{"id":149023,"date":"2020-04-26T13:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.automoblog.net\/\/?p=149023"},"modified":"2022-06-23T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T21:00:57","slug":"two-summers-mercedes-benz-w-196-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.automoblog.net\/two-summers-mercedes-benz-w-196-r\/","title":{"rendered":"Automoblog Book Garage: Two Summers: The Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Racing Car"},"content":{"rendered":"
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div>\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
author<\/div>
Robert Ackerson<\/div><\/div>
publisher<\/div>
Veloce Publishing<\/div><\/div>
isbn<\/div>
978-1845847517<\/div><\/div>
where to get it <\/div>
Amazon<\/a> <\/div><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Affiliate Disclosure:<\/strong>\u00a0Automoblog and its partners may be compensated if you purchase this book through the links provided here. Our\u00a0Book Garage series<\/a>\u00a0showcases what\u00a0every enthusiast should add\u00a0to their library.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Summers <\/em>is a delightful book that tells the tale of the Mercedes Grand Prix team when they were at the height of their resurgence in the 1950s. Run by one of racing’s great team managers, and driven by some of the all-time greats, the Mercedes-Benz W 196 is one of the benchmarks in racing history, and this is its story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a wonderful little picture on page 21 of Two Summers<\/em> that encapsulates both this book and the world in which it’s set. Two unnamed Mercedes mechanics are at the rear of a silver streamliner, painting by hand the number “22” on the tail of Hans Herrmann’s W 196. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long gone are the days of numbers painted on cars, let alone mechanics that were also, literally, letter-perfect with a paintbrush. Today it’s all thin-film transfers calibrated just so for sponsor logos to read right on TV screens. Mechanics are technicians that seem to be working on flying saucers. And racers are more drivers then devil-may-care men like Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Summers Sets The Stage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The mid-1950s were a staggeringly dangerous time in auto racing. The documentary film 1<\/em><\/a> <\/strong>shows how hazardous Grand Prix racing was in the early 1970s, but the 50s make it seem like a kiddy ride at the county fair. It’s not that drivers, designers, and teams wanted <\/em>it that way; it was just, more or less, a natural confluence of events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took until 1950 for racing in Europe to get up and running again after World War II. The industrial base was mostly in ruins, about one in five people were killed, and the entire populace was seriously shell shocked after what they just lived through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For competitors, the mindset was pretty much like it was in 1939 when hostilities broke out: Have a pint, have a cigarette, and have a go in whatever motor you might be able to find for a Sunday afternoon. Only by the mid-50s, things had changed, mechanically-speaking. Much was learned concerning internal combustion engines during the war. Likewise for esoteric subjects including metallurgy, rubber compounds, and braking systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot
Screenshot from Two Summers: The Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Racing Car<\/em> by Robert Ackerson, published by Veloce Publishing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The New Breed Emerges <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was also a particular stripe of man in the post-war era. These men flew fighter planes, served on navy ships, and saw Action with a capital “A.” And they wanted more. More Action. More close shaves. More opportunities to show that they had it<\/em>; that they could roll the dice and come out on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As new technologies were brought to bear, as race cars became faster, as a new generation of drivers came on the scene eager to prove themselves, one car company emerged on top: Mercedes-Benz. The old adversary had returned to its dominant position at the top of the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n