By its third running in 1952, La Carrera Panamericana had earned a reputation as a demanding and exciting motor race for drivers and spectators alike. Also known as the Mexican Road Race, it was created in 1950 to promote Mexico’s link in a highway that was planned to traverse the western hemisphere. The first winner was Oldsmobile, the second Ferrari. Now, for the third running Mercedes-Benz came to Mexico with the intention of winning the 1,934-mile race starting on November 19th.
Although American cars dominated the first Carrera, a couple of Alfa Romeos arrived to be driven by Piero Taruffi and Felice Bonetto. They finished fourth and eighth, although they hewed closely to the “strictly stock” rule that was taken lightly by some rivals. Two 2.6-liter Type 212 Ferraris competed in 1951 and finished one-two in their first big success in North America. It looked like “them furrin’ jobs” could compete, and perhaps win. In 1952 there was a distinct class for sports/GT cars to give the sedans a chance for glory.
Not part of the plan
Entering the Mexican race had not been considered by Mercedes-Benz sports chief Alfred Neubauer and the firm’s management board. The team’s final obligation for 1952 was a sports-car race at the Nürburgring on August 2 in support of the German Grand Prix. Expecting tough competition from Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, Neubauer readied four roadster versions of the 300SL coupes that had won Le Mans and taken second in the Mille Miglia. When the Italian threat evaporated, the 300SLs swept the board, Hermann Lang winning and Karl Kling in second.
Impressed by the American driver John Fitch’s fast laps before his Cunningham retired at Le Mans in June, Neubauer suggested that he test for Mercedes-Benz at the ’Ring after the August Grand Prix. The test was held on Fitch’s 35th birthday. He found the 300SL, “a sweetheart! In spite of the unconventional swing-axle design, she responded to correction with a wholesomeness that was almost friendly. The brake pedal was hard but a short, heavy application for the Südkurve slowed us positively, without loss of pedal travel. They would stand the worst I could give them.”
“The steering was light and positive,” Fitch continued. “If any one feature could, it typified the whole car, which felt and handled light but solid. It had a nice all-of-a-piece feeling even on the cracked and patched concrete that made most cars hop in a clumsy dance under heavy brakes. The engine’s balance was remarkable – more like an electric motor than a reciprocating engine with flailing innards. Winding her up to the 5,800-rpm limit through the gears, I felt a pronounced squat under load. The transmission was a delight – the lever seemed to jump into place when brought near the desired position.”
Fitch favorably impressed Alfred Neubauer, just as the silver Mercedes-Benz, “nothing short of brilliant from a driver’s point of view,” had impressed Fitch. It seemed destined to come to naught, however. In that same month of August, Daimler-Benz management decided that it had achieved all it could hope to with the three-liter six-cylinder racers. They would now be put aside to allow full concentration on the planned Formula One program, preparations for which were well under way.
This was a huge let-down for Fitch. He had driven a Chrysler Saratoga in the 1951 Carrera and was itching to have another go. The amiable and knowledgeable American didn’t miss his chance to tell Neubauer all about this spectacular new competition just over the southern border from the important American market.
Fitch did not know he had an ally in Mexico. Baron Alexander von Korff, the Daimler-Benz representative in Mexico City, was adamant in his insistence that they send a team of cars to the third running of the fabulous Carrera. This would be much-needed support for Prat Motors S.A., the recently appointed Mercedes-Benz importer. Prat would be the Mexico City headquarters for the effort and John Fitch would get a drive.
Preparations
Thanks to such active local support, arrangements were made on short notice to field a team of four 300SLs in this grueling race over 1,945.6 miles in five day-long stages. They came to Mexico with two 3½-ton Model L3500/42 trucks and some 35 people in addition to four racing cars – two coupes and two roadsters – five passenger cars and 300 cubic meters of parts and equipment. Three aircraft were leased locally to expedite deliveries of parts and people. Afterward Neubauer vowed that if he ever did it again, he would double the size of his party.
Principal drivers were to be Karl Kling, Hermann Lang and John Fitch, the first two in coupes and Fitch in a roadster. “In Germany we had been able to learn little about the course,” Kling related. “We could only take our information from press reports and correspondence with Mexican friends. I remember particularly the sons of the Mexican Letona family and Señor Eduardo Voigt, the director of the German Bosch factory in Mexico City. These men were tireless in their efforts to provide us with every scrap of information that might help. The unrivaled organizing ability of Neubauer saw to the rest.”
Accompanied by friend Hans Klenk, Karl Kling was assigned to the same coupe he had used at Le Mans, where he and Klenk had retired in the ninth hour with a failed dynamo. As a result, this was a low-mileage racer, and the only one of the new cars built for Le Mans that had not later had its top chopped off. Hermann Lang and mechanic Erwin Grupp would compete in another coupe.
Both coupes were updated for the task, with their exhausts through the right-hand side, new window moldings with chrome inserts around the 4mm Plexiglas, limited-slip differentials, reinforced front body mountings, underbody protection, two high-volume horns, larger radiators, a supplementary 20-liter fuel tank, modified engine-oil reservoirs and a horn button in front of the passenger.
Two roadsters were also shipped to Mexico. Both had revised cockpits with full windscreens and grab handles for the navigator as well as the mentioned enhancements. John Fitch handled a car that had been raced at the Nürburgring and was accompanied by Eugen Geiger. The other, Lang’s Le Mans and ’Ring winner, went along as a spare car. It was driven from one stage to the next by editor-journalist Günther Molter. Molter had signed on for a four-week stint as press-relations aide and right-hand man to Alfred Neubauer. Others traveling to Mexico were driver wives Wilma Kling and Berta Riess and Continental tire wrangler Heinrich Ohlendorf.
Unlike the other races in which the 300SLs had competed, there was no 3.0-liter class in Mexico. Taking advantage of this, specially-selected cylinder blocks were bored out to the maximum safe diameter, 86.5 mm, bringing the displacement to 3,105 cc. With triple-Solex carburetion, this brought a useful increase in output. Peak power became 177hp at 5,200 rpm and maximum torque 193 pound-feet at 4,200 rpm. Pre-race trials of some of the cars took place at Hockenheim, the Nürburgring and the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, the last especially important because many of the Mexican altitudes were in excess of a mile.
There had not been enough time for Continental to make special tires for the race, nor did the company have enough local knowledge to develop a custom design. They sent 300 tires for the race. Some were a thick-tread Nürburg type intended for twisty, high-wear tracks, for the early slower sections of the Carrera. Others were the AVUS design with thinner tread for the final high-speed stages.
Challenges
Opposition was formidable. Ferrari fielded a three-car team of new 4.1-liter Mexico coupes with spectacular Vignale bodies and nearly 100 more horsepower than the 300SLs. Entered by Milan dealer Franco Cornacchia’s Scuderia Guastalla, their drivers would be the 1952 Formula One World Champion Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi and Luigi Chinetti paired with Jean Lucas in the third coupe.
The quick Gordinis were there with Jean Behra and Robert Manzon. Giovanni Bracco had a new version of the 3.0-liter Ferrari coupe he had used with such virtuosity in Italy to win the Mille Miglia ahead of Kling’s 300SL. These and others in the sports category would compete for a first prize of 150,000 pesos, $17,442, with money paid for the first ten places.
“Although we landed in Mexico City on October 22nd and the race itself did not start until November 19th, we could not afford a much-needed break to become acclimatized,” said Karl Kling. “On the morning of October 23rd, we drove to Vera Cruz to take over our Mercedes-Benz 220s and 300s for practice runs.”
“We began practice on the southern section which, apart from a few straights, consisted almost entirely of bends, slopes and gradients. It was essential for us to drive the distance in the same direction as the race would be run, for only in this way would we gain an accurate picture and make our notes under racing conditions. We therefore raced as fast as our 300 would allow towards Tuxtla Gutierrez, seven hundred miles away.”
“My party consisted of my co-driver Hans Klenk, an interpreter and the journalist Günther Molter, who was firmly resolved to take photographs, until he gave up the attempt as hopeless. At the speed at which we travelled he was thrown from one corner to the other. The car took a firm hold on the rough asphalt surface of the road, and the tires were taxed unmercifully. There is no pleasure in being driven at racing speeds for over 1,400 miles in intense tropical heat!”
“Hermann Lang followed us in a 220,” Kling continued, “with his co-driver Erwin Grupp, and Eugen Geiger, the co-driver of the American John Fitch. For the first time we were driving the Carrera course in the proper direction and we were anxious to study it closely. Hans Klenk noted every unusual bend, its peculiarities and the speed it permitted. We soon realized that the tires would be subjected to tremendous wear. This caused us a good deal of anxiety – quite rightly, as we were to discover during the race.”
“A special problem had to be solved by our technicians,” said Karl Kling, “Lamm the engineer and the spark-plug specialist, Bamminger of Robert Bosch – that of finding out the most favorable adjustment for the engine. With differences in height from almost sea level to over 9,000 feet, tests were conducted some 60 miles north of Mexico City at an altitude of more than 7,500 feet, typical of the conditions over most of the race distance.”
The best fuel composition for the demanding race also had to be sorted out under the direction of carburetion specialist engineer Heinz Lamm. Five different fuels and fuel blends were tried in the spare roadster by Karl Kling with Molter’s help. They and Lamm were looking for the best combination of performance with freedom from piston-destroying detonation. In addition to aviation fuel, they tested the fuel supplied by the organizers, the crimson and sharp-smelling Pemex Gasavion 80. Lamm’s choice for the race was a mixture of 80 percent Pemex with 20 percent Supermexolina. Included in the equipment shipment were three hand-operated gasoline pumps for use if stops outside the established depots were needed. They proved to be life-savers.
“At last, we assembled for the final conference before the start,” Kling related. “Our most dangerous opponents were Ascari and Villoresi driving the 4.1-liter Ferrari Mexico. There was, moreover, Giovanni Bracco, who had already been in the country a good while and had practiced just as intently as ourselves. Bracco had driven to all the danger spots with a pot of yellow paint and had painted secret numbers and signs on the asphalt or on the rock face referring to the stretch of road, the speed of this point, and so on. He generously explained to us before the start what his secret signs meant.”
“It was clear to us from the outset,” added Kling, “that the more powerful Ferraris would do their best to race away from us in the start so as to gain the lead after the first stages to Mexico City. Although on the northern straights they were undoubtedly faster than we were, it remained to be seen how they would fare in the more mountainous areas. The small Gordinis were also a real danger inasmuch as their drivers drove alone and thus saved a considerable amount of weight.”
Alfred Neubauer decided not to challenge Bracco and the other Ferraris over the first three stages to Mexico City, saving the main effort for the final five stages. Kling said, “Our instructions were to drive with restraint from the start to Mexico City. By then the situation would have clarified itself and we could adapt our plans accordingly. On the morning of November 16th Hermann Lang, John Fitch, Günther Molter and I drove the racing cars to the start at Tuxtla Gutierrez – a distance of seven hundred miles. When we reached there we had covered a total of more than seven thousand miles in practice – a good quarter of the earth’s circumference.”
La Carrera Panamericana
On the first stage to Oaxaca, Neubauer’s cars were quickly in trouble. Hermann Lang struck a dog, tearing the sheet metal below the grille, obliging him to slow to check out the steering. Both rear tires of Kling’s 300SL burst well before they reached the first depot, an unwelcome beginning with two exhausting tire changes. After the second one an overheated Klenk left his helmet off. At 5,400 rpm in top gear, about 135 mph, Karl Kling hit a buzzard that went through the screen with “a bang, as if a hand grenade were going off. As the sudden in-rush of air also blew out the rear window, we now had our own air-conditioning system!” Poor Klenk was knocked unconscious, revived by hot tea from a thermos.
“In those days German tire development was not advanced enough to deal with the high speeds we had in Mexico,” Kling recalled. “As soon as we got out of the mountains on the first stage and could drive fast, we started to blow tires. I was able to cure this by taking used tires from other cars, tires that were practically worn down to the carcass and had no more tread left. Some of them were out of round and the car shook a lot but it would go and that was the important thing.”
At the first stage’s ending at Oaxaca there were of course no spare windscreens but Neubauer called ahead to Mexico City to have one ready. “A few hours later it was to prove redundant,” said Kling, “as a Mexican appeared suddenly from nowhere bearing a new windscreen! We wondered how this could possibly have come about; we were soon to find out.” Listening to the race on his radio in Mexico City, a passionate and wealthy enthusiast heard of the problem, drove to Prat Motors, collected the screen and had it flown to Oaxaca on his private plane. Hans Klenk quickly fitted the famous “buzzard bars” in front of the new screen.
From there the race went better for Mercedes-Benz thanks to rivals’ problems, said Kling: “Shortly after the start Manzon’s Gordini fell out with engine trouble. Ascari skidded at a bend and crashed against a rock. He escaped unhurt but had to withdraw. Behra’s stage was fantastic! Without a co-driver he drove the distance in a new record time. Villoresi in the second Ferrari Mexico only managed eleventh place on account of gear trouble.”
Although Gigi Villoresi led the second and third stages, the redoubtable Bracco was leading the race with his Ferrari at Mexico City. Behind him were the three Mercedes in the order Kling-Fitch-Lang. At Prat Motors the two coupes were given the alternate rear-axle ratio that Fitch’s lighter roadster had been using from the start, raising their top speed.
“Strangely enough,” Kling learned at Mexico City, “only the Mercedes-Benz drivers had any complaints about tire troubles. While we were using smaller tires, 15 inches, the Ferraris used 16s and the Gordinis 17s. The 15s naturally had to make far more revolutions a minute than the larger tires of our rivals and thus suffered greater wear and tear.” It should be noted that in 1951 Neubauer had pushed for 16-inch wheels for the 300SL.
For the faster roads of the fifth stage from Leon to Durango the three silver cars were fitted with the thinner-tread AVUS Continentals. “Giovanni Bracco was in front with several minutes’ lead,” recalled Kling. “The moment had come to attack, whatever the outcome. We raced away from the start as fast as the car would permit and soon caught up with Bracco along the route. The Italian was driving beautifully and in a manner beyond reproach.” The threat from Villoresi was annulled when he failed to slow for the last of four roadway hollows that damaged his Ferrari’s suspension beyond repair.
Victory
On the seventh stage the race was settled. “After Mexico City the roads were mostly level and I stayed right on Bracco’s tail, no matter what, until he simply drove the car too hard,” said Kling. The stage saw Bracco retire with a fatigued differential and Fitch and Geiger carry out a front-wheel alignment, with outside assistance from a non-team mechanic. Using outside help was a rules violation that led to their disqualification.
Karl Kling ran the 230-mile final stage flat-out – at an average of 136 mph – with Neubauer wishing he could signal him to slow down from the team plane, which was struggling to keep pace with the swift silver coupe with the big number 4 on its roof. Kling’s winning average was 102.359 mph overall, knocking more than three hours off of Taruffi’s prior record for Ferrari. Lang was second, playing a back-up role, at 99.274 mph. Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari Mexico finished third with an average of 98.741 mph.
The team from Germany did a superb job against heavy odds in unfamiliar territory far from home. They scored the first victory for a Daimler-Benz factory entry ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. The win was particularly gratifying to Karl Kling, whose only other success with the 300SL had been in a sprint event at Bern. This was welcome recompense for all the effort he had devoted to the development of the 300SL.
After the race “everybody wanted to shake us by the hand,” said Kling, “ask for our autographs or have a few words with us. We were deeply impressed by the great friendliness which was so openly shown. It was a moving moment for us. Seven years after the end of a terrible war we, a handful of Germans, were the most popular personalities in a Mexican frontier town.”
“Not only the Mexicans shared our happiness,” the winner continued, “but also many Americans who had come over in great numbers and waited for several days for the arrival of the racing cars. While their interest naturally centered in the winner of the touring-car race, the American Chuck Stevenson in a Lincoln, they were saying how impressed they were with the German guys!”
“The cars themselves looked disreputable,” John Fitch wrote after the Carrera, “the paint literally sand-blasted away to the base metal, the bodies pocked by stone, dented by birds and torn and bent by the flying treads which had become giant whips at speed.”
The cars would have other tasks in the months ahead but their racing days were over. For a simple car made largely from available parts by a company battling back from obliteration, the 300SL had done rather well.
