New car news

24 September 2009 - 10:00

For sale: CLK GTRs

See more pictures of Merc's GTR road cars

If you’re feeling flush this morning, then we dare you to buy this Mercedes CLK GTR roadster. It’s up for auction at RM’s London sale in October, alongside a coupe version for people who like roofs.

Of course, we wouldn’t want you throwing your cash around without a little more information. So here it is.
 
Back in 1997 Mercedes entered the FIA GT1 series, and under championship rules each car needed a road-legal equivalent. And so the firm began building the numberplated GTRs, even when the GT1 class folded in 1999. Mercedes had promised cars to customers and to avoid beatings from oligarchs’ henchmen, it delivered.
 
Each car packed a 6.8-litre V12 with 456kW and to make them a little cosier, Mercedes threw in some leather and a glovebox, and traction control to help keep things in shape. Just 20 coupes and six roadsters were built at a cost of about one million euro each.
 
And if you want an idea of how piggish and absurd they were to drive in everyday conditions, watch this video.
 
Of course, the cars were designed to be cut loose on race circuits. They could do 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds and laser onwards to 321km/h, at which point – as the race cars neatly demonstrated – they turned into aeroplanes…