Mercedes-Benz 300SLR: The Fabulous 1955 World-Champion Sports-Racer (Ludvigsen Library) (Ludvigsen Library Series) - Softcover

Karl Ludvigsen

9781583881224: Mercedes-Benz 300SLR: The Fabulous 1955 World-Champion Sports-Racer (Ludvigsen Library) (Ludvigsen Library Series)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1583881220 ISBN 13: 9781583881224

Publisher: Iconografix, 2004

Introduction by Karl Ludvigsen. When Mercedes-Benz returned to motor racing in the 1950s it did so with an aggressive attack across the board. It planned to launch both its Grand Prix cars and its new sports-racing cars in 1954, but delays with the latter meant that the sports-racers didn't appear until 1955. When they did, the results were sensational. The magnificent 300SLR took Stirling Moss to a record-shattering victory in the Mille Miglia and (with Peter Collins) in the grueling Targa Florio. Other victories took Mercedes-Benz to the World Manufacturers Championship that year. Tragedy struck as well: a 300SLR went into the crowd at Le Mans, resulting in 82 deaths and many injuries. With unique and rarely seen images, Karl Ludvigsen presents the dramatic story of these racers with their tubular space frames, inboard brakes and fuel-injected desmodromic-valved eight-cylinder engines. Featured also are secret tests at Hockenheim, the never-raced coupe version of the 300SLR and the new design that was being prepared for 1956, a season that these cars never experienced.

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About the Author:

Karl Ludvigsen is respected as a close and knowledgeable observer of, and participant in, the world motor industry. In addition to his industry activities as an executive with GM, Fiat and Ford and head of a consulting company, he has been active for over 60 years as an author and historian. As an author, co-author or editor he has some five dozen books to his credit, all concerning cars and the motor industry, his life-long passion. Many have been garlanded for their high standard of writing and research. An American, he lives in the UK, in Suffolk.

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