The book sets out to show, utilising current publication technologies, the first 55 years of trials and tribulations, the victories and setbacks, and the outside influences that impacted on the Mercedes-Benz racing department, the ‘Rennabteilung’. It is an appreciation of the racing performances, commencing with the prologue era including the invention of the motor car for racing. From Daimler and Benz, the birth of the Mercedes marque, and then, racing in all its forms. From 1900 up to 1955 when Daimler-Benz withdrew from Grand Prix and Sports car racing. It is a work, designed to be one where the reader can pick up the story whenever, wherever, in the history they like, to explore and immediately understand without the encumbrance of excessive technical detail, but letting the facts and stories about the racing in each period develop, not the least to marvel at the huge advances in the technology of a series of incredible racing cars. The developments and the victories are both descriptive and visual. The story covers racing in Europe and in the USA, long distance races and races of endurance, for example the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and of course the Carrera Pan Americana. Grands Prix, Hill climbs, Land speed records, even wooden board racing in the USA. Great characters appear, Emil Jellinek, Ferdinand Porsche, Camille Jenatzy, Christian Lautenschlager, Otto Salzer, Ralph de Palma, Barney Oldfield, Alfred Neubauer, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Rudolf Caracciola, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, Juan Fango, Stirling Moss, to list only a few. Mighty cars like the Gordon Bennett racers, Blitzen Benz, 1914 Supercharged Mercedes. W25, W125, W154, W196, 300SL. All explorable within the 1200 + evocative period black and white images, many not published before, mixed with those recognisable ones that it would be churlish to leave out. Both the Porsche archives and Audi Archives contribute outstanding images that support the bulk of the dramatic photographs that come from the depths of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives.
It is an appreciation of the first part of the of the racing life of what became one of the most impressive Racing teams of all time.
