When Mercedes-Benz announced its intention to participate in the newly minted FIA GT Championship in 1996, its rivals had every right to be concerned. Throughout its history, the Stuttgart outfit seemed to possess a singular purpose when it came to racing, combining resource with an engineering brilliance few manufacturers could rival. Never one to do things by halves, the company set out to dominate rather than participate—an ethos that harked back to the all-conquering 300 SLR, whose winning run was only curtailed when tragedy struck at Le Mans in 1955. That fateful race saw the German marque withdraw from top-flight sports car competition, but by the 1980s and 1990s, its gradual return was met with astounding success in Touring Cars and beyond. So much so that the firm’s dominance of DTM would lead to rivals Opel and Alfa Romeo walking away from the sport, and the eventual collapse of the series.
With DTM dead and the 190 Evolution’s supremacy absolute, Mercedes-Benz turned its attention to the new and more competitive FIA GT Championship for 1997, trading Opel and Alfa Romeo for more fitting rivals Porsche and McLaren.
Having roundly beaten significantly more specialised equipment from the prototype class at the Circuit de La Sarthe in 1995, and fresh from a championship victory in 1996, McLaren’s mid-engined, three-seat F1 was the car to beat. Despite its road-car origins, the GTR variant seemed born for competition, and things only improved as GT1 rules were further relaxed, allowing fitment of longer front and rear bodywork, a bigger front splitter, and a revised gearbox housing that helped shave 38 kilograms from the car’s kerb weight.
Porsche’s response to McLaren came courtesy of Norbert Singer, and while the 911 GT1 featured the familiar front end of the 993-generation 911, beneath the bodywork lay the modified chassis of the firm’s 962 sports prototype. Though ultimately losing to the McLaren, the Stuttgart marque had some success with the 911 GT1 in the closing races of the 1996 season, vindicating Mercedes-Benz’s decision to also opt for a specialised track machine.
With the competition already racing and time of the essence, Mercedes-Benz needed to act quickly to match the level of development and performance of the class-leading McLaren. The solution was expedient rather than sporting: the team opened its chequebook and bought McLaren F1 GTR chassis 11R, which had been campaigned throughout 1996—and with some success—by the Giroix Racing Team. Removing the existing BMW engine and replacing it with Mercedes’s own 6.0-litre naturally aspirated V-12 provided an invaluable shortcut, and the car was quickly put to work during testing at Jarama in the second week of March, its McLaren body swapped for more anonymous prototype coachwork. Remarkably, the mule would go on to be restored and returned to its original configuration by McLaren, but its time in Stuttgart proved invaluable to the CLK GTR project. Knowledge gained during the testing phase allowed Mercedes-Benz to go from a standing start to race-ready footing in a scarcely believable 128 days.
Laser-focussed from the outset, the CLK GTR would be completely bespoke—a ground-up weapon designed to deliver the Three-Pointed Star nothing less than total domination in the new championship. Only the headlights, taillights, and front grille were borrowed from the roadgoing CLK—everything in between was tailored exclusively to the new racer. The chassis was outsourced to British firm Lola and featured a carbon-fibre monocoque with an aluminium honeycomb frame. The engine served as a stressed member mid-mounted behind the driver and supporting the rear suspension, and though it was ultimately derived from the M120 borrowed from the R129 SL, the race LS600/M297 variant was heavily breathed on by the boffins at Affalterbach. Steel connecting rods were thrown out in favour of titanium, and magnesium castings replaced steel, while compression went from 10:1 to 12:1 to push total output beyond 590 brake horsepower. With peak power coming in at a dizzying 7,000 rpm along with some 512 pound-feet of torque at around half that, performance was prodigious, especially paired with such a slick Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox. Pushed to its limit, the Silver Arrow was capable of reaching 62 mph in just 3.2 seconds, while its brutish yet slippery silhouette enabled a maximum velocity of 205 mph. All that speed was reined in by enormous carbon-ceramic disc brakes—a technology first developed for Concorde and borrowed from Formula 1.
For drivers, supercar-baiting performance was only half the story. Strict formula regulations outlawed most driving aids with anti-lock brakes, tractional control, active suspension, and drive-by-wire throttle all banned. With the limited exception of adjustable brake bias, the CLK GTR was a pure driving machine that didn’t suffer fools. For the pilot, there was nowhere to hide, with nothing separating the thrill of triumph from the gravel trap except the skill of the man behind the wheel.
Keeping in line with homologation regulations, some 20 roadgoing CLK GTRs and six Roadster variants would be built between 1997 and 1999, but the model’s raison d’être was always racing and it was on the circuit where its star shone brightest. Rules required just a single example of both road and race variants to be built prior to taking to the track in anger, but the model’s development had been so quick that a true road car would not be ready until that year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Instead, chassis 004—the second car built, with its race fuel filler, unique wing, and sequential gearbox—was hastily converted for road use, and quickly changed back once gaining the FIA’s seal of approval.
The transition from the BPR Global GT Series to the FIA GT Championship brought with it shorter races that were well suited to the Silver Arrows, though it would take some time to dial in the new model. The opening rounds at Hockenheim, Silverstone, and Helsinki were won convincingly by Schnitzer-BMW McLaren and its accomplished F1 GTRs, with the best results for Mercedes a DNF, 2nd, and 8th overall finishes, each delivered by chassis 004. Hampered by teething troubles and minor mechanical ailments, and a collision with a back marker in Helsinki, it was the car’s promising outing at Silverstone that provided the first glimpse of the CLK GTR’s true potential.
By 29 June 1997, the model’s rapid development had paid dividends. At the Nürburgring, Bernd Schneider placed chassis 004 on pole for the third time, but not everything went Stuttgart’s way—a third CLK GTR was also entered before being put into the barriers by Bernd Maylander. Klaus Ludwig was then substituted for Austrian Alexander Wurz to pair with Schneider in chassis 004, and the two drivers stormed to a resounding victory ahead of the sister car of Marcel Tiemann and Alessandro Nannini and a chasing pack comprising no fewer than five McLaren F1 GTRs and a trio of Porsche 911 GT1s. It was an historic victory, marking the first time a Silver Arrow had won a sports car race since 1990, when Michael Schumacher and Jochen Mass placed their Sauber 1st in the 480 Kilometres of Mexico City.
Schnitzer-BMW McLaren fought back hard during the next outing at Spa-Francorchamps, taking the overall win ahead of the pairing of Schneider and Wurz. But it was the Mercedes that posted the fastest lap in a portent of things to come.
For the remaining six rounds of the season, the German team tightened its grip on the championship and, with the sole exception of Mugello, the CLK GTRs were unassailable. They finished the Constructors’ championship with 110 points—some 25 clear of Schnitzer-BMW, and even further ahead of the Gulf Team Davidoff McLarens and Porsche AG—while Schneider topped the Drivers’ table. With the McLarens having wilted under the challenge of the new purpose-built racers, BMW withdrew from the series for the following year, leaving only privateers to defend McLaren’s honour.
By 1998, the winds of change had become a veritable hurricane, and from the opening round at Oschersleben to the season finale at Laguna Seca, AMG-Mercedes and its phalanx of first CLK GTRs and then CLK LMs swept aside all comers. Three 2nd-place finishes from Porsche was the best the competition could muster, while neither Parabolica Motorsports nor Davidoff Classic—the only teams still running McLarens—stayed the course for the full season. For Mercedes, it was the dominant performance they had always hoped for—one that would ultimately pave the way for a return to top-flight motorsport and usher in a new era of supremacy for the Silver Arrows. For everyone else, it marked the end. So few entries were attracted for the 1999 season that the GT1 class was scrapped altogether, leaving GT2 to fly the flag for GTs in the championship.
Of all the CLK GTRs to compete in the GT Championship, chassis 004 holds a special place in Mercedes-Benz history. Campaigned from the beginning of its inaugural championship, the Warsteiner-liveried car took overall victory at no fewer than four rounds of the 1997 season, topping the podium at the Nürburgring, Donington, Sebring, and Laguna Seca. Its three wins from four races in the closing stages of the season sealed a historic championship for Mercedes-Benz.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR was a hugely significant model for the Stuttgart firm. Away from the track, the wild roadgoing variant became one of the most sought-after and rare supercars of its generation, having been sold in smaller numbers than the McLaren F1 and at a far greater cost. But it was in competition that it really made its mark, not only beating the McLaren, but winning so emphatically that it rendered the fêted model obsolete. Through that lens, the public offering via Sotheby’s Sealed of chassis 004—the very car that stole that seismic championship and delivered the killer blow to hypercar royalty—is nothing short of historic.
