Cars
The Queens of the 1000 Miglia: Mercedes-Benz 300 SL W198 #417 – Born for the Road and Racetrack
Before dawn in Brescia, a road car became a race legend – the story of Mercedes-Benz 300 SL W198 #417.
At 4:17 in the morning on 1 May 1955, while Brescia was still wrapped in darkness, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL in a deep metallic colour – almost as if it were an ordinary grand tourer on its way to the golf club – set off to face the Mille Miglia. On its bonnet it carried the number 417, which, following the race’s tradition, indicated precisely the hour of departure. At the wheel was John Cooper Fitch, alongside Kurt Gessl, with an ambition no less formidable than that entrusted to Moss and Fangio in the two SLRs: to win the Gran Turismo category.
It was a move we would call marketing today: the Stuttgart marque wanted to dominate with its true competition cars and demonstrate that its road-going sister was not far behind in terms of performance. What is more, the aesthetic language of the SLR and the SL was unmistakably related. Not quite twins, but unquestionably two genuine sisters. Eleven and a half hours later, the 417 would cross the finish line fifth overall, winning its category, exactly as planned. That same morning, at 7:22, another Mercedes had departed – the 300 SLR of Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson, destined to claim outright victory and become famous under the number 722. Two profoundly different automobiles, protagonists of an extraordinary Mercedes-Benz dominance: the first an expression of competition technology, the second of the ability to transfer that performance to a car built for the road.
