On 19 June 1927, Rudolf Caracciola won the inaugural race for sports cars at the Nürburgring in a Mercedes-Benz Model S, marking the beginning of the Stuttgart car maker’s success in motorsport. For in the years that followed, the supercharged sports cars from Mercedes-Benz achieved many things in the racing world throughout Europe with the models S, SS, SSK and SSKL. Caracciola’s victory in an SSKL in the 1931 Mille Miglia race is acknowledged to be a particularly special triumph: he was the first winner of the thousand-mile race through Italy who was not an Italian. Mercedes-Benz offered private motorists with a yen to race the models S, SS and SSK in a version close to the racing car.
“S” for “Sport”: Great emphasis was placed on outstanding competitiveness when developing the Mercedes-Benz Model S. That was made clear by the Stuttgart brand manufacturer with its choice of designation for the supercharged touring car. On 19 June 1927 in the Eifel district of Germany, the racing car demonstrated that the Mercedes-Benz designers and engineers had really done their homework well. Rudolf Caracciola won the inaugural race for sports cars at the newly-opened Nürburgring in the Model S. The Mercedes-Benz driver achieved the fastest time for all classes with an average speed of 101.1 km/h. His team-mate Adolf Rosenberger came in second — also driving a Mercedes-Benz Model S — with an average speed of 93.6 km/h. The race took place on the “Nordschleife” (North Loop) and on the “Südschleife” (South Loop) going as far as Müllenbach. A complete circuit of the Nürburgring was thus approximately 29 kilometres long.
