1927 entered
into history as the year of birth for the
Mille Miglia, the famous 1,600 km racing
course through Italy. By 1930, the name of
Mercedes-Benz was closely bound up with
this endurance race. And the first victory
came in 1931 for Mercedes-Benz. In 1955
Mercedes-Benz introduced its 300 SLR for
the first time at the Mille Miglia. Among
its strongest competitors were Ferrari,
Maserati, and Aston Martin. Every minute a
competing car got its starting clearance.
Since 1949 the starting order had been
decided by lot so that each starting number
was a record of the starting time. The
young-but-well-accomplished British race
driver Stirling Moss, together with his
co-pilot Denis Jenkinson (“Jenks”),
received the starting number 722. It means
that their exact starting time was 7:22 am.
What an unforgettable race they presented
that day!
Denis Jenkinson invented the so-called
Roller-Map, a sort of “navigation system“
that would become a part of racing history.
This Roller-Map was a six-meter paper roll
with details of the track information
collected during the training sessions. As
a result, he was able to give his pilot
very exact tips.
Thanks to his driving skills, his will to
win, and the reliability of his 300 SLR,
Stirling Moss already took the lead in
Rome. After 10 hours, 17 minutes and 48
seconds, the duo of Moss and Jenkinson
crossed the finishing line to become the
victors. They reached an unbelievable
average speed of 157.65 km/h. An
unparalleled record for a long time to
come. J.M. Fangio, also driving a 300 SLR,
finished 2nd to complete a sweet dual
triumph of the Mercedes-Benz.
After a victory like this, all the ordeals
that the drivers and the race car had to go
through - the painful jolts from driving
over countless kerbs and the hard landings
after jumping with full throttle over
cambers and rough roads – were forgotten.
At the end of the race, the only braking
left was from metal on metal, because the
friction pad was completely used up.
Our SLR is hand-mounted from more than
1,500 single parts. It is a precision model
that incorporates well-documented historic
details and authentic replication. Explore
the realistic presentation of this great
model, and you will feel somehow like
Stirling Moss. By the way, Moss drove the
whole race with the service panel removed
to expedite maintenance work in the case of
emergency. He simply could not bear to lose
a single second unnecessarily. But if you
do not feel capable of filling the shoes of
this legendary race driver, then picture
yourself as his co-pilot. You don’t even
have to do without Denis Jenkinson’s
roller-map, for we have a miniature version
of that equipment added.
