In the mid-1990s, supercars with beasts like the Lamborghini Diablo, the Ferrari F50 and the reigning king of the decade, the McLaren F1, reached new heights with insane performance and style.
While the title “Hypercar” was not quite in the vernacular of the auto world as a step beyond super sports cars, that McLaren F1 is considered by many to be the first of its kind, Introduced in 1993 as a monster that pushed the limits of what a street legal feat can achieve while looking incredibly beautiful and futuristic. McLaren’s masterpiece became the even crazier F1 GTR racing car from 1995 and dominated several championships, including the BPR Global GT series.
It would be this BPR Global GT series that inspired the creation of even more radical monsters where rivals like Porsche made their own racing cars to compete. A version that required homologation and was approved for road traffic served as one of the first hypercars alongside the F1.
Similarly chasing after F1 dominance, the CLK GTR was Mercedes’ own monster of a race car made for what would become the BPR Global GT series, the most brutal hypercars ever made.
Let’s take a closer look at the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR.
Via: Stephen Hanafin, Flickr – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
The death of the DTM, the birth of the CLK GTR
Mercedes was essentially a series for race-modified versions of normal street cars like the C-Class and concentrated its racing efforts in the early and mid 90s on touring car races with the DTM (“Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters”) or German Touring The Auto-Championship shows its most concentrated efforts and produces legendary models like the 190E Evolution. While participating in Formula 1 as a partner of McLaren From 1996 the DTM series was dissolvedand Mercedes’ own racing cars were unrivaled.
Before that, in 1994, the aforementioned BPR Global GT series started on the basis of the previous World Sports Car Championship and turned supercars into a race-ready monster like the McLaren F1 GTR and Ferrari’s equally brutal F40 GTE. Porsche would follow suit and debut its 911 GT1 in 1996 as an entirely new design developed for racing rather than a transformed version of a street legal model and homologated it as a street car to comply with the rules. The CLK GTR was to fight on this battlefield, which was adopted by the FIA in 1997 as the FIA GT Championship.
Inspired by what Porsche had done, Mercedes designed the CLK GTR from the ground up as a racing car that only shared the grille, headlights, and some gauges with the actual CLK sports car. Knowing that they would compete against the F1 GTR, AMG had secretly bought one of the McLarens from a French racing team and mounted the body design and V12 of the CLK GTR on the chassis for testing while the rest of the car was still being developed.
As a result, the CLK GTR went from the drawing board to reality shockingly fast 128 daysand made its debut just in time for the opening of the 1997 FIA GT season. While the CLK GTR saw initial problems with one car falling out of the race and the other losing to the F1 GTR and 911 GT1, it began to perform in class not long afterwards dominate, won the 1997 team and driver championship titles and later saw use in the Le Mans 24 Hours. But to race in the FIA GT, a number of 25 street legal versions had to be created, and these street monsters were absolutely incredible.
A real racing car for the road
Via: Sony DSC, Wikimedia Commons – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
The street legal homologation of the CLK GTR, which originated exclusively from racing and very little else, was completely performance-oriented and offered little to no insight into comfort features – basically it was a real racing car that was sold to the public by Mercedes. Released in 1998 as the CLK GTR Street Version for “Street Version”, the CLK GTR retained almost everything that made the racing version so incredible and unbelievable was completely manufactured in the AMG plant in Affalterbach.
Based on the mid-engine, the CLK GTR racing car used a 6.0 liter L600 V12 derived from the M120 V12, while the street version was also based on the M120, but instead used a larger 6.9 liter variant called the M297, which produced a whopping 604 hp – and later drive the Pagani Zonda.
Borrowing the same Xtrac 6-speed manual transmission from the racing version, the CLK GTR was absolutely ridiculous for 1998, hit 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds and continued screaming up to a top speed of 214 mph. Other common racing car components included the carbon fiber monocoque chassis made by Lola Composites, mounted on an aluminum honeycomb frame, giving it a general driveability that was really stiff and nimble. The carbon fiber body kept the weight at 3,171 pounds.
Due to the incredible driving behavior, the double wishbone suspension front and rear with internal drawbar shock absorbers provided incredible mobility in both racing and street form, but was slightly softened for the street version. Unlike the racing car version, anti-lock brakes and air conditioning were standard in the street version, which is essentially the bare minimum to create a car that is safe and (somewhat) comfortable to drive on the street. Other differences were a new spoiler design and rear-view mirrors mounted on the fender. Overall, however, the CLK GTR street version was as specially built as its racing car shape.
An interior as extreme as the rest of the car
The interior of the street version, which shared the overall design and shape of the racing car’s cockpit, had further street-oriented differences, but was still a function forward, spartan and extreme. Starting with the doors, butterfly hinges sweep up, revealing huge door sills that must be climbed over to get in. In contrast to the racing car, however, a missing trunk prompted Mercedes to construct cargo spaces within these massive rocker panels, which gave the street version at least some storage space, although this was by no means enough to make it a practical car.
Other differences in the interior of the street version were the upholstery, which was trimmed with leather and alcantara to add a bit of luxury, if not much, considering that despite the leather upholstery, these seats are still as tight and padded as real racing seats. Speaking of seats, racing-style 4-point seat belts kept you in place.
Equipped with air conditioning and radio, this and the upholstery were the only really street-oriented aspects of the interior. Even the normal-looking steering wheel had a racing car-like mechanism for quickly detaching it from the pillar – and the paddle shifters rested behind it for shifting the sequential gearbox.
Aside from the normal CLK-based track gauge, the interior of the CLK GTR is just a unique and brutal cockpit and one of the closest experiences to driving a real GT1 car on the road.
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Malicious variants
Only in the years 1998 and 1999 a total of only 26 CLK GTR street versions were produced without prototypes. Within that ultra-limited production run were 20 coupes, while six were made as absolutely insane roadster variants. The roadster version carried out by AMG employee HWA received improvements such as a reinforced chassis to compensate for the missing roof, a new rear spoiler and other aero work.
The craziest version, however, was the Supersport and was also a variant carried out by HWA. Only 5 of these were built, and each used existing examples of the CLK GTR, with changes focused on filling the even more massive 7.3L M297 V12 – making its way into the Pagani Zonda a few years later. At 655 horsepower, these super sports were just as fast, if not faster, than the actual racing cars thanks to the throttles mandated by the FIA, and received more changes like a larger front splitter to keep them better planted.
Million dollar price tag New today, millions of times collectible
The CLK GTR was a pure top racing car for the road and neither a cheap car for Mercedes nor a purchase for interested customers. Sold new in 1998, it took a whopping $ 1,500,000 to buy a CLK GTR street version, which is roughly $ 2,437,000 today. That may seem like a lot, but compared to what they sell today, it’s almost a bargain. The CLK GTR is a legend that has become one of the most sought-after Mercedes models.
While it was twice as expensive as a McLaren F1 when new, the last publicly sold CLK GTR opted for it cool $ 4.5 millionReversing the cost differences between the two, as a McLaren F1 costs well over $ 10 million today.
About the author
Aaron Young
(25 articles published)
Aaron Young has always been addicted to the world of cars. Aaron loves the quirky side of the industry and currently drives a Subaru Baja on and off the road.
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