Hitting the bullseye
ARRIVING AT ‘The Wing’ at Silverstone on a cold and windy afternoon in early spring is like turning your internal colour saturation control down to zero. The old World War II bomber base airfield is forbidding at the best of times, but today under scudding nimbus there’s one heck of a monochrome welcome. An arrowhead of Mercedes’ most iconic Silver Arrows race cars sits at the entrance to the function centre.
Mercedes is rolling out the red carpet to celebrate 125 years of motorsport, that anniversary defined by the 1894 Paris-Rouen race. Let’s pause for a little perspective here. Porsche is a newbie by comparison, its racing history commencing in 1951. Ferrari started competing in 1929, by which time Mercedes already had a 35-year competition pedigree. Of the 102 entrants in that race, Peugeot is the only other name that survives today.
To celebrate the anniversary, the Germans have invited the great, the good, and its rapid forces division of historic competition cars to the home of F1. As well as a jaw-dropping collection of static displays, there’s a glittering roster of race drivers. It’s ridiculous. What’s more, they aren’t just here to catch up on
