Mercedes-Benz W154

I photographed this car at the VSCC's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's a 1939 Mercedes-Benz W154 from the Mercedes-Benz museum that had been taken to the event to complete a number of demonstration runs in the hands of Tony Dron.

The rules governing the running of the European Championship races for 1938 had been changed from a 750kg weight limit with no restriction on engine sizes to a maximum engine capacity of 4½ litres unsupercharged or 3 litres with a supercharger. The W154 was designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut based on the chassis of the previous year's W125 and used the 2,962cc supercharged V12 M154 engine. Three of the four European Championship races that year were won by three Mercedes-Benz drivers, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Richard Seaman and Rudolf Caracciola, with Tazio Nuvolari winning the final race in his Auto Union D-Type.

For the 1939 season the engine was modified to use a two-stage supercharger and designated as an M163 - for this reason the 1939 car is sometimes erroneously referred to as a Mercedes-Benz W163. The body was also given a sleeker, less bulbous look. Mercedes-Benz again won three of the four European Championship races, Hermann Lang winning two and Rudolf Caracciola one. The other race was again won by an Auto Union D-Type, this time driven by Hermann Müller.