Mercedes-Benz showed an interest in getting involved in sportscar racing once again in the 1980s (having not had an active role in motor-racing since 1955) but initially decided against developing both a car and engine package. They turned to Peter Sauber, the Swiss owner of Team Sauber who were already active in Group C sportscar racing using BMW engines. The result of their collaboration was the Sauber C8 which first appeared in 1985. The C8 was the 8th sportscar developed by Sauber and apparently the "C" in the name referred to Peter Sauber's wife Christiane. The car used a twin turbocharged Mercedes-Benz 5.0 litre V8 which was itself developed from Mercedes-Benz's production V8 engine in use at the time. The C8's first race was the 1985 24hrs of Le Mans but the car failed to start after an accident in practice. The C8 failed to appear at any further races in the 1985 World Sportscar Championship (WSC), but was entered for the full season in 1986. The highlight of the year was a win in the 7th (out of 9) round of the WSC, the 1000 km Nürburgring in Germany. The Kouros sponsored C8 finished in 5th place overall in the 1986 WSC.
For the 1986 season the C8's main sponsor was the aftershave brand Kouros, who continued as the main sponsor for the 1987 season. Sauber developed a new car for 1987, the C9 which again was powered by a 5.0 litre turbocharged Mercedes-Benz V8. The C9 had a poor first WSC season failing to win any races and only scoring points once. Kouros left as the main sponsor at the end of the season and in 1988 AEG (a Daimler-Benz subsidiary company) became the main sponsor. The 1988 WSC season saw the first win for the C9 (although the C9 won it's first non-WSC race at the end of 1987) in the first round (out of 11) at Jerez in Spain. In total the Sauber-Mercedes team won 5 out of 11 races and finished 2nd behind Jaguar in the championship. The only low point of the season was Le Mans as both C9s were withdrawn following a number of tire failures in practice.
For the 1989 season the C9s were painted silver and Mercedes-Benz replaced AEG as the main sponsor. The C9 was the dominant car for the '89 WSC season winning 7 out of 8 races including the 24hrs of Le Mans. The '89 Le Mans win was the icing on the cake for Mercedes-Benz as it was only their second win in the prestigious French race (the 1st win being in 1952). In 1990 the C9 made way for the Mercedes-Benz C11.
This particular model represents the winner of the 1988 1000km Spa-Francorchamps, which was the 9th out of 11 rounds in that years WSC. The 1000km race at Spa was held on the 7km long grand prix track which had replaced the old 14km track that used Belgian public roads. The new shorter track was first used in 1982 and is currently used for a round of the Le Mans Endurance Series (the European equivalent of the American Le Mans Series). Italian driver Mauro Baldi and Swede Stefan Johansson drove this car to 1st place ahead of Jan Lammers and Martin Brundle who came second in a Jaguar XJR-9LM and Jochen Mass and Jean-Louis Schlesser in 3rd in another Sauber-Mercedes C9.
The AEG livery on this model is superb, and the electrical circuitry pattern is accurately replicated. Like all the Exoto C9s, this model has superb engine and interior detail with a working gear lever linkage between the cockpit and the gearbox at the rear of the engine. The front and rear bodywork comes off to expose lots of fine detail underneath and the wheels shod with Michelin rain tires are also removable. At Spa the car ran in "sprint" configuration which meant a larger rear wing with more downforce, but a lower top speed. For most circuits this was the preferred set up, but for Le Mans the cars ran with a smaller rear wing to enable them to hit a higher top speed along the long straight at the Le Sarthe circuit.
Overall one of the finest models in my collection which is all the more remarkable when you consider Exoto released the first of their C9 1:18th models back in 2002. Highly recommended.
92.5%
