Mercedes Benz World is nestled within the footprint of the historic Brooklands circuit in Surrey. It features a museum of some of Mercedes Benz’s most influential cars and race cars, a large area where you can get up close with the current Mercedes and AMG line up and a number of driving experiences ranging from under 17 driving lessons in a A-Class to an AMG experience on a skid pan to off roading in the G-Class. An awful lot to see, and the best part is it is completely free to get in!
The first car you will see as you enter the building is this F200 concept car from the 1996 Paris Motor Show. It’s based off the W220 S-Class S600 platform but as a coupe with a panoramic glass roof (which we have seen on later cars), scissor doors (as seen on the SLR McLaren) and numerous other features that can be found on later models. It’s most interesting feature however is the fact that it has a joystick for steering and sidesticks, located in the centre console, for throttle and brake control, making it much like flying an aeroplane rather than driving a car!
The rest of the entrance hall contained a number of drop tops for the summer. First of which is this beautiful 190SL; The baby brother of the famous 300SL.
Just across from the 190SL was a SLR McLaren convertible. I’ve seen a couple of the coupes in the metal but never a convertible.
A Pagoda finished the trio of convertibles in the entrance.
Behind these were a handful more historic vehicles including a replica of the 1885 Benz patent motorwagen.
This Mercedes Benz Knight Tourer was a fascinating machine. Knight was an American engine builder who was looking to break into the European market. He attempted to achieve this with a partnership with Mercedes which would see the Knight engines put into Mercedes bodies. A handful of variations were made.
The ground floor also had examples of the Ponton coupe, saloon and cabriolet.
Along with a replica of the body of a W196 streamliner as driven by Fangio and Karl Kling.
The first thing you see as you enter the first floor as these three 190e Cosworths. The first is a Evo 1
The second is the more outrageous Evo 2 which featured an adjustable rear wing! Pretty cool for 1990!
It’s also worth noting that all of these were painted black aside from the final too which were silver. So if you see a silver one it is either a fake or very very rare!
And finally a bolt for bolt replica of the Brabus 3.6s 190e. Suprisingly there was not a lot of call for this car which was powered by a Brabus tuned 5.0 V8. Apparently the customers of the 1980s were turned off by the fact that the rear seats were replaced with a roll cage and the car had no air conditioning. It makes this one even more special though and I’m sure it’s a blast to drive!
The next floor featured a fair few Formula One cars from 2000 to 2016 including one that had been ‘exploded’ into a 3D sculpture.
The majority of the building is dedicated to the current line up of cars as a sales tool though. It was nice to get a good look at the AMG GT and a proper look at the new A-Class. My favourite car of the current line up is the CLS shooting brake though. It’s such a good looking car!!
In conclusion, if you are wanting to go to Brooklands then I would say that MB World is most certainly worth the visit on the way too or from Brooklands. It’s free to get in too and their displays are forever changing! Go check it out! Next pst I will be showing you around the Brooklands Museum itself.
Thanks for reading!
