Highlights From 130 Years Of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

Even though the brand is typically associated with luxury and prestige, Mercedes-Benz has a long history of incredible motorsport exploits. For more than 100 years, the Stuttgart-based brand has been at the forefront of motorsport, be it rally, Formula 1, speed records, or endurance racing. Many of these have resulted in fantastic road cars, and even when they have not, the achievements of the German automaker are worth highlighting.

Mercedes has plenty to celebrate and look back on this year, so without any further ado, let's take a look back at 130 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport magnificence. Keep in mind that these are just a handful of highlights from different eras, so please don't be offended if your favorite moment does not appear.

120 years ago, Hermann Braun raced the Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp Gordon Bennett to victory at Semmering, an Austrian hill climb established in 1899. Braun flew up the 6.2-mile course at incredible speeds, completing the course in 8:47.6 at an average speed of 42.4 mph.

Produced for just two years, the Mercedes 60 hp was remarkably advanced. Thanks to its massive 9.3-liter engine, the luxury car had a top speed of 68 mph. With its mighty powertrain, Braun had no issue piloting the Mercedes up Semmering, a curvy mountain road with nine curves and an average gradient of 10%. As a sporting luxury vehicle, one could consider the Mercedes 60 hp to be the Mercedes-AMG SL 63 of its day.

Braun would later return to Semmering with a Mercedes 120 hp. Behind the wheel of this more powerful model, Braun shed a minute from his time, completing the course in 7:47.0 at an average speed of 50 mph.

Keen to demonstrate how its vehicles were ahead of the rest, Mercedes did not let up, and the Benz 200 hp (better known as the Blitzen Benz) set two new records in late 1913. British racing driver Lydston Granville Hornsted lined up on the straight of the Brooklands oval and prepared to shatter people's perceptions of what a performance car is.

Hornsted set a new speed record for the half-mile, with an average speed of 70.7 mph. The other record, completed over a kilometer, saw the Benz average 73.3 mph over the distance. While these speeds sound positively pedestrian by today's standards, the Blitzen Benz was incredibly fast for its time.

This remarkable performance came courtesy of a 21.5-liter four-cylinder engine. With 200 horsepower and an aerodynamic design, it was truly ahead of its time. The following year, Hornsted broke even more records with the Benz 200 hp and reportedly averaged 124.7 mph over a one-mile course.

Just six of these vehicles were ever produced, making them incredibly rare.

Mercedes-Benz's rallying exploits go unnoticed for some reason. There was a time when the brand's automobiles were adept at kicking up dust and traversing the roughest roads, and the 230 SL 'Pagoda' was one of the best.

While many view the Pagoda as a luxurious classic GT car, it showed it has true sports car capabilities when, in 1963, Eugen Bohringer won the Spa-Sofia-Liege Rally. Bohringer covered an incredible 3,418 miles in just 90 hours. The daredevil driver reveled in the short wheelbase and sharp steering, noting that "you just have to put your foot down and not brake too much."

And this was no mean feat. A true test of durability, the 230 SL was just one of 20 vehicles to reach the finish line. That's impressive, especially when you consider 129 teams started. The 2.3-liter inline-six engine was given 20 extra hp, bringing total power up to 170 hp. Apart from that, larger fuel tanks were fitted, along with a strengthened chassis.

The Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM is one of the most desirable post-war vehicles to leave Stuttgart. In the 1998 FIA GT Championship, Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta went head-to-head with their teammates, Bernd Schneider and Marc Webber.

Over the series, the Silver Arrows trounced the competition, placing first in every race they entered. With five wins each, Ludwig and Zonta pipped their teammates on points and became the world champions. At this stage, Mercedes-Benz had long secured their victory, winning all ten races and relegating Porsche to the position of runners-up.

Just 26 road-going examples were ever made, and today, the CLK GTR Strassenversion is one of the most desirable homologation models money can buy - if you can afford one, of course. While the road car received luxuries such as ABS and air-conditioning, the engine was anything but quiet and civilized. The 7.3-liter V12 engine produced as much as 622 hp, allowing a 0-62 mph time of 3.8 seconds.

When McLaren and Mercedes decided to join forces in Formula 1, neither entity could imagine just how successful they would be.

In 1997, the McLaren-Mercedes F1 racers, known as the Silver Arrows, debuted and promptly took everyone by storm. David Coulthard won the first race in the 1997 season at the Australian Grand Prix. A year later, Mika Hakkinen duked it out with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher had a difficult start, with a stalled engine relegating him to the back of the pack. Despite this, he secured the fastest lap and fought through the grid. But an unfortunate puncture dashed Schumacher's dreams. Hakkinen won the Japanese Grand Prix on November 1, 1998, and walked away with the Drivers' Championship title.

Apart from the milestones listed above, Mercedes has had plenty of iconic moments. A 31,000-mile endurance record is one of the greatest, again showing a good balance between performance and durability.

All that remains to be seen is what more the German brand can achieve. If it were up to us, we'd ask for a return to Le Mans...