Peter Collins

Born in Kidderminster in Worcestershire, England, Collins was one of the brightest figures in his era of the sport. He only started once for Mercedes-Benz: Together with his compatriot Stirling Moss, Collins won the Targa Florio on 16 October 1955 in a 300 SLR racing car badly demolished by various slips. Race director Alfred Neubauer even called him the real winner of this gruelling race, as he made up for nine minutes of deficit caused by an accident by means of a brilliant driving performance. The victory of the Moss/Collins team was an important contribution to Mercedes-Benz winning the World Sports Car Championship that season.

One year later – Mercedes-Benz had withdrawn from racing at the end of 1955 – Collins took second place in the same event. In 1957, while leading, he had to retire due to a technical defect. The Ferrari works driver also achieved third place in the 1957 German Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. On 3 August 1958, however, the Eifel circuit was the Briton's undoing: He had a fatal accident with his Ferrari Dino 246 at the Pflanzgarten section of the track.