"Tom Wheatcroft, Donington Grand Prix Collection founder and owner sought after owning a Mercedes W125 Grand Prix car, however a lack of availability and sky high prices stopped this from becoming a reality. Despite being in his 80s Wheatcroft was never one to miss an opportunity so Tom and his son Kevin embarked on a project to reconstruct this legendary Grand Prix car.
In order to set the project in motion, Kevin Wheatcroft spent a considerable amount of money and many hours scouring the world for parts. During this exhaustive search he stumbled across a complete set of works drawings. The drawings were in the process of being carefully restored and redrawn when an opportunity arose to borrow an original untouched example of a 1937 Grand Prix Mercedes W125 - this was through the kind co-operation of the Schlumpf Collection (Cite de l'Automobile).
Over the next year the car was painstakingly measured and data collected a tireless effort to ensure all details of the car were accurately recorded. The car borrowed in order to construct the car was the 1937 Donington Grand Prix car driven by Hermann Lang (his name and race number can still be found on the underside of the seat cushion). This car had the benefit of never being touched and was therefore completely original. The project was further enhanced by the generosity of Formula One pioneer Bernie Ecclestone, in that he allowed access to his original restored example which was the only one in private hands.
With this wealth of data and information, thousands of photographs and original engineering notes the long task of producing a replica began. The result of such dedication is this truly wonderful replica which exudes all the charisma, sound, sight and smell of the original machine. It was just possible for the late Tom Wheatcroft to hear and smell the car start for the first time before he sadly passed away. It was left to his son Kevin to prove the car for the first time, as it thundered around Donington Park."
SOURCE - info plaque
"The Mercedes-Benz W125 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut to race during the 1937 Grand Prix season. The car was used by Rudolf Caracciola to win the 1937 European Championship and W125 drivers also finished in the second, third and fourth positions in the championship.
The supercharged engine, with 8 cylinders in line (94.0 x 102.mm) and 5,662.85 cc (345.56 CID), attained an output of up to 595 horse power (444 kW) in race trim. The highest test bed power measured was 637 BHP (646 PS) at 5,800 rpm. It gave 245 BHP (248 PS) at a mere 2,000 rpm. In 1938, the engine capacity of supercharged Grand Prix cars was limited to 3000cc, and the W125 was replaced by the Mercedes-Benz W154.
The W125 was considered the most powerful race car ever for about 3 decades, until large capacity American-built V8 engines in CanAm sportcars reached similar power in the mid 1960s. In Grand Prix racing itself, the figure was not exceeded until the early 1980s (when Grand Prix racing had become known as Formula One), with the appearance of turbo-charged engines in Formula One.
The W125 reached race speeds of well over 300 km/h (190 mph) in 1937, especially on the AVUS in Berlin, equipped with a streamlined body.
In land speed record runs, a Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen was clocked at 432.7 km/h (268.9 mph) over a mile and a kilometer. This car was fitted with a DAB V12 engine (82.0 x 88 mm) of 5,576.75 cc (340.31 CID) with a power of 726 BHP (736 PS) at 5,800 rpm. The weight of this engine caused the car to weigh over the 750 kg maximum limit, so it never appeared in Grand Prix.
The W125 made its first competitive outing in May at the 1937 Tripoli Grand Prix with Mercedes-Benz entering four cars. German Hermann Lang won his first Grand Prix motor race to give the W125 a victory on its début and provide Mercedes with their first victory over rivals Auto Union since May 1936. The next race was held at the AVUS motor-racing circuit in Germany, a 12-mile (19 km) long circuit consisting of two long straights of approximately 6 miles (10 km) length joined at either end by a curve. As such, it was possible for a car to reach its top speed. Mercedes entered two W125 cars, a streamliner which was modified from the original design to increase its top speed on the straights and a standard car driven by Richard Seaman in case of problems with the streamliner. The streamliner had a top speed 25 km/h (16 mph) faster than the regular car. On lap three of the race, the streamliner retired while leading due to a gearbox failure. Seaman's regular W125 finished in fifth position.
At the Eifelrennen held at the Nürburgring circuit, Mercedes entered five W125's, including one driven by Christian Kautz fitted with the new suction carburettor supercharger system. Kautz finished in ninth, while teammates Rudolf Caracciola and Manfred von Brauchitsch finished in second and third places. For the next race, Mercedes split their entries between two races which occurred within a week of another. Two cars were sent to the USA to compete in the Vanderbilt Cup, one of which was fitted with the suction carburettor supercharger used on Kautz's car, and three cars went to Belgium to compete in the first round of the 1937 European Championship. Richard Seaman finished second in the Vanderbilt, and third and fourth place were achieved in the Belgian Grand Prix. Following Seaman's success in the Vanderbilt with the new supercharger system, it was fitted to all of the W125s.
The following two races were also both part of the European Championship. The next round in Germany saw both Mercedes and rivals Auto Union competing on home soil. Mercedes triumphed, as Rudolf Caracciola took his first victory of the year and Manfred von Brauchitsch followed him home in second position. In the next round at Monaco, the positions were reversed as von Brauchitsch won and Caracciola finished in second. A third Mercedes W125, driven by Christian Kautz, took third place.
The non-championship Coppa Acerbo in Italy was the next event the W125 entered. During practice Richard Seaman crashed into a house and destroyed his car. Therefore, only von Brauchitsch and Caracciola started the race. During the race, Seaman took over from Caracciola and despite an engine fire, he finished the race fifth. von Brauchitsch fared better finishing in second position. The Swiss Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 1937 European Championship. Like in Monaco, Mercedes W125s finished in the top three places, Caracciola taking the win with Hermann Lang in second and von Brauchitsch third. The final round of the championship marked a return to Italy, where at the Livorno Circuit, Caracciola held off teammate Lang to win the race by 0.4 seconds and become European Champion. von Brauchitsch retired from the race and took second place overall in the Championship. Kautz and Lang took third and fourth places meaning Mercedes drivers occupied the top four positions in the championship table.
The W125 entered into two non-championship events before the end of the season. The Masaryk Grand Prix in Czechoslovakia gave the W125 its final victory when Caracciola won the race, von Brauchitsch finished second and Seaman came in third. The race was marred as Hermann Lang had crashed into spectators on lap five, resulting in twelve injuries and two deaths.
The final competitive race Mercedes entered the W125 into was the 1937 Donington Grand Prix. Rosemeyer prevailed, von Brauchitsch finished in second place and Caracciola in third while both of the other W125s failed to finish. The British ERA were outclassed, failing to get classified in their home race."
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