Post by 1961redlegs on Sept 6, 2021 17:47:44 GMT -5
Today, I finished my replica of the Mercedes 300 SL John Fitch piloted to the GT Class victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia, as well as finishing fifth overall.
John Fitch lived a life extraordinary by any measure. The son of a Stutz executive, he grew up in Indianapolis, graduated the Kentucky Military Institute (Danny Sullivan is also an alumni), then Leigh University. He was a fighter pilot in the Second World War and was one of the handful of pilots who shot down a Messerschmitt Me262 jet fighter. He himself was shot down during a strafing run in the closing days of the war, spending the duration as a POW.
After the war, he got into sports car racing, excelling to the point where he became a Mercedes driver. He raced in the Carrera Panamericana and then Mercedes asked him if he'd drive the new Mercedes 300 SL in the GT Class of 1955 Mille Miglia. The 300 SL entries were all privateer entries, headed by the brilliant Belgian Olivier Gendebien. Mercedes, wanting to beef up their efforts in the GT class, tapped Fitch to drive one of the new machines.
The Mille Miglia (thousand mile) was a grueling throwback to the earliest years of motorsport, where races were town-to-town affairs. Drivers had to survive a treacherous 1,000-mile trek around Italy. Drivers were released in intervals, and to win, a driver had to finish in the shortest time possible. It was a daunting task, made still more difficult by issues in the fuel line that caused the engine to cut out on an intermittent basis, but Fitch won the GT class, beating Gendebien. Stirling Moss won overall in a Mercedes 300 SLR, ensuring a brilliant day for the three cornered star.
Fitch would go on to race that year at Le Mans, teaming with Pierre Levegh, a day as dark for motorsport as that year's Mille Miglia was bright. Levegh was killed in a horrific crash that killed over 80 spectators and forever altered the trajectory of motorsports. Mercedes pulled out of racing, and Switzerland has an almost complete ban on motorsport to this day as a result of the crash at Le Mans.
Fitch returned home and became an executive with the Chevrolet Corvette program, as well as Lime Rock Park, and a leader in automotive safety.
This car is the Tamiya Mercedes kit, with aftermarket Rudge wheels (Historic Racing Miniatures), Studio 27 decals, Indycals decals for the seats, and painted Tamiya Kure Arsenal Gray with Future floor wax clear. This was a brilliant kit, and I enjoyed building it. Thanks for looking!
John Fitch lived a life extraordinary by any measure. The son of a Stutz executive, he grew up in Indianapolis, graduated the Kentucky Military Institute (Danny Sullivan is also an alumni), then Leigh University. He was a fighter pilot in the Second World War and was one of the handful of pilots who shot down a Messerschmitt Me262 jet fighter. He himself was shot down during a strafing run in the closing days of the war, spending the duration as a POW.
After the war, he got into sports car racing, excelling to the point where he became a Mercedes driver. He raced in the Carrera Panamericana and then Mercedes asked him if he'd drive the new Mercedes 300 SL in the GT Class of 1955 Mille Miglia. The 300 SL entries were all privateer entries, headed by the brilliant Belgian Olivier Gendebien. Mercedes, wanting to beef up their efforts in the GT class, tapped Fitch to drive one of the new machines.
The Mille Miglia (thousand mile) was a grueling throwback to the earliest years of motorsport, where races were town-to-town affairs. Drivers had to survive a treacherous 1,000-mile trek around Italy. Drivers were released in intervals, and to win, a driver had to finish in the shortest time possible. It was a daunting task, made still more difficult by issues in the fuel line that caused the engine to cut out on an intermittent basis, but Fitch won the GT class, beating Gendebien. Stirling Moss won overall in a Mercedes 300 SLR, ensuring a brilliant day for the three cornered star.
Fitch would go on to race that year at Le Mans, teaming with Pierre Levegh, a day as dark for motorsport as that year's Mille Miglia was bright. Levegh was killed in a horrific crash that killed over 80 spectators and forever altered the trajectory of motorsports. Mercedes pulled out of racing, and Switzerland has an almost complete ban on motorsport to this day as a result of the crash at Le Mans.
Fitch returned home and became an executive with the Chevrolet Corvette program, as well as Lime Rock Park, and a leader in automotive safety.
This car is the Tamiya Mercedes kit, with aftermarket Rudge wheels (Historic Racing Miniatures), Studio 27 decals, Indycals decals for the seats, and painted Tamiya Kure Arsenal Gray with Future floor wax clear. This was a brilliant kit, and I enjoyed building it. Thanks for looking!
