F1R: The reason we’re talking about Alfred Neubauer today is that he is associated with a period of great Mercedes success. But almost as soon as it was achieved, the ‘glory’, if you like, was snatched away by that awful tragedy at Le Mans. In his book, h

Why did Mercedes-benz decide, after what was probably their most successful year, to give up motor racing? There is no simple answer. Time itself had a part in it, together with technical developments and the changing tastes of the public.

Motor racing had at one time made an important contribution to the design and construction of motor cars. Without it, the motor car would not have become as popular as it has done since the beginning of this century, nor would it have achieved such mechanical perfection.

Furthermore, all motor car manufacturers are on roughly the same high technical level, which means one of the main incentives for motor racing, the opportunity to pit one make of car against another in open competition, has now gone.

Until a few years ago speed was still an immensely popular attraction, but public interest is switching more and more from the fastest to the most manoeuvrable cars which give the best performance in the modern traffic jungle of the big cities.

These were the factors that weighed with the Mercedes-benz board of directors and made them decide to withdraw from motor racing. But they are, of course, not the only ones. The high cost of maintaining a race team is out of all proportion to the publicity value of a racing win. Designers, engineers and mechanics can no longer be spared from the routine of dayto-day manufacture. Last but not least, the decision to retire at the end of a remarkably successful season was a shrewd move.