The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR was a supercar and race car built by Mercedes-AMG, performance and motorsports arm of Mercedes-Benz. Intended for racing in the new FIA GT Championship series in 1997, the CLK GTR was designed primarily as a race car, with the road cars necessary in order to meet homologation standards being secondary in the car's design. Thus the limited production road going cars were considered racing cars for the road.
After competing successfully in 1997, the race car was upgraded in 1998 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and renamed the CLK LM. Following the construction of the CLK LMs and the CLK GTR road cars, the project would end in 1999 by being replaced by the Mercedes-Benz CLR Le Mans prototype.
Even after the FIA GT1 class was cancelled for 1999, Mercedes was obligated 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. 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 5.9 liters to 6.8. This increase in displacement coupled with the removal of a racing air restrictor allowed for 720 bhp (537 kW) and torque to 572 ft·lbf (776 N·m). Mercedes-AMG claimed a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 200 mph (322 km/h).
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.