The German manufacturer handed one of the two W165 Voiturette racers still in existence to racing legend John Surtees. This V8-engined single seater was built specifically to compete in the 1939 edition of the prestigious Tripoli Grand Prix. A change to the regulations intended to favor the local Italian manufacturers had left the mighty Mercedes-Benz without a suitable entry.
Legendary driver John Surtees piloted the Silver Arrow up the hill course at Goodwood. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) Using the vast resources available, the German engineers quickly created a scaled-down version of the all-conquering W154 Grand Prix racer. The result was the W165, which duly won the race in the hands of Hermann Lang. It would turn out to be the type's only race. The Tripoli Grand Prix winner was completely restored in 1995 to take part in that year's Festival of Speed and is still in immaculate condition.
In the shock announcement in September 1938, the Italian motorsport association declared that during the following season, all single-seater races on Italian soil would be run for Voiturettes instead of Grand Prix cars. In retrospect, the decision was understandable as the Italian manufacturers had played second fiddle in Grand Prix racing to the German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams.
For the smaller Voiturette class, both Maserati and Alfa Romeo had just developed brand new and highly advance cars. A shift to the Voiturette class for all events would greatly increase the chance of national glory in Italy's premier events, including the prestigious Tripoli Grand Prix in May.
Despite having just six months to design, build and test a new car, Mercedes-Benz team director Max Sailer gave the green light in November 1938; the Silver Arrows would defend their title in the 1939 Tripoli Grand Prix. Although some design elements from the existing W154 Grand Prix car could be carried over, the new Voiturette most certainly needed a bespoke engine.
The W165's appearance at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed was one of the very rare outings for the historic race car. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) French for ?small car,? the name of the class could be taken very literally as the cars featured engines half the size as those found in the ?big? Grand Prix cars. To be exact, the displacement limit was set at 1.5 liters for the Voiturette class.
Although no parts were interchangeable, the new M165 engine owed much to the M154 3-liter Grand Prix engine. Apart from the displacement, the biggest difference was the number of cylinders; a V8 for the Voiturette compared with the original V12. What was carried over was the valvetrain with twin gear-driven camshafts per bank and four valves per cylinder. Designed for high revs, the cylinders were ?oversquare? with a bore of 64 mm and a stroke of 58 mm.
Two Roots-Type superchargers were fitted, boosting the power to a hefty 254 horsepower. To cope with all this power, the engine was constructed mainly from steel with the blocks and heads welded together.
The W165 chassis and suspension was pure W154 but at about 4/5 scale. The frame consisted of two large oval-tube side-members reinforced by five cross-members. Suspension was by double wishbones and coil springs at the front and a DeDion axle with torsion bars at t rear.
The 1.5-liter V8, basically a scaled-down version of the "big" grand-prix cars' V12, produced 254 horsepower. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) The V8 engine was mounted in the chassis at a six degree angle to help the driveshaft clear the driver's seat on the left. The seat itself was mounted off-set to the right. The power was fed to rear wheels by a five-speed gearbox that was mounted transversely behind the final drive. The tiny package was tightly wrapped in an aluminum body, again similar to that of the latest W154.
Little over four months after the project started, the first of the three proposed W165s was completed. On April 10, less than a month before the Tripoli race, the testing commenced at Hockenheim. Chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut and works drivers Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang all tried the new Voiturette racer.
Amazingly, it was Uhlenhaut who set the fastest lap of the day. After the successful first test, Mercedes-Benz confirmed the entry of two W165s for the Tripoli Grand Prix for team-leader Caracciola and 1938 winner Lang. It was still very much a race against the clock for the Germans; the second car was completed on the boat to the Italian colony.
During the practice sessions the two drivers tried both cars and Lang set the faster time, closely followed by his teammate. But it was not the fastest time. Luigi Villoresi set that in his streamlined Maserati. Lang was told to set a blistering pace in the early stages and come in for tires and fuel halfway through the race.
In what was considered the better of the two chassis, Caracciola started with a more-conservative pace and picked up places as the competition, pushed beyond their limits by Lang, retired. Despite his lengthy tire change, Lang managed to keep Caracciola well behind him to clinch a spectacular one-two debut victory for the W165. Mercedes-Benz had driven their point home; nothing could stop the Stuttgart steamroller.
Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-last-of-the-benz-silver-arrows/
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