I think few people would call the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR beautiful. Looks was not the reason I added this beast to my model garage, the reason is because the CLK GTR is such a rare bird, with only 35 build it is one of the rarest MB's. It was also one of the most expensive cars when it went on sale. Legend has it the MB bought a second hand McLaren F1 GTR to use in the development of the CLK GTR.My model is from Maisto, scale 1:18. The high light of this model is the detailed engine.
What I love about this car: The wheel design and that big fin.
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| Beauty is in the eye of the beholder |
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| Gull wing doors |
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| Sleek does it |
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| The Mighty 6.0l V12 |
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The GLK GTR without it's rear engine cover
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| The CLK GTR must have one of the widest tail fins on any car. |
Even though the FIA GT1 class was cancelled for 1999, Mercedes was obliged to finally deliver the required 25 road cars they had promised. An initial road car was built in 1997 in order to meet initial FIA requirements, but this car was retained by Mercedes. For the other 25 road cars, each was built by AMG at the Affalterbach factory between winter of 1998 and summer of 1999 and differed only slightly from the race car. All of the 25 CLK GTRs ever built were left hand drive except for one which was specially built for Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. Driver comfort and refinements were at a minimum in the construction of the road cars as Mercedes-Benz wished to not only offer customers a true race car, but also to attempt to keep the price low. Leather was used in the interior and an air conditioning system was offered. Two small storage lockers were also built underneath each upward swinging door. Traction control was also added for driver safety.
The car retained much of the design of the original CLK GTR instead of the CLK LM, including the V12 and many stylistic elements. One key difference was the rear wing, which used a hoop-style integrated wing in place of the separate racing wing. From the otherwise unrelated standard production Mercedes-Benz CLK, only the instrumentation, front grille and the four headlamps were used.
Ilmor Engineering provided enhancements to the engine, increasing displacement from 6.0L to 6.9L. This increase in displacement coupled with the removal of a racing air restrictor allowed for 612 PS (450 kW; 604 hp) and torque to 775 N·m (572 lb·ft). Mercedes-AMG claimed 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph).
The Guinness Book of World Records recorded the CLK GTR as the most expensive production car ever built at the time, with a price of $1,547,620(USD).
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