Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR to sell at auction!!

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A supercar described as being one of the brashest Mercedes ever built is expected to sell for £1million when it is auctioned later this month.
The 1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR will appear at RM Auctions’ Monterey sale in California on August 17 with the hammer expected to go down at around the £1 million mark.
It is a limited edition race car for the road, boasts one of the German company’s boldest designs.
This particular model, which has done just 1,335 miles, was the first of 25 road cars built by Mercedes.

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It is powered by a huge 7.3-litre V12 engine which produces 720bhp. It can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 3.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 197mph.

Under homologation rules (the approval process a vehicle must go through to race in a given competition) Mercedes had to build 25 road legal versions of its GTR race car which it would then sell to the public.
Each model was built in Affalterbach, Germany, which is home to the company’s high-performance AMG division.

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Experts say the CLK GTR behaves like a 'bona fide race car' on the road with fast gear changes courtesy of the paddle-operated six-speed sequential manual gearbox lifted directly from the GT1 cars.
Owners were given very little creature comforts so they could get as close a feeling to that experienced by the race drivers competing in the GT1 race class.
To make it more practical, bosses at Mercedes fitted the CLK GTR with two small storage compartments under the doors which open upwards.

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Taken from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181667/Mercedes-Benz-CLK-GTR-Supercar-7-3litre-engine-just-1-335-miles-clock-set-fetch-1m-auction.html
 
What an incredible car. My favorite Mercedes to this day. I'm sure it won't hit the 1 million mark, in US currency at least.
 
Experts say the CLK GTR behaves like a 'bona fide race car' on the road is absolutely appalling as a road car with fast gear changes courtesy of the paddle-operated six-speed sequential manual gearbox lifted directly from the GT1 cars.
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*fixed*
 
sumbrownkid
Cool car and all, but it can only do 197 mph with 720 horses?
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Misinformation. It has a 6.9L V12 producing 604Bhp with a top speed of 199mph.

If this car above does indeed have a 7.3L V12, then it's a SuperSport model producing 655Bhp & a top speed over 200mph. But, this car doesn't have the badge by the front wheel.
 
R1600Turbo
I miss the days when manufacturers had to build a road car to make their race car legal for competition.
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Boss 302, Boss 429 ftw
hawkeye122
They still do, I just think you're allowed to make more modifications now...

Porsche still does, with the RS line.
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Not like before where the road versions were produced and dumbed down for homologation purposes which for a while I believe was 500 or so, which was why Boss Mustangs were produced in low quantities. Unfortunately most of them were dumbed down too much (fooled insurance companies too), a road 302 was rated 290fwhp (most tend to agree fwhp was more or less at 310-ish) and with a carb and hotter cam and ported heads/intake the same engine was rated for racing at 470fwhp which is about 430rwhp in todays ratings at 9,000 rpm. Not bad for a late '60 smallblock V8.
 
G.T.Ace
So beautiful!



Well, show me one LMP which has a base car for the road.
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He didnt specify which sort of car. I assumed GT class, in which case, I was right.
Nissan GT-R
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Corvette ZR1
Lamborghini Gallardo
Lotus Evora

Like I said, they are now able to use the mainstream models for homologation. The only company that still makes a "Homologation-spec" car is Porsche.

LMP cars have never had to be based on a Road model..
 
hawkeye122
He didnt specify which sort of car. I assumed GT class, in which case, I was right.

LMP cars have never had to be based on a Road model..
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Ever heard of the GT40? Pretty sure that was a 1960's LMP, which, had a road model.
 
Slashfan
Ever heard of the GT40? Pretty sure that was a 1960's LMP, which, had a road model.
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Nope. I've never heard of the GT40. No clue what you're talking about.

It wasn't a 1960's LMP. It was a Group 4, which was still for "Grand Touring cars". You had to build 25 or more.

Group 6 was for Prototype Sports Cars. They required no road models.

Since you insist on drawing lines between LMP and the 1960's, the 1960's "LMP" would have been Group 6. Which the GT40 was not a part of.

The Mk. IV was a Group 6, but it has no road-going counterparts.


Again, I say, LMP (Or whatever predecessor you can align it with[Group 6, Group C]) has never had to be based on a road car.
 
hawkeye122
Nope. I've never heard of the GT40. No clue what you're talking about.

It wasn't a 1960's LMP. It was a Group 4, which was still for "Grand Touring cars". You had to build 25 or more.

Group 6 was for Prototype Sports Cars. They required no road models.

Since you insist on drawing lines between LMP and the 1960's, the 1960's "LMP" would have been Group 6. Which the GT40 was not a part of.

The Mk. IV was a Group 6, but it has no road-going counterparts.


Again, I say, LMP (Or whatever predecessor you can align it with[Group 6, Group C]) has never had to be based on a road car.
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I stand corrected.
 
Yup even the Nissan R390 GT1 and the Toyota GT-One road cars were created for their Le Mans counterparts to qualify for the "Grand Tourer" class, along with the Mercedes. I thought perhaps the Jag XJR-15 too but nope, Tom Walkinshaw just commissioned that for the hell of it, though it was partly based on the XJR-9.
 
Beeblebrox237
Yeah, it produced some of the best and most exciting vehicles ever made.
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Eh, I dunno, because every review I've read of the CLK GTR road cars (and the 911 GT1 Strassenversion) have basically followed TheCracker's fix:

TheCracker
Experts say the CLK GTR behaves like a 'bona fide race car' on the road is absolutely appalling as a road car with fast gear changes courtesy of the paddle-operated six-speed sequential manual gearbox lifted directly from the GT1 cars.
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*fixed*
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:P

These weren't like the GT-class race cars of today, that use a road car as their basis. These were race cars first, given the bare minimum attention needed to make them road legal, making them horribly compromised for road use. Or, depending on your view, too compromised for anything bar track use.

It's just a matter of opinion, but I imagine a decently driven SLS AMG would show a clear set of tailpipes to the CLK GTR if presented with a moderately challenging ribbon of public road. "Intimidating" seems like just a starting point.

...which is all part of the appeal, of course :D. It's still an important historic model, just not sure if it'd ever be as enjoyable to hustle as other more "mortal" cars.
 
I heard somewhere (I think it was fifth gear) that the gearbox requires a rebuild rediculously often, like every 600km or something similar to that, and that you better not get stuck in a queue because it will overheat. Very practical.
 
zedextreme8177
^ Even if that's the case; with that kind of money, who would care about gearboxes or being practical? :sly:
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Probably Mercedes since they had to take a huge loss when one of their CLK GTR Roadsters turned out to be the most expensive lemon in the world for all sorts of issues.
 

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