The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, carrying the internal designation W196S, was a purpose-built works competition sports car campaigned exclusively by the Mercedes-Benz factory team in 1955. It carried over the straight-eight engine architecture from the concurrent W196 Formula One car, making it one of the few sports racing cars of its era to share direct mechanical lineage with a contemporary Grand Prix machine. The 300 SLR dominated the 1955 World Sportscar Championship, with its most celebrated result being the Mille Miglia victory by Stirling Moss and navigator Denis Jenkinson, a run that remains one of the most analysed drives in motorsport history. A closed coupe variant, the Uhlenhaut Coupe, was developed from the same platform but never raced, surviving as one of the most historically significant unraced competition cars in existence.
