There are a lot of things about the way people use language that irritate me – but if there’s one thing I hate more than anything else, it’s the way people misuse the word “literally “. I’m sure I’m not alone in this boat. Not only is the word said very often, but it is said in situations where it causes massive and implausible exaggeration.
People refer to insignificant things, like the sound of nails scraping on a blackboard, as “literally, the worst thing in the world.” Not nuclear war, as I foolishly thought like the idiot that I am.
Of course, as someone who often says things in jest, I recognize that we all have a duty – that more people need to exercise – to take things with a proverbial pinch of salt. But the frequent and incorrect use of the word is literally racking my brains! And that’s why I know that every comment I get for this blog will attempt to incorporate the word “literally” in some way.
The biggest problem, however, with not liking the use of a particular word comes when you are forced to use that word in circumstances where it is justified – like now…
The GT1 class of the FIA GT Championship was literally one of the greatest racing classes of all time. Not just because of the race, but because of a particularly epic road car it spawned: the Mercedes CLK GTR. One of the most race-focused homologation hypercars to ever hit public roads, culminating in the stunning SuperSport variant. This is the story of that very car, and how Mercedes came to produce what is still the most manic car they have ever made.
1 credit: topcarrating
If, like me, you’re a kid of the 90s, unless you have memories from inside the womb, you won’t be able to remember a time when endurance racing didn’t have never existed. Not at a time when such a thing had never happened before, but at a time when the world was totally devoid of any international endurance racing series. This time was a dark period of solitude; the great depression of motorsport. Fortunately, it only lasted the year 1993.
The World Sportscar Championship – which had been an endurance racing series since 1953 – came to an end after the 1992 season due to a lack of entrants for 1993. This was a meteoric blow for international motorsport, because it sounded the death knell for resistance to running. This unacceptable scenario led 3 men to agree – Jurgen Barth (who won Le Mans in 1977), Patrick Peter and Stéphane Ratel. Together they would form the BPR Global GT series – whose name is an acronym of the first letter of each creator’s last name.
credit: gettyimages
The BPR series started in 1994, but it wasn’t until 1995 that it got really exciting with the entry of the McLaren F1 GTR. In fairness the series has been split into 4 different speed categories – GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT4 – GT1 being the fastest and so on. The McLaren F1 GTR fell into the GT1 class, along with other supercar icons like the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 911. But thanks to the super-fast McLaren, the GT1 class wasn’t so much a race as a selection of Ferraris and Porsches watching McLarens disappear. The McLaren F1 GTR won the championship in 1995 and 1996 – and even won Le Mans in 1995.
credit: imgur
As exceptional as the F1 GTR was, it had a fundamental flaw as a racing car, as it was originally a road car that had been converted to racing, not a car that , from birth, was destined to conquer all the circuits of the Earth. . In fact, without the influential contribution of 3 particularly important McLaren F1 owners, McLaren would never have considered turning their masterpiece into a racer. The F1 GTR’s dominance was mainly due to its magical combination of a lightweight carbon chassis with a monstrously powerful BMW V12 engine. Absolutely nothing could approach it.
The series was a great success, which in turn caught the attention of Porsche and Mercedes. Porsche already had a car competing in the GT1 class in the form of its 993 GT2 Evo, but like McLaren it was a road car that had been modified for racing. So Porsche set out to create a purpose-built racing car to end McLaren’s reign, and by the end of the 1996 season it was ready: the Porsche 911 GT1.
911 GT1 – Photo: Brooks/Sutton
As the Porsche entered the 1996 competition late, it was ineligible to rack up championship points – but that small omission didn’t change the fact that the 911 GT1 was the machine that showed the McLaren F1 GTR what the back of a car looked like. , because Porsche had created a faster racing car. Suddenly, it was the car to beat, and was expected to race in the 1997 season. But unfortunately for Porsche, Mercedes had other ideas.
At the end of 1996, Mercedes and AMG collaborated to build their own racing car. In 1996, Mercedes and AMG were not part of the same company; it wasn’t until 1998 that Mercedes purchased a significant share of AMG, and it took until 2005 for Merc to finally fully buy the AMG brand. But in 1996 they teamed up with the goal of creating a racing car, which began with the purchase of a McLaren F1 GTR.
Mercedes test mule using a McLaren chassis – Credit: Sutton Images
It may seem like a fancy way to start building a race car, but it was actually a fantastic decision. Not only did it help them discover how fast the competition was, but it also gave them a way to test their own engine while they were still developing their own custom chassis.
Credit: Sutton Images
It seems blasphemous to consider swapping an engine for a McLaren F1 GTR – but this was no ordinary heart transplant. Instead of the BMW 6.1L V12, they put an AMG 6L V12 – code name M120. They then bolted their own custom prototype bodywork to the McLaren chassis, which looked suspiciously like the body of a McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail. Without the use of a crystal ball, however, Mercedes could not have been swayed by the long tail due to the way the LT never raced until the following year.
I don’t think they wanted that to happen! – Credit: Sutton Images
Fitted with the AMG engine, the car ran around the Jarama circuit in Spain 2 seconds per lap faster than the McLaren F1 GTR in the 1996 BPR series. That may not seem like much – but in racing it’s a lot of time to let him grow a reasonably sized beard.
Using a McLaren F1 GTR as a test mule, it not only served to test its engine, but also helped accelerate Mercedes-AMG’s development program for what would become the CLK GTR race car. In total, the CLK GTR took just 128 days to design – which, in terms of car design, isn’t long enough to blink an eye.
In 1997 the BPR Global GT Series was acquired by the FIA and later changed to the FIA GT Championship. Performance ratings were now limited to just 2 – GT1 and GT2 – but it was in the top GT1 category that the world witnessed the arrival of Mercedes’ new race car: the CLK GTR.
Despite the fact that Mercedes and AMG used a McLaren F1 GTR for testing, nothing about the CLK GTR came from McLaren. With the threat of Porsche, McLaren was also busy creating a faster racing car – the McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail, which proved to be CLK’s biggest rival.
McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail – Credit: ultimatecarpage
Initial problems with the CLK left the door open for McLaren to win the first three races of the 1997 season. But from there the 622bhp CLK GTR dominated and won the FIA GT Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships. in 1997.
Mercedes won both of these titles again in 1998; however, due to their participation in the Le Mans race that year – which they had not done in 1997 – the way they won the championship took an unexpected turn.
They had already won the first 2 Races of the 1998 season on his CLK GTR, but between race 2 and race 3, Le Mans waved (for those who did not know, Le Mans was not part of the race calendar of the GT championship). When preparing the car for the 24-hour race, Mercedes didn’t think the 6L V12 would be suitable for running at full power for so long. So they removed the V12 engine and saved the talents of a V8 engine – codenamed M119 – which was famously used in the Sauber Mercedes C9. At Sauber, however, the V8 was powered by Twin-Turbos; in the CLK it was normally aspirated and its displacement was slightly increased from 4973cc to 4986, resulting in 600bhp.
Mercedes also decided to modify the aerodynamics of the CLK to make it more suitable for the extremely high speeds of Le Mans. For starters, they lowered the nose, replaced the two brake cooling ducts with a single larger one, lowered and adjusted the slope of the roof, and redesigned the roof-mounted air intake. Along with a variety of other mechanical changes, they transformed the CLK GTR into the CLK LM.
The CLK GTR is on the left; the CLK LM is on the right.
The visual differences between the GTR and the LM can be seen in the photo above. In the big race, Mercedes’ decision to replace the V12 with the V8 seemed a good one as they managed to qualify on pole. However, their belief in the engine turned out to be a miscalculation, as both LMs entered by Mercedes suffered engine failure.
For the 8 continuous races of the 1998 GT Championship, however, Mercedes persisted with the V8-powered CLK LM. It turned out to be a wise move as they won every race in the contest. However, this was a problem for the GT1 class as a whole. The unrivaled omnipotence of the CLK GTR and LM proved to be the catalyst that killed the GT1 class in the FIA GT Championship; this caused no other manufacturers to step forward to enter the 1999 season, as they would only be there to watch a CLK’s ass as it gradually faded from view. While that may sound negative and cowardly, you can’t blame them. I mean, if Superman was in an arm wrestling contest, would you bother to challenge him knowing he would be put on the table?
As the FIA had no entrants, it was forced to shut down the GT1 class, meaning the GT championship was only contested by the GT2 division. But even though the CLK’s racing days were officially over – and he could walk away as the phenomenal supreme champion, which all other competitors shrank from – there was still one big problem plaguing Mercedes, and that was the gap. blatant homologation which had not kept its promises.
The FIA stipulated that to compete in the GT1 class, manufacturers also had to make many road versions of their race cars. Other manufacturers have honored their approval promises, but not Mercedes. They promised to make 25 road versions of the CLK GTR – of which they only made one, which was held back by Mercedes and not released for sale.
The fact that Mercedes did not have a homologated production road car throughout its racing days angered other manufacturers. But their promise of 25 production cars was something they had no choice but to keep, so between winter 1998 and summer 1999 another 25 road cars were built.
The CLK GTR was made between AMG and another company called HWA, which was founded in 1998 as a spin-off from AMG when Mercedes bought most of its performance counterparts. Race cars have been given the slightest dust of civility to turn them into road cars. A bit of leather was added, a stereo and AC – which sounds great, but was like adding a few pillows strewn about in a cave.
For that true race car feel, the CLR GTR road car featured a 6-speed gearbox. But unlike today’s slick DSGs, which can shift gears without letting their lashes falter, the CLKs were much more rudimentary. You had to use a clutch pedal to start and change gears. You could crank it without the clutch if you were a Jedi-Master at rev-matching—but really, really, it wasn’t worth the risk.
The biggest difference, however, came in how this gearbox was connected. On the GTR race car, it was a 6L V12; on the GTR road car, it was a 6.9L V12, capable of producing 604 hp. Put only by the actual wheels of the 3175 lb (1440 kg) GTR road car, it can take you from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, from 0 to 100 mph in 6.5 seconds and to a maximum speed of 214 mph This made it one of the fastest cars on Earth at the time – but the area in which it led the world was price, as in 1999 the CLK GTR cost $1,550,000. Nearly $2.3 MILLION in cash today.
As a result, only 20 of the cars were sold. Instead of leaving the remaining 6 cars (including the first car made in 1997) idle, HWA had a pretty ingenious idea: they modified them into Roadsters. Now you can have a racing car experience with the wind blowing through your hair.
If the regular CLK GTR didn’t pose impressive enough for you, then the Roadster version certainly should. By combining a homologation hypercar with a roadster, they did something that was arguably a bit pointless, but truly spectacular in every way. Not only that, but the addition of a different aerodynamic package – as can be identified by the rear spoiler – made the car even more menacing. From the driver’s point of view, however, there was a rather pressing problem: the modifications the car received to make it a roadster resulted in a weight penalty of 105kg, bringing the car’s weight to 1545kg. Dynamically, at least, the coupe was still the best.
The ultimate expression of what the CLK GTR road car could be, however, was secretly hiding inside those 20 original coupes, as 2 of them housed something quite special: a 7-liter AMG V12 .3L – the same that would power the Pagani Zonda – producing 655bhp!! These 2 monsters were known as Mercedes CLK GTR SuperSport.
Credit: topcarrating.
The SuperSport was, once again, a product of the AMG HWA spin-off. Because it was their madness that chose to put that beating heart into the CLK GTR and in doing so they also made some changes to the front splitter to improve the car’s stability at high speeds – which was very sensible.
Credit: topcarrating.
Considering only 2 SuperSports were made, the exact performance figures were never officially specified – but through all the guesswork some claim the top speed was 332 km/h!
Credit: topcarrating.
One of the 2 SuperSports – Chassis No17 – was originally painted red with a tan interior, standing out against the ubiquitous silver exterior and black interior that virtually all other CLK GTRs had. When the car changed hands, however, it was painted silver – but in order not to completely blend in with the rest of the CLK GTR crowd, the interior was redone.
1 credit: topcarrating
The Mercedes CLK GTR comes from a truly incredible era of motorsport. Base the road car on the race car, rather than conversely, resulted in a hypercar unlike almost anything you would see on the roads. No matter how much time passes, the sight of the CLK GTR is enough to mesmerize anyone to look at it in amazement. But remember: if you look inside and see red leather, the car is even more special – literally!
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Written by: Angelo Ucello
Twitter: @AngeloUccello
Tribe: Speed Machines
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