This 1992 AMG-Mercedes 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II is a real race car with oodles of history that could now be yours. Built in the year of the car’s first DTM championship, it’s a staggeringly good example of what, in its day, seemed to defy the laws of aerodynamics.
The story of the Mercedes 190 E‘s racing starts in the early ’80s with Group B, where Mercedes intended to race it, according to Piston Heads. When that became too dangerous and the FIA eventually pulled the plug on the category, Mercedes, too, pulled the plug on its motorsports ambitions for the car.
Despite officially killing the project, a group of engineers deep within the bowels of the company kept developing a racing version of the car. They were allowed to keep working on the project, under the guise of working on a performance version of the 190 E for the road, which was eventually used in a one-off promotion, the 1984 Nürburgring Race of Champions, which a young Ayrton Senna famously won.
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The car sold well enough to satisfy FIA Group A homologation requirements, and the 2.3-liter Cosworth-powered version that Mercedes’ engineers had been quietly working on wound up in the hands of AMG—still a separate entity, at this point.
By 1986, the 190 E was the car to beat in DTM, and Mercedes resolve to not back its racing efforts weakened. The 2.3-liter engine, though, soon proved to be under-powered and the competition overtook it, eventually leading Mercedes to ask Cosworth for a 2.5-liter engine, which birthed the Evolution I, and then the Evolution II.
According to the documents provided with this lot, the car’s 2.5-liter inline-four made 368 hp (274kW/373 PS) and 221 lb-ft (300 Nm) of torque. That was a significant increase over the Evolution I, but the Evolution II’s real trick was its wild aerodynamic upgrades. They were so extreme, they reportedly prompted BMW‘s head of R&D to say that “the laws of aerodynamics must be different between Munich and Stuttgart. If that rear wing works, we’ll need to redesign our wind tunnel.”
Indeed, BMW did eventually redesign its wind tunnel, and the 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II won its first championship title in 1992 at the hands of Klaus Ludwig. This car, driven by Bernd Schneider (who also raced in F1 and at Le Mans), who came in third that year and in 1993.
And now it could be the first in your heart, because it’s being offered for sale at RM Sotheby‘s Villa Erba sale on May 20. Despite having been a race car, it presents quite well, with only a few scuffs, placed almost intentionally to hint at the history of the car.
