Legendary Mercedes CLK DTM Made Famous by Victory and Video Games Is For Sale

Today, the German DTM racing series runs GT3-style cars, not unlike those in the World Endurance Championship or IMSA. But up until four years ago, it was a true battle of touring cars, most seasons uniting bespoke machinery from Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW on Europe’s top race tracks. That era has unfortunately passed, but if you have the means, you can preserve one of its icons today, as a 2000 Mercedes CLK DTM chassis has been listed for sale.

Per Sports Purpose, this “001” chassis never saw competition. Rather, it was a development car, built by the HWA team which operated Merc’s factory DTM effort 25 years ago. Bernd Schneider, who previously competed in Formula 1 and FIA GT, tested in 001 and won his first DTM title in 2000 in a similar car. There were eight races that season, and CLKs won half of them, leaving the rest to Opel and its Astra V8. Schneider claimed six of those victories but landed on the podium 13 times overall, giving him a comfortable lead over second-place Manuel Reuter for the championship.

DTM machines from this era may look like their production counterparts, but inside they’re all steel tube-frame and carbon fiber. Every car weighed 1,000 kilograms—2,205 pounds—and used a four-liter V8 sending power to the rear wheels only, unlike some DTM cars of the prior decade like the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI that benefitted from four-wheel drive.

Indeed, the CLK DTM was very successful, and enthusiasts of a certain generation still bear a fondness for it even though the Mercedes of the late ’90s and early aughts that produced the first-gen, C208 CLK didn’t exactly have the best reputation for quality. On a design level, sure—the earlier Bruno Sacco cars have objectively stood the test of time better, but much like Porsche’s “fried-egg” 996 era, these four-eyed Mercs still have a certain charm. You could credit some of that good will to video games.

Those of us who didn’t have our licenses when nu metal was on the airwaves likely best know the CLK DTM because of Gran Turismo 3 and 4. It handled brilliantly in those games, even if its 443 horsepower wasn’t potent enough to rival GT’s fastest machines. (If, like me, you ever wondered what D2 Mannesmann was, it was a German telecom that was eventually absorbed by Vodafone.) An unofficial version of the CLK DTM is also secretly present in 1999’s Gran Turismo 2, where it’s dubbed the “CLK Race Car.” It’s extremely competitive but not attainable without the use of cheats. The fact the car is still present in the game’s data suggests Polyphony Digital decided to block player access to it late in GT2’s development, for reasons unclear.

As for the real thing, no price is listed; Sports Purpose invites interested parties to reach out to it to inquire about such details. After testing duty, chassis 001 landed in the collection of Alcides Diniz, the uncle of former F1 driver Pedro Diniz. Tony Kanaan and Pedro Lamy drove it for a one-off race in Brazil in 2006, and shortly thereafter, the car was sold to another collector who has reportedly used it for track days. Another works CLK DTM from the same season driven by Marcel Fässler sold for about $520,000 at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Paris in 2023. That car did actually see racing, unlike this one, and finished fourth on the points table.

Will 001 beat that half-million mark? It’s hard to say; it doesn’t have the competition pedigree of Fässler’s No. 6 car, but it does have the more iconic livery—the one Schneider steered to victory that also appeared in Gran Turismo. And when it comes to old race cars that aren’t tasked with the pressure of competition any longer, looks sure do count for a lot. This stunning DTM test car should have absolutely no problem finding a good home, then.

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