In 1997, Mercedes-Benz, in conjunction with motorsport partner AMG, set out to build a race car to compete in the FIA’s new GT Championship Series. The car’s main task was to go head-to-head against the likes of the Porsche 911 GT1 and the McLaren F1 GTR. Challenge accepted – enter the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR.
It’s hard to believe the CLK GTR was developed in less than 6 months (128 days to be exact) to compete in the series, and unless you are a hard-core GT racing aficionado, you wouldn’t know that Mercedes-Benz had in fact leased a McLaren F1 GTR – chassis #11R to be precise – and used it as a test mule to develop the CLK GTR. The BMW S70 motor was swapped for the AMG M120 V12 motor as was the body work. You could say that if it wasn’t for chassis #11R, the CLK GTR may have never existed. By the way, chassis #11R was put back together, repainted in the iconic Papaya Orange heritage color, and just recently changed hands for around 30m Euros.
The CLK GTR had a successful campaign during the 1997 season and was re-entered in the first two rounds of the 1998 GT Championship before going on to compete at the 24hrs of LeMans. It won a total of 8 races and secured the Constructor’s and Driver’s Championships for Mercedes-Benz.
The CLK GTR was succeeded by the CLK LM, which won every championship in the 1998 GT Championship. Unfortunately the FIA would terminated the GT1 class for lack of entrants and rising costs, and thus the CLK LM was the last car Mercedes-Benz entered in that FIA series. In 1999, Mercedes-Benz introduced the CLR to run in the LeMans Grand Touring Prototype class (LMGTP). Unfortunately the design of the car proved inadequate and on 3 different occasions the car went airborne on-track forcing Mercedes-Benz to exit the series and cancel the program altogether.
As required by FIA rules, the CLK GTR had to be homologated, which meant Mercedes-Benz would have to build street legal versions (Straßenversions) of the car to meet the homologation requirements. When all was said and done Mercedes-Benz AMG, in partnership with HWA, built 2 prototypes, 20 coupes and 6 roadsters. 2 of the coupes allegedly left the factory in SuperSport specification. The roadster featured in this article is one of those 6 roadsters, number 5 to be exact, which has recently been acquired and sold by Curated in Miami.
For those of you that don’t know, the roadster was not actually designed and built from the ground up. All roadsters were actually coupe chassis’ that were modified by HWA. One roadster was built in 1999 and kept at AMG. The remaining 5 roadsters were built and made available to the public in 2006.
1 of the 6 roadsters was painted black and another one in dark silver with a purple interior for the Sultan of Brunei. I’ve had the great fortune of capturing 2 coupe street versions, 2 racing versions and 2 roadsters. I was particularly excited to see the roadster that made an appearance during car week this year, but was disappointed to see it wearing custom wheels as I really wanted to capture an all original roadster – don’t hate me.
Enter Curated! John Temerian couldn’t possibly have had more perfect timing in taking delivery of this roadster in all-original condition. When I walked into Curated’s studio and saw this thing in all its splendor under the most perfect light, my jaw hit the floor. I wasn’t entirely sure that I would be able to photograph it, but just seeing it and touching it was a bucket list moment for me.
Big thanks to @serfermedia and @lets.drive.it for giving me the longest 10 minutes ever in between their workflow to capture this amazing unicorn. Don’t forget kids, success comes when preparation meets opportunity.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if the CLK GTR is not the closest thing to a space ship built for the road then I don’t know what is. Thank you JT for bringing it to Miami!
Don’t forget to follow me on IG at @jgpv.speed to check out my 20-slide post of this rare supercar.
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