Super Support Vehicles: the workhorses threatening to outshine the racers

6 February 2025

The list of famous racing cars is a very long one, and each will have their own favourite models from history. But how about those workhorses that helped get them there?

Occasionally, just occasionally, a support vehicle becomes just as iconic as the vehicles it carries or supports. These are few and far between, and include all sorts of shapes and sizes of practical vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz ‘Blue Wonder’

Considering the development work found from German giants Mercedes-Benz during the mid-1950s, with its technological tour-de-force W196 – piloted by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio and Sterling Moss – it should perhaps come as little surprise that the Silver Arrows team wanted a quick and efficient way to get its cars to races.

With a huge front overhang, and short wheelbase for its length, the Blue Wonder certainly stands out, and showcases the Mercedes team’s ethos of improving anything and everything they could in regards to motor racing development. Only one example was built in the end, and it was constructed from a variety of “parts bin” components, including a 3.0-litre engine from the 300 SL sports car. Which helps explain its top speed of more than 100mph.

Fiat-Bartoletti Transporter

This is a slight kop-out, considering there is more than one famous Bartoletti-built Fiat transporter doing the rounds. A mainstay for some of the 1960s most successful teams, the transporter was used by the likes of Shelby, Ferrari, and Lotus to get between races.

Found in matching team colours, these coach-built specials from Italian firm Bartoletti are not only stylish, bur also practical. Usually built on a coach chassis and running gear, the Ferrari transporters had a single rear axle, but the Shelby Cobra truck was converted to have a second rear axle at one stage, to allow for heavier loads. In all, it’s a very stylish way to transport three racing cars, personnel, and parts.

Ecurie Ecosse Commer

Another example of a coachbuilt, tailored car transporter, this otherwise humble Commer TS3 was modified by Falkirk-based Walter Alexander, with most of the bodywork changed to meet the requirements of the hugely successful Ecurie Ecosse team. As with the Bartoletti-built transporters above, the Commer also had space for three cars, kit, and personnel, all finished off in that famous blue of the Scottish team.

Carefully designed, there is a six-foot by six-foot workshop area behind the seating, and mechanics could work on the underside of the cars loaded on the top deck. A hydraulic ramp allowed for easy loading, but it was a stylish design too, with an aerodynamic sloping rear and forward-tilted windscreens. Add in a period-correct Jaguar C-Type for example, in matching blue with white paintwork, and it’s a brilliant combination.

HB Audi Team rally service van

There is an element of Groub B’s lustre reflecting and shining on the Audi team’s support van, but there’s more than just the cache of helping the German marque’s rally cars that sees it make this list. Essentially, it’s a Volkswagen LT45 LWB van, but add in the livery, top-mounted tyre racks, and trailer, and it becomes a go-anywhere support system for the phenomenal Quattro.

For some reason, few of Audi’s contemporaries’ service vans have gained the same historic status. Naturally, these tended to be from the automotive group’s closest LCV fleet – Audi used VW vans, Lancia used Fiat… - but everything simply aligned for the HB Audi Team’s humble panel van to live long in the consciousness.

Porsche-Gulf transporter

Until now, all of the featured support vehicles have shifted their treasured racers from one track to another with it exposed to the elements. Our final classic support vehicle featured is based on a Mercedes-Benz 0317, which again, was typically kitted out as a bus. Porsche’s increasingly dominant racing efforts required a similarly modern transporter, so three rolling 0317s were purchased from Mercedes and handed over to coachbuilder Robert Schenk.

He followed the theme in equipping the vehicles with everything a fully-fledged racing team would need. And this time, the cars got to ride inside. With a higher roofline, there was space to allow a double-decker of Porsche 917s; while it’s not quite the same level as today’s motor-racing transportation behemoths, it’s a clear evolution. Add in the fact that these Mercedes trucks have been painted in some of the finest liveries ever seen – Porsche’s burgundy and silver/grey, Gulf’s blue and orange, as well as Martini and Rothmans’ colours – and this workhorse definitely deserves to be on this list.