Mercedes never entered directly the racing scene with their
car, but sold the cars to privateers. Victories began to pile up and by 1989,
Mercedes partnered with AMG and took racing very seriously. This is when the
2.5 16V was born. The DTM rules changed, the new displacement limit now stood
at 2.5. Mercedes purposely built 502 Evos (2.5 16V) to qualify for DTM racing
rules. In that year, AMG won 7 races.
This version is the 190E 2.5-16V Evolution 2 known as �Berlin
2000� that raced in the 1992 DTM season with Keke Rosberg at the wheel.
Mercedes had a great year with 3 of their drivers in the first 3 places of
the overall standings, Klaus Ludwig being the championship winner. During
the year, Keke scored 5 podiums (one in 2nd, four in 3rd),
but other than that, the season was pretty poor with one 4th place,
one 11th place and another in 17th. The remaining four
were disappointing DNFs. However, it still landed him in 5th place
overall. AutoArt produces this car and it is a 1/18 diecast model, part of
their Millenium line. At first glance, the model looks mighty fine with
very intricate detailing and and a superb paint job. Luckily, as opposed
to some other silver cars from AutoArt, the silver paint job is uniform on all
parts of the car. One thing I think AutoArt got slightly wrong
though is the ride height. It certainly looks to be too high at the front when
compared to the real car.
The thing I absolutely like about this model is the livery. In 1989,
Germany welcomed the fall of the "Wall of Berlin" and with it, the
re-unification of East and West Germany. Germany, particularly the East
part, was in need of restructuring and to boost this, Germany bid Berlin
to host the 2000 Olympics. The bear face which is painted numerous times
on the car is the symbol/mascot of Berlin.
There are a total
of 65 signatures on the car, all signed by famous poeple of the like of Niki
Lauda and John Mc Enroe. As I have not found any information regarding the
signatures, I assume that they are petition-like signatures
showing support to Berlin's bid. To add to this thought, the number of
signatures depicted on the car increased during the course of the
season. However, the signature part still stays as an assumption made by
myself.
Unfortunately, I
couldn't find any pictures of the back of the car, however, it looks superbly
detailed with yet again magnificent looking lights and delicate pins holding
the rear compartment down. The silencers are very well made and realistic,
however, they are only slightly excavated, it is hard to notice though.
The model has a
lot of opening features, these being the front compartment, rear compartment
and all four doors. Quite excellent I must say. All shut lines are very
discrete and hinges are all very realistic. It would have been really great if
the pins would actually work, but probably I would be asking way too much at
this price point. All parts, except for the rear part, stay open by themselves.
The bonnet comes
up, held by two very realistic hinges and does stay up on its own. The engine
looks smaller than one would have thought it would be but it looks very
realistic. Again, unfortunately I couldn't find an engine picture of this
particular racing car, but after comparing it to the standard racing Evolution
2 engine issued from Mercedes, I can say that it looks very accurate in colours
and detail. Wires are individualised and components are made from separate
pieces and coloured accordingly.
The rear
compartment is the only part with the usual AutoArt syndrome, the opening part
does not stay open by itself. On the whole though the part looks well
detailed and up to standard for a model of this caliber.
All four doors
open, quite strange for a racing car but yet again, it's accurate. The cockpit
is very well detailed and realistic. The dashboard has just one gauge like the
real car, but on the whole, AA's effort on this part is a bit low compared to
the rest of the cockpit. The racing seat, branded recaro, looks good and the
seatblets are absolutely superb, individualised and realistic. The inside also
houses a rollcage which is absolutely realistic and accurate.
The wheels and rim
are of a very high level. The rim is perfectly accurate and coloured very well.
The rubber is thin and branded "Bridgestone", accurate as one of the car's
sponsor is the tyre brand Bridgestone. The rim style completely hides the brake
and axle detail.
The undercarriage
is quite good with a very high level of detaul and many separate pieces
coloured in realistic colours. It shows much of the axle detail which was
hidden by the rim style. The disk barke moves with the wheels and the caliper
is static.
On the whole, this
is an excellent looking model and very well made by AutoArt and I feel very
lucky to own it. Its heavy and mostly metal, a true replica. To any motorsport
fan, this is highly reccomended. Surely will remain one of my favourite
cars. Its a mystery how can AA produce something of this level and at the
the same produce other racing cars of very low level.