was driven by Herrman Lang. I've come across a photograph of the 1937 Italian Grand Prix of two of the Mercedes-Benz W125s about to round a corner where there's a fence exactly like the one in this painting, which seems to confirm that it is Livorno.

NB: This is the Daimler AG photograph I found showing the two W125s apparently at this corner in the 1937 race. (Photo from SportCarDigest.com: http://www.sportscardigest.com/silver-arrows-at-the-goodwood-revival-2012/4/)

Mercedes Benz W125

Following my recent post about the Mercedes Benz W125 replica in the Donington Collection here are some photographs of the W125 that Mercedes Benz sent from their museum in 2007 to give demonstration runs round Donington Park at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting that year. I showed one photograph of the car there in a post about Mercedes Benz on 3 April 2012.

Used during the 1937 season, the car won 4 out of the 5 Grands Prix in the European Championship series (the German, Monaco, Swiss & Italian races) losing out only at the Belgian Grand Prix to the Auto Union C-types.

Three of the four races were won by Rudolf Caracciola, the Monaco Grand Prix being won by Manfred von Brauchitsch.

The car has a 5.6 litre supercharged straight-8 engine

Tony Dron rounding McLeans Corner during a demonstration run

Mercedes Benz W125

This is one of the cars in the Donington Collection which I photographed when I visited the museum at Donington Park in September last year.

This car certainly looks like a 1937 Mercedes Benz W125 and by all accounts it sounds and smells like a Mercedes Benz W125, but in fact it was specially built for the Donington Collection from original working drawings as the board in front of the car explains:

    Replica of 1937 W125 Grand Prix Car

It was long coveted by the Donington Grand Prix Collection founder and owner,

Tom Wheatcroft, to own a Mercedes W125 Grand Prix car. However, a lack of

availability and sky high prices stopped this from becoming a reality. Never one to

miss an opportunity (even though he was already in his 80's!), Tom and his son

Kevin embarked on a project to reconstruct this legendary Grand Prix car.

In order to set the project in motion, Kevin Wheatcroft spent a considerable

amount of money and many hours scouring the world for parts. During this

exhaustive search, he stumbled across a complete set of working drawings. The

drawings were in the process of being carefully restored and redrawn, when an

opportunity arose to borrow an original untouched example of a 1937 Grand Prix

Mercedes W125 – this was through the kind co-operation of the Schlumpf

Collection (Cité de l'Automobile).

Over the next year, the car was painstakingly measured and data collected –

a tireless effort to ensure all details of the car were accurately recorded. An

interesting fact was that the car borrowed was in fact the 1937 Donington Grand

Prix car, driven by Hermann Lang – his name and race number still being written

on the underside of the seat cushion. This car had the benefit of never being

touched and therefore completely original. The project was further enhanced by

the generosity of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula 1 Supremo, in that he allowed

access to his original restored example, the only one in private hands.

With this wealth of data and information, thousands of photographs and original

engineering notes, the long task of producing a replica began (Tom and Kevin, no

strangers to exceptional recreations, had previously built the Bugatti Royale,

where over 100,000 manhours went into producing the patterns, jigs, drawings

and build programme).

The result of such dedication is this truly wonderful replica, which exudes all the

charisma, sound, sight and smell of the original machine. It was just possible for

the late Tom Wheatcroft to hear and smell the car start for the first time, before

he sadly passed away. It was left to his son, Kevin, to prove the car for the first

time, thundering round Donington Park, imagining the echoes of a yesteryear…

The only thing it seems to lack is the Mercedes Benz badge above the radiator grille

Early Memories and Mercedes Benz

I think it was the cutaway drawings of racing cars in The Eagle comic from 1950 onwards which first got me interested in motor racing. I remember later reading stories of the Mercedes Benz and Auto Union cars of the 1930s - the 'Silver Arrows' - and thinking how I'd have loved to have seen these cars in action.

In 1958, when I was 16 years old, Mercedes Benz sent 2 cars, a W125 of 1937 and a W154 of 1939 (at that time generally referred to as a W163) to the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy meeting at Oulton Park for Peter Collins and Tony Brooks to give demonstration runs. It was a time when car ownership wasn't as widespread as it is today and the only way to get to Oulton Park from where I lived (Denton, near Manchester) was to get a train from Manchester to Crewe, another train from Crewe to Beeston Castle, and then walk about 5 miles from there to the circuit. The only alternative was to do the whole journey (about 35 miles) by bicycle which I did quite a few times as a teenager, but on this occasion I chose the train and the walk. I did use my bike though to go to Manchester of the Friday afternoon after school as the cars were on display in the showroom of a Mercedes Benz dealer in Manchester.

Some 12 years later, in 1970, and then again in 1971, a W125 which had been discovered in (I think) East Germany by Colin Crabbe actually took part in the Richard Seaman Trophy race and in fact won on both occasions. The two photographs below are of the car at each of these meetings.

More recently, in 2007, Mercedes Benz sent a W125 to Donington Park, now the venue for the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy races and it gave a demonstration run driven by Tony Dron, seen below at McLeans corner.

For the 2008 meeting Mercedes Benz sent over to Donington Park one of the W154/163 cars which was again demonstrated by Tony Dron and the photograph below shows the car in the paddock with the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy just in front of the windscreen.

The Auto Unions are another story and I'll come to that some other time.