In Honor of Le Mans, We Fondly Recall the Sauber Mercedes C11
Our favorite endurance racer is the Sauber Mercedes C11, the silver bullet for Mercedes at Le Mans in the late ’80s.
With a rather sparse LMP1 field making it to the finish at Le Mans this year, we decided to take a look back at some of our favorite prototype racers. Group C, forging the era of speeds over 240 miles per hour, was the obvious choice to make a selection. Going with a Silver Arrow shouldn’t be much of a surprise, so we picked the Sauber-Mercedes C11.
Formerly driven by Formula 1 legend, Michael Schumacher, this particular C11, car 31, was driven by Schumacher at Spa, which is where we find it in this video.
CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About the Sauber C11
Sauber’s development of the C11 came after a very successful run with the C9 in 1989, when it won Le Mans outright. However, due to a focus on the World Sports Car Championship, Le Mans was skipped for the debut year of the C11. A return in 1991 saw only one of three Sauber-Mercedes make it to the finish. Car 2 did not finish the race, nor did car 32, however it did finish 5th overall.
Improvements in performance were not found in the 1992 season. The C11’s successor, the C291, suffered from poor reliability. Mercedes pulled out of competition at Le Mans in 1993 altogether. And that was the last of any Mercedes effort to win Le Mans outright until the CLK GTR came along.
