1955 Mille Miglia

2015 marks the anniversary of quite a few significant motor sports milestones … the 50th anniversary Ferrari’s last win at the 24 Heures du Mans, the 50th anniversary of Jim Clark’s win the Formula 1 World Championship, and his win at the Indianapolis 500 (in a green machine!)

Yet I believe the most important by far is the 60th anniversary of Stirling Moss’ along with navigator Denis Jenkinson’s (Jenks) record-breaking win of the 1955 Mille Miglia.

Stirling Moss was part of the powerful Mercedes-Benz motor sports team for 1955, managed by the clever Alfred Neubauer.

They had a fabulous car in the form of the 300 SLR, but that alone did not guarantee success in this annual 1000-mile race held on public roads.

The Italian racers had the advantage of knowing ever inch of the route; Mercedes-Benz had to find a way to equalize the odds.

Moss and Jenks practiced the route a few times weeks before the actual race, with Jenks writing out pace notes all along the way. Mercedes then pasted the notes together into a 15.5-foot roll, which they encased in a glass-fronted, watertight box, permitting Jenks to view and communicate his notes via hand signals to Moss.

Pen&ink, arcrylic and markers on gray archival stock 11.75"x 9" (29.8cm X 22.8cm) © Paul Chenard 2015 

Commissioned piece. Available as a limited edition.

This allowed Moss to drive flat out for the entire race, depending on his trusty navigator for guidance.

They arrived at the finish line in Brescia in a record time of 10 hours 7 minutes 48 seconds, over a half hour ahead of the second-place finisher Juan Manuel Fangio, also racing for Mercedes-Benz.

This amazing record still stands, for the race was shut down following the 1957 Mille Miglia where driver Alfonso de Portago crashed his Scuderia Ferrari 335 S, killing himself, his co-driver (navigator) Edmund Nelson and nine spectators.

1955 British Grand Prix

Sir Stirling Moss started making himself well known in the early 1950’s with his successes in various classes of automotive motorsports.



By 1955, he had caught the eye of the Mercedes-Benz motorsports team director Alfred Neubauer, who quickly signed him on. It was a decision he was not to regret!

For 1954, Mercedes-Benz had developed the Mercedes W196 in both open-wheeled and streamlined versions, and found immediate success. With Juan Manuel Fangio signed on, they took the Formula 1 World Championship.

For the following year, they had both Fangio and Moss signed on racing the W196, and again they took the Championship.

While Fangio took 4 wins out of 7 races Mercedes entered, with Moss following him to second place in two of the races, the tables turned for the British Grand Prix held on July 16th at Aintree.


Moss racing the Mercedes W196 to win the British Grand Prix (my sketch signed by Moss himself!)

Sir Stirling Moss took the pole position and race just ahead of his teammate Fangio. It was Moss’ first Grand Prix win, and the first British Grand Prix win by a British driver.

In 2015, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of this famous win.
Bravo Sir Stirling!!!

A Car For All Seasons

Renowned Canadian artist Tom Forrestall has been painting since the early 1950’s, but he could have never anticipated getting a commission from Mercedes-Benz.

Over 30 years ago, when Tom found success with his art, he invested in a brand new 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300 SD Turbo Diesel, a solid car for his large family.

In 2012, he had his trusty car stored with the O’Regan family, owners of the local Mercedes-Benz dealership. He and his friend Dr. Mary O’Regan discussed what to do about it, and hatched the idea of “A Car For All Seasons”, where he would paint his depiction the 4 seasons directly on his old car, which was still in lovely condition.

Mercedes-Benz Canada embraced the idea, and with approval from the Daimler head office in Stuttgart, they purchased the car and commissioned Tom to paint it.

Tom at work

All the trim was removed from the car, and Tom set to work. It took 5 months for Tom to create his masterpiece. Afterward, the car was varnished in 18 coats of clear varnish, with sanding and polishing between coats. The trim was then reattached.

The final result is nothing short of astounding! The seasons, and the transitions between them, are beautifully depicted, all in vibrant colours.

Interspersed here and there are bits of Mercedes-Benz history, with portraits of Mercedes Jellinek, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz; there are also representations of the various Mercedes-Benz logos through the ages.

Mercedes Jellinek

Gottlieb Daimler

Karl Benz

I really hope that Daimler will see fit to have this beautiful artwork in their museum so it can be enjoyed.

A Story of the Silver Arrows …

I’ve recently corresponded with the Mercedes-Benz Museum Archives, and they very kindly sent me copies of their publication “Magical Moments – 120 Years of Motorsport”.

One of Mercedes-Benz early racing successes, the 1914 French Grand Prix.

There is a great cross-section of their motorsports successes from 1894 till now.

As I read through the publication, an interesting story was featured in relation to the 1934 Grand Prix season.

The AIACR, the controlling body of motor sport in the 1930s, introduced new rules for the 1934-37 Grand Prix seasons:
1. The weight of the car without driver, fuel, oil, water or tires should not exceed 750 kg.
2. A minimum bodywork width of 850 mm at the driving seat.
3. Free choice of fuel.
4. All races must be over a minimum distance of 500 kilometers.

In the story, it recounts the famous legend of the switch from the traditional and official German white on Mercedes-Benz race cars to the colour silver.




Alfred Neubauer, the Mercedes-Benz racing manager of the time, claimed that the day before the June 3rd, 1934 international Eifel race, they weighed their newly introduced W25 Grand Prix race car, and found that it weighed over the 750kg limit, coming in at 752kg.



The Mercedes-Benz W25 Grand Prix car on it's way to winning the Eifelrennen.

In a flash of inspiration, he had his technicians work overnight to remove the white paint, exposing the beautiful aluminum bodies of these technically advanced racers, bringing them to exactly 750kg, and they won the race. This sparked the legend of the “Silver Arrows”, as the press was to soon label them.


The very successful Mercedes-Benz W25 Grand Prix car.

In the past few years, a few motorsport historians have questioned the credibility of the story.

As I researched my book “Silver Clouds: The 1934 Grand Prix Season”, I have to say that I developed the same doubts.




There are a few facts and insights that I can bring forward:
 1) In the same year, Auto Union (a merger of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer) presented their rear-engined Grand Prix cars under the same 750kg rules, never in any other colour but silver.
 2) I find it hard to believe that in the thorough testing their sometimes white-painted W25, that the Mercedes-Benz technicians wouldn’t have weighed the racer well before any actual racing would take place.
 3) The actual June 3rd, 1934 race was a Formule Libre race, and not under any of the restrictions of the 750kg Formula. In other words, it seems quite implausible that they would work so hard at removing 1kg of paint for an unrestricted race.

With these points, you can still ask, “Why the story then?”

Well, for one point, it features the absolute precision of the Mercedes-Benz technicians and engineers, who considered the race machine only, not such frivolous things as the paint.

It also shows the creative quick-thinking of the legendary Mercedes-Benz race team manager Alfred Neubauer, always the clever strategizer.

Yes, it’s a damn good story, true or not …

The 1955 Mille Miglia: German Power, British Might

Post-WWII, Mercedes-Benz was busy digging itself out of the ravages of the war, and trying to regain the presence as a constructor of cars of quality.

They developed the W194 300 SL Gullwing sports car for the 1952 season, winning the 24 heurs du Mans and La Carrera Panamericana.

For 1954, they came with a full force of Formula 1 and Sports Car/GT racers and dominated the season.

For 1955, they fully developed their racing sports cars, closely based on their Formula 1 racers.

For the Mille Miglia, they had a team of 4 new 300 SLR's to do battle against the platoon of Ferraris.

The drivers were (Sir) Stirling Moss, with his navigator journalist/racer Denis Jenkinson, Hans Herrmann, with his navigator, and Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling, both sans navigators.

For their race, Moss and Jenkinson practiced by driving the whole route, with Jenkinson making pace notes all along the way.

The Mercedes-Benz team glued the pace notes together into one long scroll, and installed it in a waterproof windowed box so that Jenkinson could read them out loud to Moss en route.

Jenkinson’s pace notes allowed Moss to drive the whole race flat out, and they won in the unheard-of record time of 10 hours 07 mins 48 secs, with an average speed of 157.650 km/h (97.96 mph), all of it done on public roads!

It was the second time that Mercedes-Benz won the event, the first time being Rudolf Caracciola’s 1931 win.

Mercedes-Benz W25

Until 1934, three automotive companies dominated Grand Prix racing: Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, and Maserati. Each year, these companies produced racecars that were faster and more powerful than those of the previous year.

The Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR), the controlling body for motor sport in the 1930s, decided to change the requirements for the 1934, 1935, and 1936 Grand Prix seasons. The most important new requirement for the racers was that the maximum weight could not exceed 750 kg, excluding driver, fuel, oil, water, and tires.

The AIACR believed that Grand Prix cars were becoming too fast and reasoned that the change in weight parameters would limit the size of the engines used.

However, the AIACR had not at all taken into consideration the possibility of the manufacturers using new technology and lightweight metallurgy to create yet more powerful, efficient racers.

Mercedes-Benz saw an opportunity to move ahead, promoting their know-how and the sale of their products through Grand Prix racing.


Luigi Fagioli on his way to winning the 1935 Grand Prix de Monaco in the Mercedes-Benz W25.

I did this sketch while waiting for my Halifax flight at gate B05 at the Montréal airport on September 24th. The guy next to me practicing on his guitar; it was great to sketch to this guy's music.

Pen&ink, paint markers and markers on gray archival stock 12"x 9" © Paul Chenard 2012

Mercedes-Benz took a traditional approach with the front-engined rear-drive racer, but also took a serious look at using innovative aerodynamics and lightweight materials to give them an advantage. A steel-blocked 3.36-litre straight-8 supercharged engine powered the new Mercedes W25, and it was wrapped in a beautiful aerodynamic aluminum skin, with all-round independent suspension.

In that first year of the new formula, they won the Coppa Acerbo, the Italian Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix. For 1935, they won 9 major races, giving driver Rudolf Caracciola the European Championship.

Sir Moss’s Gift

In the past year or so, I’ve been lucky enough to become friends with a gentleman from Scotland named John.

We share the same passion for motorsports history, and it’s heroes. One of our shared heroes is Sir Stirling Moss, who happens to be an acquaintance of John’s.

John had the great idea of asking Sir Moss to autograph one of my limited editions, namely my triptych of him winning the 1955 British Grand Prix in a Mercedes W196.



The signed print has just arrived, and I’m thrilled to the bone!

A huge THANK YOU to my friend John, and to his friend Sir Stirling Moss!

1934 Eifelrennen Formule Libre

At the Nurburgring track, bad weather delayed this important race by a few hours.

Mercedes-Benz was making its first official entry into the Grand Prix season at this event after extensive testing and adjustment of the new W25.

Team manager Alfred Neubauer was feeling the pressure to succeed in their homeland. Their star driver had not yet fully recovered enough from his 1933 Monaco crash to participate so Mercedes brought in a new driver Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch, along with Luigi Fagioli to drive their new racer.

Pen&ink, markers, and pencil on archival white stock 12”x 9” 
© Paul Chenard 2010

Original art & limited editions available.
Auto Union had Hans Stuck, Hermann zu Leiningen and August "Bubi" Momberger to drive their Type A.

Scuderia Ferrari had Louis Chiron and Mario Tadini driving the Alfa Romeo P3. Bugatti had no entries in the race, and nor did Maserati.

Three classes of cars were racing together, flagged off one class after another, a total of forty-four cars in all.

Italian Fagioli took an early lead until he was ordered by team manager Neubauer to let his German teammate von Brauchitsch by. Later in the pits for fueling, Fagioli argued furiously with Neubauer over this. He started off again, but with only one lap remaining in the race, he pulled over and abandoned his race car in protest.

With two Auto Unions out of the race, Stuck had taken the sole remaining Type A to a sizeable lead over von Brauchitsch. Some believed he would go non-stop and win the race. He finally did have to come in for fuel and tires, and the Mercedes driver took the lead, which he would keep to the checkered flag.

The win was a stunning debut for both the Mercedes-Benz team and their new driver.

British Grand Prix 1955

1955 was a very big year for racer Sir Stirling Moss.

The Mercedes-Benz racing team had recruited him because of his strong placings in previous years in all classes of racing cars.

That year, he had won the grueling Targa Florio sports car race with teammate Peter Collins, and the very long and dangerous Mille Miglia with navigator/journalist Denis Jenkinson.

He was also driving the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 cars in which he won his first Grand Prix race, the British GP at Aintree on July 16^th, ahead of his illustrious teammate Juan Manuel Fangio.

He would finish in second place in the season, and also in the following three seasons.

The above new 22”x 7” limited edition archival Giclee print is available to celebrate Sir Moss’ first Formula 1 win; you can order it by emailing me at paul.chenard@hotmail.com

1934 Belgian Grand Prix

Race enthusiast had great expectations for the Belgian Grand Prix, held on the stunning Spa-Francorchamps track.

Unfortunately, Belgian customs officials demanded a heavy duty from the German Grand Prix teams for their alcohol-based racing fuel. The result was a withdrawal of both the Mercedes-Benz and the Auto Union teams from the race.

This made for a very small grid of seven cars; three Bugatti T59s, two Alfa Romeo P3s, a Maserati 8CM and a Montier-Ford Special.

Pen&ink, markers, and pencil on archival white stock 12”x 9” 
© Paul Chenard 2010

Original art & limited editions available.

Raymond Sommer was the only Maserati driver present, so that the real race was going to be between the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos and the Bugattis.

As the typically rainy race began, Louis Chiron took the lead in the Alfa Romeo, with the Bugattis pitting with fouled plugs.

It looked very much like another Scuderia Ferrari win in the works. Unfortunately, Chiron’s racer slid off the track and overturned; he was luckily uninjured in the incident.

Achille Varzi took comfortably over his teammate’s lead, and at the same time, the track record. This was not to last, with his smoking Alfa Romeo coming in with a blown engine.

With their only real opposition out of the way, the Bugattis of René Dreyfus and Antonio Brivio cruised in first and second, with Sommer a distant third for Maserati.

It was to be one of the very rare top-level wins for Bugatti in 1934.