At the fifth Solitude Revival, Mercedes-Benz Classic will bring the great age of motorsport back to life on the legendary Stuttgart circuit with famous racing vehicles and drivers. Among the vehicles on show will be the Mercedes-Benz Model S from 1927 and the AMG 300 SEL 6.8 from 1971, which was based on a Mercedes-Benz luxury-class saloon. The drivers in attendance will be Dieter Glemser, Hans Herrmann, Jochen Mass and Jan Seyffarth. The Solitude Revival starts on the Friday (21 July 2017) with the presentation of the participating vehicles. This will be followed on the Saturday and Sunday (22/23 July 2017) by numerous races of classic automobiles and motorcycles on the 11.7-kilometer circuit.
The Stuttgart circuit lies at the heart of the brand’s racing history: the Solitude Ring in Stuttgart is a home track of Mercedes-Benz. It is where, 90 years ago, the Mercedes-Benz Model S, which had been unveiled just a few months previously at the inauguration of the Nurburgring, put on a brilliant show. At the “Around Solitude” race on 18 September 1927, Otto Merz in a Model S won the class for racing cars over three liters displacement, while Willy Walb was triumphant in the class for sports car over five liters.
History is now being repeated: to mark the anniversary, at Solitude Revival 2017 Mercedes-Benz Classic will present a Model S in three races on the Solitude Ring on both Saturday (22 July 2017) and Sunday (23 July 2017). On each day, there will be a warm-up from 9.00 until 9.20 am, a demonstration run from 12.55 until 1.25 pm and the “Special Cars (Sponsors)” race from 4.15 until 4.45 pm. The presence of the super sports car, built in 1928, from the Mercedes-Benz collection will revive the age of the legendary S, SS, SSK and SSKL supercharged touring cars. In their day, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, these cars dominated numerous races in Germany and other European countries. Owing to their imposing looks and loudly whining superchargers, the vehicles, which were painted in the German racing color of white, were reverentially known to fans of motorsport as “White Elephants”.
The Mercedes-Benz vehicles will be presented and driven on the Solitude Ring by such Brand Ambassadors as Dieter Glemser, Hans Herrmann, Jochen Mass and Jan Seyffarth (official Mercedes-AMG test and development driver) who are also scheduled to engage with the public in panel discussions and autograph sessions organized jointly by Mercedes-Benz Classic and Porsche, which is expected to be represented by Marc Lieb. Outstanding competitors from earlier eras up until the most recent racing times, conversations about motorsport, the Solitude Ring and the cultivation of tradition – the panel discussions and autograph sessions promise to be both highly informative and entertaining.
