The year is 1984, the place is Nürburg. The ring to be exact. The event is a demorace organized by Mercedes to promote the W201 190E 2.3-16 which they had launched just a few months before. And yes it was also to open the brand new Nürburgring Grand Prix-Strecke, far less interesting.
Mercedes flew in all the big Formula 1 drivers. James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Sir Stirling Moss to name a few. Oh and this unknown Formula 3 driver named Ayrton Senna.It wasn’t meant to be a hardcore, fight for the win race. But not everyone got that message. The 20 drivers all got identical very close to road legal cars for this 12 lap race.
The transmission ratio was adjusted to 4,08:1 instead of the usual 3,08:1 which made the car have a top speed of 190 Km/h. The suspension was lowered 15mm and the strutbars where a bit beefier. A roll cage was added for safety, and bigger brakes with racing rubbers to keep it all on the road.
The last thing that was different on this car was a racing exhaust. Other than these changes you were still able to listen to your tunes and electrically adjust your seats. All drivers in this race where very accomplished racers but also very diverse. Sir Stirling Moss, John Surtees and Hans Hermann barely raced anymore and hadn’t so for quite some time.
Ayrton Senna on the other hand had his Formula 1 debut just 2 months before this race. The notorious James Hunt definitely got the message and didn’t take it all that serious. For Alain Prost it was the first meeting with his nemesis. Alain Prost supposedly gave Ayrton Senna a ride to the track from the airport and they had a lovely time. After practice Prost was on pole position with Senna in second.
Senna stopped talking to Prost after this and when Prost took the lead after half a lap, Senna drove him off the track and proceeded to take the win. Senna’s response after the race; “Now i know i can do it!” By this he didn’t mean driving Alain Prost of the track but winning from 19 amazing Formula 1 drivers. Since the winning Mercedes would be put on display with the drivers name plastered on the side, Mercedes deemed the event a failure. Ayrton Senna went on to become one of the greatest race-car drivers ever.
