.....it had a little of everything. I read an article recently about pre-war M-Bs, and the 1934-6 car (rival to A-Us) was capable of 245 mph. Rudolph Caracciola (Sp?) said that the car was capable of "at least that velocity". This was in its UNstreamlined, open-wheel form. Karl Kling, Moss and even Fangio (I think) were incapable of reaching that speed in the post-war W196s. You would have thought that the 196s would have had a decent shot at the pre-war speeds, being full streamlined bodied cars...but....
Also read a book on the "Silver Arrows" long ago, and it stated two things of interest---although a lot of you tech-wizards probably knew them anyway. The "silver" racing livery of M-B was a result of sanding paint (white?) off the car to save x pounds of weight. The second tid-bit was that the Germans tried MANY ways to get trap-speeds and EVEN experimented with driver-actuated stopwatches (yikes!). I would have to wonder if radar-guns were available in 1965-67 (as Mssrs. Fixit and Malone questioned)-----I got out of college in 1968 and never heard of Doppler radar or any other type being used domestically.
The latter fact may just mean I wasn't in the right place......Was Smith clocked or "gunned"? Anyway, it was a good thread---despite the occasional exchanges of fire....
Good on yuz all.