Mercedes-AMG Motorsport will present itself at the start of the Bathurst 12h with a special livery to celebrate 130 years of sporting activity with its cars.
It was in fact July 22, 1894 when the very first Stella car made its debut in a motor competition at the race that took place on the route between Paris and Rouen; since then the German company has continued following the motto 'Defining Motorsport since 1894'undertaking various paths between GT, prototypes and Formula 1.
In the opening round of the 2024 season of the Intercontinental GT Challenge one of the nine Mercedes will be equipped with a special color: it is the #130 entered by GruppeM Racing in the PRO Class for Maro Engel, Felipe Fraga and David Reynolds, which will have a combination chromatic white (colour of German racing cars), silver (Mercedes' shade since 1934) and carbon black inserts (typical of today's Mercedes between GT and F1).
#130 GruppeM Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Furthermore, the Affalterbach manufacturer will try to set a new lap record along the legendary Mount Panorama, trying to beat the current 1'58″68 with a car based on the AMG GT3 and equipped with special features, including a tilting rear wing like the one used in the DTM of the Class 1 era, equipped with a DRS system, a carbon disc braking system instead of steel.
The front part is also different and the sides are fitted with miniskirts, with a 6.2-litre naturally aspirated engine without restrictors, with a power of around 650 HP which Jules Gounon will try to exploit to the maximum to obtain a new record.
“The 130-year legacy of motorsport is extremely vast and precious; carrying it forward successfully into the future is a responsible duty for all of us. I am delighted to celebrate this anniversary during the Bathurst 12h and hope to honor it with a lap record”, underlined Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.
“Furthermore, we head to the iconic Mount Panorama as reigning Champions for the second time in a row. Naturally we want to defend this title and thus add another milestone to our 130 years of motorsport history, living up to the motto 'Defining Motorsport since 1894' “.
#130 GruppeM Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Mercedes then scheduled further activities to celebrate its 130th anniversary, including the Emilia Romagna F1 GP which will take place in Imola on 17-19 May, the 24h of the Nürburgring on 30 May-2 June and the Goodwood Festival of Speed of 11-14 July.
“130 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport is a unique and successful period. We have always been a racing brand, we have excelled in all the main disciplines, from Grands Prix to rallies. Today all this is proudly represented by our team of F1 and the results achieved by Mercedes-AMG in customer racing,” he said
Marcus Breitschwerdt, Head of Mercedes-Benz Assets.
“The Mercedes brand was even born from competitions: the first ever dominated the race week in Nice in 1901. Also famous is the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG competition, based on the top model of the S Class of the time. It won the class victory in the 1971 24h of Spa-Francorchamps and AMG became the center of public attention.”
Mercedes Paris-Rouen 1894
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
The milestones of 130 years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
1894: The Paris-Rouen race is the first automobile competition in the world. The event underlines the suitability of the new means of transport. In 1895, the first timed car race took place from Paris to Bordeaux. On both occasions, cars with Daimler approved engines took victory.
1901: The Mercedes 35 PS dominates the important race of the “Nice Week”. Based on its technical characteristics, the super sports car is considered the first modern car.
1908 and 1914: Mercedes wins the French Grands Prix, national car races of international scope.
1924: Mercedes wins the Targa Florio in Sicily with the two-liter racing car, further developed by Ferdinand Porsche, who was responsible for the construction at the time. A clever detail: the red paint job was to prevent Italian fans from obstructing the car.
1934: The Mercedes-Benz W 25 Grand-Prix marks the beginning of the first era of the Silver Arrows. Followed by the W 125 (1937) and the W 154 (1938 and 1939). Rudolf Caracciola was crowned European Grand Prix champion with Mercedes-Benz in 1935, 1937 and 1938.
1952: Mercedes-Benz makes its return to motorsport with the 300 SL racing car (W 194). He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Carrera Panamerica, the “Preis von Bern” and the “Großer Jubiläumspreis vom Nürburgring” for sports cars.
1954: The inaugural race of the new Formula 1 car W 196 R ends in a 1-2. Juan Manuel Fangio became Formula 1 world champion in 1954 and 1955 with Mercedes-Benz.
1955: The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W 196 S) racing car wins the sportscar world championship. Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson's overall victory in the Mille Miglia, with the fastest time ever achieved in a road race, is legendary.
1967: Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher found the engineering company AMG. The company prepares Mercedes-Benz series cars for racing or optimizes them in a sporty way. This is where the current Mercedes-AMG sports and performance car brand was born.
1971: The Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG competition wins its class and places second overall in its debut in the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. In this way, AMG immediately made itself known to a large audience.
1988: With the Sauber-Mercedes team, Mercedes-Benz officially returns to international motor racing (Group C). The highlights are the world titles in 1989 (Sauber-Mercedes C 9) and 1990 (Sauber-Mercedes C 11) and the victory at Le Mans in 1989.
1988: Mercedes-Benz also participates in the Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft, initially with private drivers and with the 190 E 2.3-16. The DTM 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution (1989) and Evolution II (1990) touring cars are legendary. In 1992, Klaus Ludwig won the German touring car champion title with his “Evo II”.
1994: Mercedes-Benz returns to participate in Formula 1 with the Sauber-Mercedes team. Since 1995, the partner has been McLaren. Mika Häkkinen became world champion in 1998 and 1999, Lewis Hamilton in 2008. McLaren-Mercedes won the constructors' title in 1998.
1997: Mercedes-Benz participates in the FIA GT Championship with the CLK-GTR. Bernd Schneider wins the 1997 season title. 1998 follows the CLK-LM, with which Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta win the title. In both years, AMG-Mercedes won the teams title.
2010: Mercedes-Benz acquires the reigning world champion Brawn GP team and competes with its own official team in Formula 1 for the first time since 1955. The drivers of the current Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team are Lewis Hamilton and George Russell , the team principal is Toto Wolff. The results obtained so far: 7 drivers' world championships and 8 constructors' world championships.
2010: Mercedes-Benz offers customers sports racing cars based on the Mercedes-AMG high-performance cars. After the successful start with the SLS AMG GT3, the cars currently competing are the Mercedes-AMG GT3 (2016, Evo model from 2021), the Mercedes-AMG GT4 (2017) and the Mercedes-AMG GT2 (2022). Titles in the DTM, FIA GT World Cup, GT World Challenge, Intercontinental GT Challenge, IMSA and in the 24 Hour Classic races are among the successes of the Customer Racing programme.
2019: Mercedes-Benz participates in the FIA Formula E championship, a series for battery-electric racing cars, under the banner of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E team. After two titles in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, the adventure ends in 2022.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
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