Brumm’s focus in February is on classic racing cars. Copper. Mercedes-Benz and more are in the mix. The feature finds the 1:43 Mercedes W196C Monza – High-Speed Ring 1955 Aerodynamic brake test Stirling Moss car. Pricing starts at 37 euro with the driver and 27 Euro without. The complete list is shared below.
S2017 – Mercedes 300 SLR Mille Miglia 1955 1st Stirling Moss, Denis Jekinson # 722 – Best overall average: 157.650 km/h – Thousand Mile Winner
R072C-CH – Mercedes W196 – G.P. Great Britain 1955 1st Stirling Moss # 1
R098 / R098-CH – Vanwall F.1 – G.P. Great Britain/Europe 1957 – 1st Stirling Mos, Tony Brooks # 18
R279 / R279-CH – Cooper T51 – G.P. Italia 1959 Stirling Moss #14, Rob Walker Racing Team
Product# See above
Featuring the 300 SLR with the air brake partially deployed is the closest any replica maker has come to depicting the MB cars raced at the 1955 Le Mans, but it’s in 1:43.
Although that’s not a 300SLR nor the air brake you’re thinking of. the 300 SLR’s airbrake was part of the body, they were opening the rear hatch to catch air. The one in the pics is a W196 streamliner, and this is the first time I’m seeing that wing, actually I can’t find pics of the real car with it, but it reminds me of the one on the Mercedes Benz 300 SL #22 Airbrake Le Mans Prototype.
Thanks for correcting my mistake confusing the pictured W196 as a 300 SLR. I noticed the error myself after posting the comment — no headlights! — but, once posted, these comments can’t be edited.
I have 2 different versions of the CMC W196, and neither one has the air brake. MB doesn’t want it depicted, but hopefully some intrepid model car company will someday offer 1:18 replicas of MB’s 300 SLRs that ran at the 1955 Le Mans, featuring the air brake.
Don’t worry, at a first glance they’re very easy to mix, and I’ve suffered the problems of not being able to edit myself too!
Actually, does tge W196 have an airbrake at all? If not, it’s normal that CMC versions don’t have it. I don’t have the 300slr from CMC neither, but I believe the reason why none has the air brake, is because the versions they depict don’t have it either in real life, since the have the extended hump blocking the place where it would be. All the pics I’ve seen with the air brake theployed, the hump is way shorter in order to be able to open, and I’d swear the ones I’ve seen in real life didn’t have the cutout for it neither. So, my theory, is that only a few had it, and the ones from Mille Miglia didn’t.
Your description is more accurate than mine. Here is a link to an article about the 300 SLR with a picture of the air brake deployed on one of the 300 SLRs that raced at the 1955 Le Mans. https://forums.hybridz.org/uploads/500/Brake_-_hydraulic_operated_air_brake_-_1955_Mercedes-Benz_300SLR.JPG. The Mercedes team knew that the Jaguar D-type was equipped with disc brakes, so they used technology to compensate (inboard drum brakes in the rear, and the air brake) that was quite advanced for its time.