Talk:Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR

Open Chassis image
The open chassis image appears to be the Chassis for the Mercedes-Benz W196 especially if you compare with. Should the image be moved? Felixmeister 01:54, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Uhlenhaut Coupe vs. Ferrari Superamerica
Does anyone have any documentation of the top speed of the Uhlenhaut Coupé, or that of the Ferrari 410 Superamerica? Is there any reliable document that can be quoted to prove which of the two is faster? Respectfully, SamBlob 19:07, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
 * The entry reads "...the title of 'world's fastest car' is disputed by those who believe the 340 hp 5.0 L V12 engine of the Ferrari 410 Superamerica could have pushed that Ferrari to a higher top speed than the 170 mph (270 km/h) of the 1964 500 Superfast." What relevance this might have is lost on me, given that the "world's fastest car" claim about the Uhlenhaut Coupé was made in 1955, which begs the question of why the 500 Superfast from 9 years later is even mentioned. All of the 1955 Ferrari 410 Superamerica top speed claims that I can find claim that car has a top speed of 241-249kph (150-155mph). The Uhlenhaut Coupé is credited with a top speed of 284-300kph (176-180mph).  If these claims are true, the Uhlenhaut Coupé was faster than both Ferraris. Given that the claim is unsourced, I am going to remove it. Bricology (talk) 07:18, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

SuperLightRace???
As the SL designation usually stands for Sport Leicht I would have assumed that R stands for Rennsport? Shouldn't the German wording be used with perhaps the English translation in brackets? Or at least the S, L and R should be in capital letters as it is a translation.

213.89.166.251 (talk) 11:08, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Article factual error:
End of paragraph is in error: "Following this tragedy, Mercedes withdrew from competitive motorsport until the mid-1980s."

Mercedes factory teams entered and won world rally championships beginning in 1977 with a 280E in the London To Sydney under the direction of Eric Waxenberger. Both the w123 and c107 chassis cars, homologated, would thereafter compete and win with drivers Björn Waldegård, Hannu Mikkola, and others through 1981. Mercedes again dropped out of racing officially in 1982 due to rule and venue changes that disadvantaged their cars. The changes resulted in the creation of Group III. Citations: I was there. . P. Gaspard Balboa Island, Ca. USA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.127.201.180 (talk) 18:15, 14 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Moreover, the article as written seems to imply that Mercedes withdrew from racing immediately after the Le Mans crash. It was several hours before the remaining cars were withdrawn from that particular race, and the team continued in both sports cars and F1 until the end of the 1955 season.  On top of their rallying programme, Leo Levine stated in his competition history of Ford that Mercedes had a factory-backed team competing in Turismo Carretera events in South America in the early 1960s.  Possibly not unconnected with the Argentinian M-B importer being one J M Fangio. Mr Larrington (talk) 17:39, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

Function of hood nacelle?
From photographs of the exterior of the car it's hard to determine the function of the hood nacelle - is it mesh for a filtered air intake or an early acrylic compound covering an auxilary light that is fogged by heat and oxidation? Hood open photos suggest that it is an intake for the engine's offset air induction. Either way, this is a distinguishing characteristic of which some mention should be made, possibly with a hood open photo for clarification.

CWR63 (talk) 00:20, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

I was in the army stationed in Germany in 1952. While there I attended the Grand Prix at Nurburgring. Mercedes had 4 8 cylinder 300SLR roadsters entered. They finished first through fourth with the first two lapping the field. At the time one lap was 22k. The announcer (in German) kept announcing that the first two cars were one meter apart at different points during the whole race. My buddies and I took it to mean that they were fighting for first place. Years later, through stock car racing we came to learn that they were drafting. At the time the strategy and the term was unknown. I don't remember for sure who the two drivers were: I think that they were Carl Kling and(Herman?)Lang. Towards the end of the final lap the car that had been drafting for the whole race passed the lead car and won. Some years later we came to realize that it was all team strategy. As an aside, in the Grand Prix category Ferrari had 3 cars entered. Ferrari came in first and second with the third car retiring with a broken axle. If I remember correctly Ascari won with Dr. Farina second.Arturo 1929 (talk) 01:33, 12 May 2015 (UTC)