**A Personal and Historic Racing Experience**

I've always been superstitious about old cars and using them on track, and my experience with the Mercedes 190E at the Nürburgring circuit is no exception. I had visions of blowing up the engine, gearbox, differential, or power steering system after Dean discovered a significant amount of oil in the car's boot. However, as it turned out, the oil was not due to any mechanical failure on my part, but rather a result of the self-leveling rear suspension system.

As a seasoned racing enthusiast and owner of a historic Mercedes 190E, I had always been aware of the car's potential for reliability issues. The 60 valve Cosworth engine version was designed for rallying, and it's no surprise that it would be prone to mechanical failure in a high-performance context. Nevertheless, my experience on track only reinforced my concerns about the car's fragility.

Fortunately, despite its mechanical woes, the car continued to run, albeit with some issues. The 190E's impressive history and heritage were on full display as I navigated the challenging Nürburgring circuit. This was a car that had been designed for speed and agility, and it still had a lot of life left in it.

The story of the Mercedes 190E is one that highlights the importance of this historic car in the world of motorsport. Originally designed as a rallying machine, it went on to become an important part of DTM racing history, competing at high levels well into the 1990s. Its legacy continues to inspire car enthusiasts and racing fans around the world.

As I reflect on my experience with the Mercedes 190E, I am reminded of its incredible performance capabilities and its importance in the world of motorsport. While it may not be the most reliable car, it is certainly one that demands respect from its driver. The sheer amount of history and heritage surrounding this car only adds to its allure, making it a true classic among racing enthusiasts.

Despite my initial concerns about the car's reliability, I have come to realize that the Mercedes 190E is indeed a proper car. It may not be as fast as some of its modern counterparts, but it has a unique charm and character that sets it apart from other performance cars. As an owner, I can attest to this firsthand, as driving the 190E is always an exhilarating experience.

In fact, my experience with the 190E has made me appreciate its significance in the world of motorsport even more. The car's history and heritage are a testament to its importance in the development of racing technology and its enduring influence on modern performance cars. Whether it's the BMW 320d or any other high-performance vehicle, driving the 190E is always a thrilling experience that reminds me why I love racing so much.

**The Importance of Historic Cars**

As I look back on my experience with the Mercedes 190E, I am reminded of the importance of historic cars in our lives. These cars may not be as fast or reliable as modern performance vehicles, but they have a unique charm and character that sets them apart from other vehicles. They are often more than just machines – they are pieces of history, artifacts that evoke memories and emotions.

The story of the Mercedes 190E is just one example of the many historic cars that have played an important role in shaping our understanding of motorsport. These cars may not be as flashy or high-tech as modern performance vehicles, but they have a quiet confidence and authority that commands respect from their driver.

For me, owning a historic car like the Mercedes 190E is about more than just driving a fast and reliable machine. It's about being part of a tradition, about connecting with the past and honoring the legacy of the cars that came before us. Whether it's the thrill of racing or simply the joy of driving a classic vehicle, historic cars have a way of transporting us back in time, reminding us of why we fell in love with motorsport in the first place.

**The Future of Performance Cars**

As I look to the future and consider my next project car, I am reminded of the importance of performance cars in our lives. Whether it's the Mercedes 190E or another classic vehicle, owning a high-performance car is about more than just speed and power – it's about the experience, the thrill of driving a machine that pushes us to our limits.

The recent release of a new four-cylinder performance car by Mercedes is a great example of this trend. This car represents a return to form for the brand, one that honors the legacy of classic cars while also embracing modern technology and design. Whether it's the BMW 320d or any other high-performance vehicle, driving a fast and capable machine is an exhilarating experience that never gets old.

In conclusion, my experience with the Mercedes 190E at the Nürburgring circuit was a true highlight of my racing career. The car's reliability issues notwithstanding, it still managed to deliver an impressive performance, one that left me in awe of its power and agility. As I look to the future, I am excited to see what other classic cars will emerge onto the scene, each with its own unique story and legacy to share.

For now, I'll just have to keep on driving my 190E, enjoying every moment of the experience and relishing the memories that come with owning such an incredible machine.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to another episode of inside Evo I'm Nick tro editor of Evo and Mike Duff's here with us today who's the motoring editor um today we're going to talk about a very special story that appeared in issue 185 of Evo if you can see that it was a story about Anon senna's Mercedes 190 that he raced at the nurburg ring in the 80s and it's also a story Mike about something else it's a very personal story to you why why is this yes that that's a fair summary um because I own a very very similar car um I own a 1990 Mercedes 192.5 so slightly more powerful but otherwise effectively identical and one of the main reasons I bought the car um I suppose deep in my mind was the memory um off off this race uh which was a a fairly remarkable thing um by the standards of one mate racing at the time um I've not been able to find any example of a race that had more Formula 1 world champions in it so so we had so let me get this straight we had uh louder cross yep James Hunt was he sober to judge from the pictures on the grid he was certainly sober at race time but uh the Contemporary reports uh said that there was a very big garad dinner the night before right and it did sound like quite a lot of the drivers were absolutely on it um so I imagine that there were some fairly serious serious hangovers on the grid for that race so we so this is something we'd never see today isn't it you know we saw you know absolute world champions the best in the breed but we also saw Senna who at that time actually hadn't really broken through he was a sensation in D formula 4D Formula 3 and was driving for F1 in he was driving at Tolman that year in F1 and he he many people when they talk about the story they they seem to remember that sen was a nobody of course he wasn't he was already in F1 at the time but he was still def Ely the least well-known person on that grid um it was nine former world champions and then you had Center and Bross so you had two future world champions as well uh and it was the race to uh celebrate the opening of the new nurg ring okay um so the what we think of as the the GP circuit now um so it was this took place in in 1984 and coincidentally it was when Mercedes had just launched the 190e which of course is as we all know the epitome of 198 Sports saloons um and they M3 well you know obviously I couldn't afford an E30 M3 um and they created this one-off race with um identical cars for um all of these guys it was lots of Champions I it was 20 cars I think there were lots of Champions there were lots of contemporary F1 drivers lots of contemporary sports car drivers uh there were some guys who' been driving in the in the you know 1950s going far enough back Sterling Moss was there really and and um who else did you tell me was it John CES Sterling Moss was there John CES was there I mean it was even even Goodwood you know the Goodwood Revival you wouldn't be able to assemble that much talent on one Grid at a time and this wasn't a display this was a race this was a race very much a race um it's fair to say that some people took it very seriously uh the guys at the front especially Senna who went there clearly intending to win um some of the guys at the back less so uh leat on the grid admitted he didn't know which way the track went he hadn't done any of the qualifying hadn't done any of the practice um and it sounds like it was a bit of a free-for-all at the back people were taking very wide lines cutting across things there was quite a bit of rubbing quite a bit of contact but the thing that always struck me and I remember watching one of the documentaries just after Senna died uh and there was just a little bit of grainy footage from this race and you can see how fast he was you just get that impression of the car that was absolutely at the limit you know it was just fast perfect not showboating you can just tell that he took that race incredibly seriously which which sounds duffed because he was in Formula 1 this was a 200 horsepower saloon car that you know meant nothing in the grand scheme of things but he had recognized that he could be seen to beat all of these greats on equal terms in an equal car and that's why it mattered to him did do you think the attitude of some of the other drivers change when they realized how seriously Senna was taking the race I think at the front it was always the guys at the front all wanted to win and wanted to win very much and if you actually look at the uh the overall standing Center start qualified third um was second by the first corner and then by the end of I think lap three he' he'd got past Prost with what was described as a fairly forceful move to take the lead he actually won the race from Nikki louder I think the the margin at the end was something like a second and a half so you know over 20 LPS yeah they were they were pressing as hard as they could yeah um and you know obviously it's it's a shame that we can't see the race itself um there isn't doesn't seem to be full video footage of the whole thing that survived through just Snippets yeah um but I really wanted to go back there um and to see sen car again so this race um the legend of the race the legend of Seno genuinely inspired this car purchase it was it was one of the factors definitely and I think you know it's it's the way that we always get implanted with our our memories of cars the cars we want the cars we're enthusiastic about I think we always get implanted when we're sort of in our teenage years um I was 18 when Senna died um and I didn't really know anything of this this of the backstory and it was as I say it was one of the documentaries that they did afterwards and it was just such an Amazing Story yeah um and when I found out that the car not only did it still exist but it was in mercedes's own museum in the collection I was determined to you know try and get it back there so let's talk about how the story came together I mean we obviously discussed it in a features meeting it was immediate it was immediately obvious it was a story that we should tell um then you had to put a call into mercedesbenz I would imagine and then say um can you dig out this yeah would you mind going into your Museum collection and and digging out this very valuable car and transporting it across Germany for us I have to say they were brilliant um the guys Mercedes-Benz classic they've got a colossal collection of cars I mean hundreds and hundreds I think it's something over 700 cars um they saw the story straight away they wanted to do it they wanted to help uh the only the only concern that they had was the fact that the car basically hasn't been run for 10 years um and obviously they didn't want to risk uh letting anybody blow it up which you know I could sort of see their point on that one they know know your reputation right well well yes yes obviously um so we didn't we didn't drive the car but in a way I think that actually it helped the story because it was so evocative just to actually be able to sit in the car on the grid and we were shooting at the end of the day the light was going down um and you know you could just imagine it was just imagination there was nothing else but you could just imagine what it was like and it was it was yeah a very uh very emotional moment I suppose um yeah did you tell me you got in the car and you sat in Center seat and you ped around I sat in Center seat I healed and towed on the on the pedals which were set up so much better than the ones in my car so you know a bit of C magic but the amazing work in your car from from that that track day that I seem to remember where they went after three uh three corners yes yeah it's fair to say my car's perhaps not in the the same mechanical condition that the ones at Mercedes-Benz classic are um but yeah to actually sit there was amazing and actually to full credit to Mercedes they recognized the significance of this car straight away it finished the race and it is basically in exactly the same Condition it's been out a couple of times it went to the Festival of speed one year um but the rest of the time it's been a museum exhibit either in stutgart or uh it used to be at the nerb ring experience Center and you get in it and you're you're sitting in Center seat you know there's the dust in there that you do think well you know good grief this is probably Senate era dust as well so yours you mentioned yours is the later car is 2.5 the center car was a 2.3 uh was it a racing car did it have a full roll cage modified engine exhaust the whole whole lot or absolutely was not a racing car they took 20 cars off the first production run um and because they were early production cars they had every single option box ticked so it had an electric sunroof it still had the radio in um it still had the controls on the door for the electric seats though obviously had a bucket seat in there and looking at the cage I mean okay they were racing on a a track with modern standards but it was a a bolt in cage it's a fully welded in cage the car still had carpets the St car still had rear seats it was absolutely a road car so you drove your car to Germany to German we have pictures of your car in the feature don't forget to subscribe to Evo if you want to read more great stories like this have to get that one in there um so yes you drive your car to the nurburg ring any any problems dramas along the way absolutely no problems on the way to the nurburg ring at all everything everything was fine 145 milph on the on the autoban which uh I don't know who was more surprised by that me the car possibly Dean the photographer in the passenger seat um but then when we got there there was a tourist far session going on on the norch life and so you know as you do you think well I can't not really can I I've got to do it I've got to do a couple of laps for the cameras so I did yes and uh yeah did nothing else to report well almost nothing else I thought I got away with it I mean I'm always a little bit superstitious about old cars and using them on track in my experience they do usually break and I got away came out of two laps of the nor life thinking you know the brakes held up the tires held up I wasn't the fastest thing on track unsurprisingly wasn't the slowest thing either to be fair um so yeah I came away thinking I've got away with it and uh then Dean uh went to open the boot of the car to put his photographic gear in and said there's quite a lot of oil back here and there was there was a lot of oil back there right to cut a long story short I I I had visions that I'd blown up the engine the gearbox the differential I hadn't fortunately um I had uh I thought I'd blown up the power steering system because there was an empty uh hydraulic fluid bottle under the uh Reservoir under the Bonnet but it turned out a German mechanic told me uh in in no and certain terms making it clear he thought I was an idiot that this was actually the self-leveling rear suspension so if you had to blow up one thing on an elderly Mercedes 190 was probably the least important thing so it meant the car could still drive um yeah bit bit of a battle scar you got it back to the UK no problems at all now got it fixed yeah got it back to the UK it's got It's got a couple of a different problems now but there's nothing to do with the story and can't be blamed on anything that happened out there good job S I didn't drive it then yeah probably probably that one yeah would have made a mess of it um do you feel differently about your car having done the story yeah in a strange way I do actually it's it's made me realize that it's it's a proper car you know you tend to sort of view gti's you know performance derivatives of cars that you you s of think maybe they were more for marketing and of course the the fascinating thing about the 190e was it was originally the the Cosworth engine version the 60 valve version it was designed for rallying yeah and then of course Audi brought out the Quattro and there was absolutely no point finishing um a two wheel drive rear wheel drive rally car and so they had to find a use for it this was one of the uses for it they set some records at Nardo and of course it became the basis for a DTM racer that stayed competitive into the 1990s so it was it was a very proper car and it made me realize that it's a car that's got a huge amount of History it's got a huge amount of Heritage and a car that is actually still very important to Mercedes you know they've just brought out another four-cylinder performance car for the first time in since it was cancelled with the A45 and the cla45 and you know in in many ways it showed that Mercedes could make small fast cars yeah it was the first of the so is it keeper I don't have any plans to get rid of it it's fair to say well I do every so often when something goes wrong or something breaks then I sort of think well maybe maybe but actually you know it's it's a it's a hell of a car um and I just love driving it and it's not that fast by modern standards you know as we were driving across Belgium um if you're on the the Belgian auto route and it clears and there's a BMW 320d in front of you and he puts his foot down then you know you have to work surprisingly hard to actually overwhelm that car but it's one of those girls that makes you realize that straight line performance really is not that much of a metric for measuring a performance C because it's about everything else really yeah Mike thanks for your time today great story I think one of the strongest stories we've done this year um and the the center aspect I think makes it very very personal to you but I think personal for all car enthusiasts as well you know I think um uh the world lost a great talent obviously and um it's a shame there isn't more video of this race um there's a little bit out there but if you can if you can track it down on YouTube it's worth looking uh looking for um don't forget to subscribe to Evo TV on YouTube for more videos like this uh there'll be more inside Evo episodes to follow and um thanks again Mike for your time we'll see you at the next onewelcome to another episode of inside Evo I'm Nick tro editor of Evo and Mike Duff's here with us today who's the motoring editor um today we're going to talk about a very special story that appeared in issue 185 of Evo if you can see that it was a story about Anon senna's Mercedes 190 that he raced at the nurburg ring in the 80s and it's also a story Mike about something else it's a very personal story to you why why is this yes that that's a fair summary um because I own a very very similar car um I own a 1990 Mercedes 192.5 so slightly more powerful but otherwise effectively identical and one of the main reasons I bought the car um I suppose deep in my mind was the memory um off off this race uh which was a a fairly remarkable thing um by the standards of one mate racing at the time um I've not been able to find any example of a race that had more Formula 1 world champions in it so so we had so let me get this straight we had uh louder cross yep James Hunt was he sober to judge from the pictures on the grid he was certainly sober at race time but uh the Contemporary reports uh said that there was a very big garad dinner the night before right and it did sound like quite a lot of the drivers were absolutely on it um so I imagine that there were some fairly serious serious hangovers on the grid for that race so we so this is something we'd never see today isn't it you know we saw you know absolute world champions the best in the breed but we also saw Senna who at that time actually hadn't really broken through he was a sensation in D formula 4D Formula 3 and was driving for F1 in he was driving at Tolman that year in F1 and he he many people when they talk about the story they they seem to remember that sen was a nobody of course he wasn't he was already in F1 at the time but he was still def Ely the least well-known person on that grid um it was nine former world champions and then you had Center and Bross so you had two future world champions as well uh and it was the race to uh celebrate the opening of the new nurg ring okay um so the what we think of as the the GP circuit now um so it was this took place in in 1984 and coincidentally it was when Mercedes had just launched the 190e which of course is as we all know the epitome of 198 Sports saloons um and they M3 well you know obviously I couldn't afford an E30 M3 um and they created this one-off race with um identical cars for um all of these guys it was lots of Champions I it was 20 cars I think there were lots of Champions there were lots of contemporary F1 drivers lots of contemporary sports car drivers uh there were some guys who' been driving in the in the you know 1950s going far enough back Sterling Moss was there really and and um who else did you tell me was it John CES Sterling Moss was there John CES was there I mean it was even even Goodwood you know the Goodwood Revival you wouldn't be able to assemble that much talent on one Grid at a time and this wasn't a display this was a race this was a race very much a race um it's fair to say that some people took it very seriously uh the guys at the front especially Senna who went there clearly intending to win um some of the guys at the back less so uh leat on the grid admitted he didn't know which way the track went he hadn't done any of the qualifying hadn't done any of the practice um and it sounds like it was a bit of a free-for-all at the back people were taking very wide lines cutting across things there was quite a bit of rubbing quite a bit of contact but the thing that always struck me and I remember watching one of the documentaries just after Senna died uh and there was just a little bit of grainy footage from this race and you can see how fast he was you just get that impression of the car that was absolutely at the limit you know it was just fast perfect not showboating you can just tell that he took that race incredibly seriously which which sounds duffed because he was in Formula 1 this was a 200 horsepower saloon car that you know meant nothing in the grand scheme of things but he had recognized that he could be seen to beat all of these greats on equal terms in an equal car and that's why it mattered to him did do you think the attitude of some of the other drivers change when they realized how seriously Senna was taking the race I think at the front it was always the guys at the front all wanted to win and wanted to win very much and if you actually look at the uh the overall standing Center start qualified third um was second by the first corner and then by the end of I think lap three he' he'd got past Prost with what was described as a fairly forceful move to take the lead he actually won the race from Nikki louder I think the the margin at the end was something like a second and a half so you know over 20 LPS yeah they were they were pressing as hard as they could yeah um and you know obviously it's it's a shame that we can't see the race itself um there isn't doesn't seem to be full video footage of the whole thing that survived through just Snippets yeah um but I really wanted to go back there um and to see sen car again so this race um the legend of the race the legend of Seno genuinely inspired this car purchase it was it was one of the factors definitely and I think you know it's it's the way that we always get implanted with our our memories of cars the cars we want the cars we're enthusiastic about I think we always get implanted when we're sort of in our teenage years um I was 18 when Senna died um and I didn't really know anything of this this of the backstory and it was as I say it was one of the documentaries that they did afterwards and it was just such an Amazing Story yeah um and when I found out that the car not only did it still exist but it was in mercedes's own museum in the collection I was determined to you know try and get it back there so let's talk about how the story came together I mean we obviously discussed it in a features meeting it was immediate it was immediately obvious it was a story that we should tell um then you had to put a call into mercedesbenz I would imagine and then say um can you dig out this yeah would you mind going into your Museum collection and and digging out this very valuable car and transporting it across Germany for us I have to say they were brilliant um the guys Mercedes-Benz classic they've got a colossal collection of cars I mean hundreds and hundreds I think it's something over 700 cars um they saw the story straight away they wanted to do it they wanted to help uh the only the only concern that they had was the fact that the car basically hasn't been run for 10 years um and obviously they didn't want to risk uh letting anybody blow it up which you know I could sort of see their point on that one they know know your reputation right well well yes yes obviously um so we didn't we didn't drive the car but in a way I think that actually it helped the story because it was so evocative just to actually be able to sit in the car on the grid and we were shooting at the end of the day the light was going down um and you know you could just imagine it was just imagination there was nothing else but you could just imagine what it was like and it was it was yeah a very uh very emotional moment I suppose um yeah did you tell me you got in the car and you sat in Center seat and you ped around I sat in Center seat I healed and towed on the on the pedals which were set up so much better than the ones in my car so you know a bit of C magic but the amazing work in your car from from that that track day that I seem to remember where they went after three uh three corners yes yeah it's fair to say my car's perhaps not in the the same mechanical condition that the ones at Mercedes-Benz classic are um but yeah to actually sit there was amazing and actually to full credit to Mercedes they recognized the significance of this car straight away it finished the race and it is basically in exactly the same Condition it's been out a couple of times it went to the Festival of speed one year um but the rest of the time it's been a museum exhibit either in stutgart or uh it used to be at the nerb ring experience Center and you get in it and you're you're sitting in Center seat you know there's the dust in there that you do think well you know good grief this is probably Senate era dust as well so yours you mentioned yours is the later car is 2.5 the center car was a 2.3 uh was it a racing car did it have a full roll cage modified engine exhaust the whole whole lot or absolutely was not a racing car they took 20 cars off the first production run um and because they were early production cars they had every single option box ticked so it had an electric sunroof it still had the radio in um it still had the controls on the door for the electric seats though obviously had a bucket seat in there and looking at the cage I mean okay they were racing on a a track with modern standards but it was a a bolt in cage it's a fully welded in cage the car still had carpets the St car still had rear seats it was absolutely a road car so you drove your car to Germany to German we have pictures of your car in the feature don't forget to subscribe to Evo if you want to read more great stories like this have to get that one in there um so yes you drive your car to the nurburg ring any any problems dramas along the way absolutely no problems on the way to the nurburg ring at all everything everything was fine 145 milph on the on the autoban which uh I don't know who was more surprised by that me the car possibly Dean the photographer in the passenger seat um but then when we got there there was a tourist far session going on on the norch life and so you know as you do you think well I can't not really can I I've got to do it I've got to do a couple of laps for the cameras so I did yes and uh yeah did nothing else to report well almost nothing else I thought I got away with it I mean I'm always a little bit superstitious about old cars and using them on track in my experience they do usually break and I got away came out of two laps of the nor life thinking you know the brakes held up the tires held up I wasn't the fastest thing on track unsurprisingly wasn't the slowest thing either to be fair um so yeah I came away thinking I've got away with it and uh then Dean uh went to open the boot of the car to put his photographic gear in and said there's quite a lot of oil back here and there was there was a lot of oil back there right to cut a long story short I I I had visions that I'd blown up the engine the gearbox the differential I hadn't fortunately um I had uh I thought I'd blown up the power steering system because there was an empty uh hydraulic fluid bottle under the uh Reservoir under the Bonnet but it turned out a German mechanic told me uh in in no and certain terms making it clear he thought I was an idiot that this was actually the self-leveling rear suspension so if you had to blow up one thing on an elderly Mercedes 190 was probably the least important thing so it meant the car could still drive um yeah bit bit of a battle scar you got it back to the UK no problems at all now got it fixed yeah got it back to the UK it's got It's got a couple of a different problems now but there's nothing to do with the story and can't be blamed on anything that happened out there good job S I didn't drive it then yeah probably probably that one yeah would have made a mess of it um do you feel differently about your car having done the story yeah in a strange way I do actually it's it's made me realize that it's it's a proper car you know you tend to sort of view gti's you know performance derivatives of cars that you you s of think maybe they were more for marketing and of course the the fascinating thing about the 190e was it was originally the the Cosworth engine version the 60 valve version it was designed for rallying yeah and then of course Audi brought out the Quattro and there was absolutely no point finishing um a two wheel drive rear wheel drive rally car and so they had to find a use for it this was one of the uses for it they set some records at Nardo and of course it became the basis for a DTM racer that stayed competitive into the 1990s so it was it was a very proper car and it made me realize that it's a car that's got a huge amount of History it's got a huge amount of Heritage and a car that is actually still very important to Mercedes you know they've just brought out another four-cylinder performance car for the first time in since it was cancelled with the A45 and the cla45 and you know in in many ways it showed that Mercedes could make small fast cars yeah it was the first of the so is it keeper I don't have any plans to get rid of it it's fair to say well I do every so often when something goes wrong or something breaks then I sort of think well maybe maybe but actually you know it's it's a it's a hell of a car um and I just love driving it and it's not that fast by modern standards you know as we were driving across Belgium um if you're on the the Belgian auto route and it clears and there's a BMW 320d in front of you and he puts his foot down then you know you have to work surprisingly hard to actually overwhelm that car but it's one of those girls that makes you realize that straight line performance really is not that much of a metric for measuring a performance C because it's about everything else really yeah Mike thanks for your time today great story I think one of the strongest stories we've done this year um and the the center aspect I think makes it very very personal to you but I think personal for all car enthusiasts as well you know I think um uh the world lost a great talent obviously and um it's a shame there isn't more video of this race um there's a little bit out there but if you can if you can track it down on YouTube it's worth looking uh looking for um don't forget to subscribe to Evo TV on YouTube for more videos like this uh there'll be more inside Evo episodes to follow and um thanks again Mike for your time we'll see you at the next one\n"