Some
people might say that I lead a charmed life and being asked
to drive such a fabulous racing car is all it takes. I should
however point out that there is some luck and a lot of hard
work involved. No one is likely to ask a complete novice to
drive such a car and so there is a long apprenticeship to be
served. Some of this has already been written about in the Features
Section.
Gerald Palmer bought the remains of the Mercedes in 1961 whilst
he was assistant chief engineer at Vauxhall Motors, the same
year I joined them as a lowly draughtsman. I think he paid about
£200 for this "restoration" project.. Gerald
was however a very competent engineer, having been responsible
for the design of the Jowett Javelin, MG Magnette and Riley
Pathfinder.
I will not go into the details of how the car was restored
and what modifications had to be made, but the Vauxhall Apprentice
School was very busy for several months!
This
was the car that won the Targa Florio in 1924 driven by Werner,
and it must have been an epic drive as the car lay second on
the last lap behind the Alfa Romeo which seized up about half
a mile from the finish allowing the Merc to win. Interestingly
this was the only race in which the works Mercedes team ran
with their cars painted red. During practice the local Sicilians,
who were very patriotic, rolled boulders down in front of any
passing race car that was not painted red. So Neubauer, the
team manager, had all the cars repainted red between practice
and the race.
This was a 2-litre twin overhead camshaft four cylinder engined
car with a large supercharger driven via a clutch on the front
of the crankshaft. The supercharger was only engaged by a "kick-down"
on fully depressing the accelerator pedal. The car was a development
by Dr. Porsche of the unsuccessful 1923 Indianapolis car. The
rear wheels were cambered in the same way as the front by means
of a live rear axle containing two lightweight crownwheels.
My first outing with the car was at Silverstone in a VSCC race.
In practice I soon discovered that the old tyres and lack of
front spring leaf clamps gave rise to alarming wheel patter
above about 60 mph. I refused to drive it again until this had
been resolved. The tyres were balanced by the experts from Dunlop,
who keep us all racing. Spring clamps were hastily made of steel
plates and bolts with locknuts.
Much speedier progress was now possible without total loss
of control. However as the horsepower is doubled when the throttle
is fully depressed it is a fine judgement of timing when to
apply this out of each corner. To early and the car spins anti-clockwise
if you lift off - clockwise if you keep your foot down. Too
late and momentum is lost, there being a lag whilst the waste
gate closes and the fuel system is pressurised.
