Fangio en route to victory at the Argentinean GP in January 1955. Click to enlarge
Mercedes GP Petronas driver Nico Rosberg will have the honour of driving Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes on the Nurburging’s old Nordschleife layout this weekend at the German GP.
It will be a great moment for the crowd and the young driver. 57 years ago, Fangio won the German GP at the wheel of his Mercedes W196 race car, the second of his four triumphs that year for Mercedes, en route to the title.
Back in 1954, the Argentinean won the race in a time of just over 3 hours 45 minutes around the famous 22.8 km track. Throughout his racing career, Fangio won five F1 world titles in cars from four different manufacturers, and is one of the sport’s greats. He passed away in 1995, and would have turned 100 this year.
“Coming to the Nurburgring for the German Grand Prix always feels very special to me. There is so much history around this amazing track, especially for Mercedes-Benz with great drivers from the past having had such successful times on the Nurburgring and the legendary Nordschleife,” Rosberg said.
Will stepping into the legend’s car around the legendary track give Nico a boost in the race? The magic worked at the previous race for Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who got to sample the 375 F1 which Jose Froilan Gonzalez drove to the Scuderia’s first championship victory in the 1951 British GP. He then went on to win at Silverstone. Rosberg’s best showing so far at his home race was a fourth place for Williams in 2009.
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Oh wow! love this old model and article too.
Definitely a fun event, always exciting to see the old race cars running.
This would be simply awesome,to see the classic racing cars running in all their glory would certainly be a treat.
I really have great respect for the drivers who raced these cars form these era(Fangio,Shelby,Moss and etc).I mean,they had literally no safety equipment at all,had to manhandle a huge steering wheel and quite a stout power output from those huge engines..on to top it off,they really had to slide the cars on really skimpy&skinny tyres through the cars.They are no slouch as well,some of these 50’s&60’s era cars topping out in excess of 180+mph on some circuit straights,including the Ring.Respect.
Cheers.
As a young man, I visited this race track in 1953, 1954 or 1955 while serving with the Royal Air Force. I’m almost certain the Mercedes team was made up of Karl Kling, Juan Fangio and Stirling Moss … or am I wrong?
I have numerous photos of cars racing on the track. I cannot recall exactly what location we watched the race from. I’ve viewed the track layout but it doesn’t reflect my memory of those far off years but then memories do tend to fade.
Not only did we watch those old Mercedes cars but also Motorcycles both with and without sidecars. Is it possible they held both car and motorcycle races on the same day? I only recall going there one time.
I don’t know if those old photos can be enhanced and enlarged but it might be worth checking with a photo shop.
Some many years later, (possibly in the 1970’s) I visited Indianapolis on business and stayed in a hotel right across from the Old Brickyard. I wandered over there one evening to view the famed race track. The museum like entrance or Foyer was open to the public. Lo and behold, what did I find on display when entering the facility but one of those old F1 Mercedes from the 1950’s. It sure brought back some memories for me.
I’m now in my 82nd year but I have a vivid memory of those exciting times in my early 20’s.