Considering that only the four best results counted in the first WSC seasons, the two 1-2 wins by Mercedes, plus a 2nd place and a no show, would have secured the 1952 championship with 22 points out of a maximum of 32, with Ferrari in second (one win and 19 points).
1952 World Sportscar "Championship" season
At its first outing, the 2 May 1952 Mille Miglia, the W194 [1] managed second and fourth places, only beaten by a well-driven new Ferrari 250 S.
Only two weeks after the Mille Miglia, the "Silver Arrows" returned, some painted in colors usually found on other cars. For the 18 May 1952 Bern Grand Prix at Circuit Bremgarten that supported the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix (F1/F2 and motorcycles), Daimler Benz brought cars for four drivers: No. 16 dark red Rudolf Caracciola, No. 18 green Karl Kling, No. 20 powder blue Hermann Lang, No. 22 silver Fritz Riess. [9] With factory teams present for the GP, Scuderia Lancia and Aston Martin entered two cars, Scuderia Ferrari one. [10] The Daetwyler-Ferrari 340 America with a 4.1 liter V12 was on pole, but after 18 laps it was a dominant Mercedes 1-2-3 victory, with the field one lap down. Rudolf Caracciola crashed out in lap 14 while racing his old rival Lang. A broken leg ended his career.
The 1952 Monaco Grand Prix was a non-championship sports car race [11] held on 2 June 1952 at Monaco. Mercedes remained absent, but it had factory entries by Aston Martin and Jaguar, plus some privately entered French cars, and was won 1-5 by private Ferrari 225 S. Luigi Fagioli, GP winner for Mercedes in 1935, crashed and died weeks later, thus he and Caracciola could not race at Le Mans.
Mercedes had to rework the 300SL for the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans as the original small "gullwing windows" were considered too small by the ACO organizers. New chassis with larger openings were made. In addition, an air brake above the roof was tested, but not allowed to race. [12] Mercedes scored a 1-2 win.
The Nürburgring had not introduced the 1000km yet, but ran sports car races within events like the Eifelrennen which accommodated different kinds of racing, usually motorcycle races and various automobile races, until incompatible safety requirements ended the combination in the 1970s. The 25 May 1952 Eifelrennen main event was run to Formula 2 rules. 1952 was the 25th anniversary of the race track, and a sports car race dubbed the XV. Großer Preis von Deutschland – Großer Jubiläumspreis vom Nürburgring für Sportwagen 1952 was run to support the 3 August 1952 German Grand Prix. The 10 lap race in the mountains favoured low weight and good handling over low drag and endurance, thus Mercedes used the original high side chassis, but as Spyder without any roof or door. Announced as a surprise [13] , one car was tested with a supercharged M197 engine [14] which put it in the "S 5000-8000cc" class. Additional power was not needed, though. The race was a 1-2-3-4 triumph for Mercedes, ahead of private Ferrari and Jaguar.
Mercedes had taken notice of the growing importance of the Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico, and entered three gullwings in November 1952. They finished 1-2 while the third car was disqualified.
These successes, especially those on the high speed open road races, were rather surprising as the M194 engine was fitted only with carburetors (triple 2-barrel Solex), producing 175 hp (130 kW), which was not only less than the competing cars by Ferrari and Jaguar, but also far less than, only two years later in 1954, the fuel-injected W198 300 SL road car developed from it. Low weight and low aerodynamic drag made the W194 fast enough to be competitive in endurance races.
Hans Klenk 
John Fitch 
