Mercedes-Benz SLR

Rudolf Uhlenhaut

In 1936, Rudolf Uhlenhaut was appointed Technical Director of the Mercedes-Benz Racing Department. The young, educated cosmopolitan proved a natural talent in the cockpit of a racing car: "I had no idea about racing cars," he said later, "I taught the racing car to do the driving." With resounding success: 1937 promptly became the most successful year to date in Mercedes-Benz's racing history. Uhlenhaut was the only designer himself capable of racing round the track at Grand Prix speeds. In 1954, he is reputed to have raced round the Nürburgring to "distribute his lunch better".

He undercut the best time of works driver Juan Manuel Fangio by 3.5 seconds. Yet his suave enthusiasm for automobiles was paired with supreme engineering skill. Both the 300 SL from 1952 – the first gullwing model – and the later racers W 196 R (1954/55) and 300 SLR (1955) notched up victory after victory for Daimler-Benz. The visionary is also revered by car fans for his concept cars: the 300 SL "Hobel", the iconic "300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé", and the C 111 Wankel-engined sports car.

300 SL Transaxle

It was to remain a one-off: for the 1953 racing season, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, head of the passenger car testing department, developed the 300 SL Transaxle, a worthy successor to the W 194. It carried the chassis number W 194 011. Fans affectionately knew it as the "Hobel" (woodworking plane). With the decision to enter Formula 1 in 1954, preparations for the 1953 season were brought to a close, and the "Hobel" remained a one-off.

The Transaxle was the first Mercedes-Benz vehicle to make use of ground-breaking innovations such as direct petrol injection and Uhlenhaut's patented "swing axle with lowered pivot point". The 011 thus became the forerunner of the later 300 SL Coupé.

Direct petrol injection

In the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz engineers Hans Scherenberg and Fritz Nallinger, in collaboration with the Bosch company, embarked on the construction of injection systems for aircraft engines. And they were to become absolutely prolific in their field, at times bringing home as many as two patents on the same day. At the end of the 1940s, Daimler-Benz took the decision to develop a petrol injection system for a standard production vehicle. Dr Hans Scherenberg, head of passenger car design from early 1952, gave the project top priority.

In cooperation with experts from Bosch as well as in-house engineers Rudolf Uhlenhaut and Karl-Heinz Göschel, he finally achieved success in December 1952, with a three-litre direct-injection engine that reached 214 hp. Having been extensively tested in the 300 SL Transaxle experimental car, the engine went into series production in 1954 in the legendary "Gullwing" Coupé.

Willkommen bei Mercedes-Benz SLR