In 1934, Alfred Neubauer: Mercedes-Benz Racing manager had the idea of scraping all the white paint from the bodywork of new 751 kg Mercedes-Benz W25.
That time, the international governing body of motor sport decreed that Grand Prix racing cars could weigh a maximum of 750 kg, excluding tyres and fuel.
The W25 of von Brauchitsch, Luigi Fagioli and Rudolf Caracciola; tipped the scales at 751 kg – just 1 kg over the maximum weight limit on the scrutineering of International Eifel race at the Nürburgring track in Germany. The decision of Neubauer was the only solution to bring the car below the maximum weight permitted.
That next day the shining silver aluminium chassis was exposed and scrutineering passed. One day after, the 3360 cc, 8 cylinders with 350 hp car of v. Brauchitsch won the race, the nickname Silver Arrow was born.
The career of the Mercedes-Benz W25 was brilliant, with 16 victories in Grand Prix and other major races.
By 1937, the 646 hp supercharged engine of a Mercedes-Benz W125 reached speeds of well over 300 kilometres per hour, a figure not exceeded in Grand Prix Racing until the early 1980s, when turbo-charged engines were common in Formula One.
The superiority of these vehicles in international motor racing established the term “Silver Arrow” as a legend, for example by usually winning the first race in which they were entered. The names Rudolf Caracciola, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hermann Lang, and later Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio, will forever be associated with the eras of these racing cars.
