Silver Arrows
Encyclopedia
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
and Auto Union
Auto Union
Auto Union was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company has evolved into present day Audi, as a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group....
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...
cars between 1934 and 1939, and also later applied to the Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
and sports cars in 1954/55.
For decades until the introduction of sponsorship liveries, each country had its traditional color in automobile racing. Italian race cars are still famous for their Rosso Corsa
Rosso corsa
Rosso Corsa is the red international motor racing colour of cars entered by teams from Italy.Since the 1920s Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia, and later Ferrari and Abarth have been painted in rosso corsa . This was the customary national racing colour of Italy as recommended...
red color, British ones are British Racing Green
British racing green
British racing green or BRG, a colour similar to Brunswick green, hunter green, forest green or moss green , takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of Britain. Although there is still some debate as to an exact hue for BRG, currently the term is used to denote a spectrum of...
, French blue, etc.
German cars like the Blitzen Benz
Blitzen Benz
In 1909, the Blitzen Benz was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie. The vehicle was one of six built with a , inline four engine enlarged from the company's Grand Prix racer. The car was modified to improve its aerodynamics. At Brooklands on November 9, 1909, land speed racer Victor Hémery of France...
were white, as were the three Mercedes
Mercedes (car)
Mercedes was a brand of the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft . DMG which began to develop in 1900, after the death of its co-founder, Gottlieb Daimler...
that won the 1914 French Grand Prix
1914 French Grand Prix
The 1914 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Lyon on 4 July 1914.-The Race:The restriction on Grand Prix cars for 1914 included an maximum weight and a 4500cc maximum engine capacity....
1-2-3. On the other hand, in 1922 (Giulio Masetti
Giulio Masetti
Giulio Masetti was an Italian nobleman and racing driver, known as "the lion of Madonie" from his dominating the Targa Florio in the early 1920s....
) and 1924 (Christian Werner
Christian Werner
Christian Werner was a German racecar driver.-Indy 500 results:...
), Mercedes won the Italian Targa Florio
Targa Florio
The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973...
with cars painted red, blending in with the local competitors. The big supercharged 200 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
Mercedes-Benz SSK
Mercedes-Benz SSK
The Mercedes-Benz SSK is a roadster built by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz between 1928 and 1932. Its name is an acronym of Super Sport Kurz, German for "Super Sport Short", as it was a short wheelbase development of the earlier Mercedes-Benz S...
with which Rudolf Caracciola
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...
won the 1931 Mille Miglia
Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....
was called White Elephant.
Weight story
A story exists that the origin of the Silver Arrows was accidental. The international governing body of motor sport prescribed for 1934 onwards a maximum weight limit of 750 kilogramKilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
s for Grand Prix racing cars, excluding tyres and fuel. It is said that when in spring 1934 the Mercedes-Benz team placed its new Mercedes-Benz W25
Mercedes-Benz W25
The Mercedes-Benz W25 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Daimler-Benz AG for the 1934 Grand Prix season, in which new rules were introduced, and no championship was held. In 1935, the European Championship was resumed, and it was won by Rudolf Caracciola in a W25...
on the scrutineering scales prior to the Eifelrennen
Eifelrennen
The ADAC Eifelrennen was an annual motor race, organised by ADAC Automobile Club from 1922 to 2003, held in Germany's Eifel mountain region even before the Nürburgring was built there.- History :...
at the Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...
, it allegedly recorded 751 kg (1,656 lb). Racing manager Alfred Neubauer
Alfred Neubauer
Alfred Neubauer was the racing manager of the Mercedes Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955.-Biography:...
and his driver Manfred von Brauchitsch
Manfred von Brauchitsch
Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch was a German auto racing driver who drove for Mercedes-Benz in the famous "Silver Arrows" of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s....
, who both later published their memoires, claimed that they had the idea of scraping all the white paint from the bodywork. The story continues that the next day the shining silver aluminium beneath was exposed and scrutineering was passed. After the 350 hp car of v. Brauchitsch won the race, the nickname Silver Arrow was born, according to the legend.
Weight story disputed
This story did not appear until Alfred Neubauer's biography was published in 1958, and no reference to it has been found in contemporary sources. It since has been established that von Brauchitsch in 1932 had raced a streamlined SSKL on the AVUS which was called Silver Arrow in live radio coverage. Also, in 1934, both Mercedes and Auto Union had entered the Avusrennen, but the Mercedes cars were not able to start, and Auto Union did not succeed either. The next big event was the Eifelrennen, but as few cars complying to the new rules were ready, it was held for Formule Libre, so weight was no issue at that time.Performance
By 1937, the supercharged engine of a Mercedes-Benz W125Mercedes-Benz W125
The Mercedes-Benz W125 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut to race during the 1937 Grand Prix season. The car was used by Rudolf Caracciola to win the 1937 European Championship and W125 drivers also finished in the second, third and fourth positions in the championship.The...
attained an output of 646 hp (475 kW
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
), a figure not exceeded in Grand Prix Racing until the early 1980s, when turbo-charged engines were common in Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
. The Silver Arrows of Mercedes and Auto Union cars reached speeds of well over 300 kilometre per hour in 1937, and well over 400 kilometre per hour during land speed record runs.
The superiority of these vehicles in international motor racing established the term "Silver Arrow" as a legend, for example by usually winning the first race in which they were entered. The names Rudolf Caracciola
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...
, Bernd Rosemeyer
Bernd Rosemeyer
Bernd Rosemeyer was a German racing driver.- Career :...
, Hermann Lang
Hermann Lang
Hermann Lang was a German champion race car driver.Born in the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, at age fourteen Hermann Lang had to go to work to help support his family following the death of his father...
, and later Stirling Moss
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...
and Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio , nicknamed El Chueco or El Maestro , was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing...
, will forever be associated with the eras of these racing cars.
Mercedes-Benz recalled its great past in the 1970s with rallye cars, and in the 1980s with the Sauber
Sauber
Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....
sportscars as well as the DTM
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide....
touring cars.
Other car companies
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However, the Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
and Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
are not the only ones who dye their cars in a silver color. Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
has also inherited the tradition of silver arrows. But the company BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
still paints its cars in the traditional white color.
At the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours, a total of seven Silver Arrows were entered in the Le Mans Prototype
Le Mans Prototype
A Le Mans Prototype is a type of sports prototype race car most notably used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series and Le Mans Series...
class:
- three infamous Mercedes-Benz CLRMercedes-Benz CLRThe Mercedes-Benz CLR was a Le Mans Prototype built by Mercedes-Benz for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. It became infamous for spectacular crashes during its only competitive outing.-Racing history:...
- two British-built LM-GT1 Audi R8CAudi R8CThe Audi R8C was a Le Mans Prototype automobile built by Audi for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans designed by Peter Elleray. It was developed alongside the open Audi R8R spyder, prior to being replaced by the all-new Audi R8 in 2000.-Development:...
- two Joest RacingJoest RacingJoest Racing is a racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest...
LMP Audi R8RAudi R8RThe Audi R8R was a Le Mans Prototype built by Audi for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a predecessor to the dominant Audi R8 which debuted in 2000. It was raced alongside the British built closed-cockpit Audi R8C.-Development:...
that scored third and fourth.
In 2010 Ross Brawn (of Formula One's Mercedes GP) introduced the new cars for that season as the new Silver Arrows, with Germans Nico Rosberg and 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher driving.
Further reading
- Chris Nixon, Racing the Silver Arrows: Mercedes-Benz versus Auto Union 1934-1939 (Osprey, London, 1986) pp. 30–37, 164-168
External links
- Grand Prix History, Die Silberpfeile
- The Silver Arrows
- The Silver Arrows 75th Anniversary, Carsguide Historical article