The COAT - Round Two - Mercedes-Benz W196 vs Brabham BT46

[crmalcolm]

Another match from the Second Round now, with the second fixture seeing the Mercedes-Benz W196 against the Brabham BT46.
The Mercedes-Benz W196 was victorious against the BRM P57 by 8-1, whereas the Brabham BT46 took a 7-6 (after casting vote) victory over the McLaren MP4/14.

Mercedes-Benz W196 (grandprixhistory.org):
In 1954 [...] Mercedes set up a racing department headed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut while the race team was once again managed by the legendary Alfred Neubauer. The drivers were Juan-Manuel Fangio and the Germans Karl Kling and Hans Hermann. In 1955 the lineup was bolstered when the young British sensation Stirling Moss joined the team.

One of the initial design goals or the new car was to maximize it's drivability by providing as wide a power band as possible. Towards this end the new cars were powered by a normally aspired straight eight fitted with desmodromic valves and fuel injection. Using experience gained from their aero engines and in collaboration with Bosch, Mercedes built the first successful Grand Prix car to have fuel injection.
Using a loophole in the rules, the cars sported an all-enclosing streamlined shell whose low bonnet line was made possible by the engine being canted on its side.
The streamlined bodies caused a sensation and served the team well at fast circuits such as Reims but the debacle at the British Grand Prix led to an open wheel version which was later driven in the remainder of the races that required a more precise placement of the car relative to the circuit's corners!

Brabham BT46 (Bleacher report):
More commonly known as the "fan car," the Brabham BT46b was one of the truly innovative cars in the history of F1. Like the Tyrell P34, the Brabham is an example of when a manufacturer tried something really different.

As a counter to the dominant "ground-effect" cars of the era, the BT46B sported a large fan on the back of the car which sucked air from underneath the floor, creating huge downforce. Not only does this get into wacky races territory in terms of cool gizmos, but it holds another cool stat: a 100 percent winning record.

While the team tried to argue that the fan was for increased cooling, no one was buying it, and the fan was banned after one race in this configuration. Since Niki Lauda won that race at Anderstorp in Sweden, it goes down as a car that's never been defeated.

[Gerard C]

Tricky! I'll go for the Benz.

[S griffin]

The W196, it was around longer. Otherwise they are both great innovations