How Mercedes Benz Lost Their Mind, and Won

The year is 1934. In the green hills of Germany, a race known as EIFEL is about to begin. Now this story is a bit controversial, but hear me out anyway. There, according to Mercedes Benz, they faced a dilemma. His new Grand Prix racing car, the W 25, had just hit the scale for a pre-race inspection and was found to be a kilo overweight. The Mercedes Benz New Shining star would not be able to compete. In a moment of clarity, team manager Alfred Neubauer ordered his men to strip the car's fresh white paint and remove putty, leaving the race car stripped of its sheet metal and shiny, bare aluminum, a distinctive contrast.

With the brightly painted cars competing against The W25 would become a shining silver arrow that would take the checkered flag in the next race and dominate racing for the three years it competed. Now, whether that story is true or not, we'll leave that to the historians. True or not, the blood of Silver Arrow continued to pump through the fuel lines of Mercedes Benz racing cars for the next few decades, until the time came when Mercedes sought to leave the world of sports car racing behind for pedestrians and try your hand at building supercars. . They would take on Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren to prove that they had what it took to be among these titans.

They built a car so powerful, so absurd, that it lit a fire in the soul of Mercedes Benz and changed racing forever. A machine manufactured in record time with no limits imposed on its designers that would point the Silver Arrow at its rivals and pierce

their

hearts for this brief moment in history. The rigid and suffocating Stuttgart brand would lose its

mind

and create the CLK GTR. Let's back up a little. It's 1993 and the SportsCar World Championship had died and left a huge void in the racing world outside of Le Mans and Formula One. There really was nowhere where the world's best car brands could compete against each other on a scale. global.

Fortunately, a Mad Men team decided to combine a group of smaller series to revive the European drag racing scene. What they formed became known as the BPR Global GT Series. Initially, the series started with a few Porsches and Venturi race cars, but the big boys quickly caught on and put

their

best foot forward into the fight. Jaguar, with the Ferrari XJ220, presented the magnificent F40 GTE. As always, the venerable 911 came and dominated and the often forgotten DeTomaso Pantera was... there. Everything was fine until Gordon Murray's masterpiece. The F1 GTR came and took everyone's hopes and dreams.

BPR's 1995 race podiums would lead one to believe that only McLarens had entered the fray for 12 consecutive races. Gordon's cars would intimidate the world's biggest manufacturers on the world stage. Shortly after, the FIA ​​became very involved in the BPR series, they wanted to push the teams to innovate a little more and show off a little. Then the FIA ​​implemented new homologation rules. Only 25 road cars would be needed to be part of the series. This ridiculous little requirement meant that the world's best exotic car manufacturers, companies that might make only a few street cars, could then build some truly spectacular race cars.

Limited run supercars with almost no restrictions. It wouldn't really matter though. The McLaren F1 GT-R would remain a dominant force. That is, until one company

lost

its cool, took a bite of a schnitzel, and took a swing at the King. I'm not too sure you'll ever see that many GTIs racing on the roads, but this new supercar looks sure to give Porsche many more places at the top of the podium. He did it. By the end of season 95, it was clear that if you wanted to compete in this series, you had to beat Gordon Murray and his ridiculous hypercar.

Porsche, being Porsche, needed to be on top, as if its brand's entire livelihood depended on finishing on the podium. The problem is that developing a new GT supercar from scratch is neither quick nor easy, and they only had a few months in the off-season to develop something capable of defeating what Gordon Murray had perfected for years. But as my father always said, you have to pee with the duck you have. Porsche's duck was the 1962 La Mans-winning Group C race car, a spectacular advantage on the race track powered by more than 740 horsepower. The problem was that it didn't look like a production car and it was an approved race;

They were going to need to make some road examples. At the time when Porsche was selling the 993 911, the last big air-cooled 911, Porsche engineers took the front end of the 993 and the rear end of the 962 and performed a bunch of magic that we'll see someday in a separate video and created one of the craziest and most beautiful cars to ever hit road tires: the Porsche 911 GT1, a huge, long, aerodynamic twin-turbocharged hypercar that looked a bit like the 911, although it shared almost no parts with one. In its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 911. GT1 took second and third place on the podium, just one lap behind the winning prototype.

He would begin competing at the end of the 1996 BPR Championship season, but when he did, no one could beat him. The GT1 was so dominant that it shook the confidence of everyone from McLaren to Lotus. Some, like Ferrari, thought they could never win, so they abandoned development of the F50 Gt1. At the end of the '96 season, many teams were huddled in dimly lit garages, frowning and wondering if it was worth taking on the Porsche. In '97, one brand, however, saw the limitless development of the 911 GT1 not as an insurmountable obstacle, but as a challenge to overcome.

Four months before the start of the 1997 season, Mercedes-Benz rolled up its sleeves and got to work. The design is much more than just attractive packaging for an exceptional engineering achievement. The designer takes into account all types of influences from his environment, processes them and reproduces them in a new and different way. Four months. The time it takes me to make a video or the time it takes a team of engineers in Stuttgart to change the world. It's early December 1996. Christmas tunes are playing and the New Year is just around the corner. But instead of a vacation, the AMG team received word from their bosses at Mercedes-Benz that their New Year's resolution would be to conquer the world's automotive gods.

Their mission was to take a look at the Porsche 911 Gt1, a purebred racing car prototype with some Porsche headlights, and improve it. They had only 128 days. Good luck. The 911 Gt1 would be his model to build a prototype completely focused on racing and to which some production car headlights would be installed. Now, 128 days is not a lot of time, so the AMG team had to get very creative. So how does that saying go? Good artists borrow, great artists steal, so they stole. Not content with just being good. The AMG team decided to buy a McLaren F1 GTR with chassis 11 R and commit a mortal sin against it.

They gutted him. They removed the bodywork, put together a new exterior skin and changed its own engine. What they did could have been a crime against automotive perfection, but the result was one of the fastest McLaren F1s ever built. They created a test mule that would be priceless today if they had not crashed it, replaced the McLaren body and engine, and quietly auctioned it to avoid suspicion. The experiment, however, had driven the evolution of the CLK GTR by leaps and bounds, with all chassis design basically done by Gordon Murray without his consent. The AMG team set out to steal more ideas from its competitors after removing the bodywork.

The AMG team took the proportions and body lines of the 911 Gt1, applied the headlights, grille and taillights from the CLK, fine-tuned the aerodynamics with the help of a napkin, some clay and a computer, and sent the designs to Lola composites, who were able to create the chassis in record time. To motivate this new gigantic beast. AMG took their M120, a huge hunk of aluminum that powered the S-Class line. Then they added a ton of titanium and increased the compression ratio. The result was six liters of Germanic power, 12 cylinders that thundered with the sound of 600 horses. Atmospheric and at high revolutions, its echo was metallic.

His inactivity was a whimper. It sang like a Formula One car and accelerated like one too. Mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox. The massive CLK GTR could hit 60 in less than 4 seconds and cruise up to 200 miles per hour with ease. Like the F1 from which it was derived, the CLK GTR used its powerful engine as an integral part of the rear center-mounted chassis, a demonic metallic banshee singing just inches from the driver's head, making only a CLK GTR In the allotted time away it has been a miracle. But driven by pride, madness and the desire to win at all costs, AMG and Lola were able to take two race-ready CLK GTRs to the track in April 1997, 128 days after they were tasked with creating them.

Unfortunately, the miracles ended there when AMG debuted its new Shining Silver supercar as an FIA GTI at its home track, the Hockenheim ring. Both CLK GTRs suffered mechanical problems, mainly due to the brakes. The best they could achieve was 27th place, well behind both the Porsche Gt1 that inspired it and the F1 they wanted to overthrow. Hell, even the Viper surpassed it. F1, appropriately, would sweep the podium. Damn Gordon Murray and his hair. Undeterred, the AMG team set about fixing the brakes, ironing out any loose bolts, and creating a machine so capable that nothing would stand between them and glory.

Thomas Bscher has problems with the McLaren and is overshadowed by the L 911 Gt2 car number 61. The McLaren, a race winner a year ago and in 1998, has really passed its sell-by date. Despite its rocky beginnings, the CLK GTR would quickly show the world that the spirit of the Silver Arrows was alive and well in Stuttgart. His first podium came a month after his failures at Hockenheim. At Silverstone, they would go one step further to stick a knife in McLaren's back. For the Helsinki race a third CLK GTR was added to the team. But again, disasters would strike and McLaren F1's pace would slip away.

But there was a clear change in the air in Germany when the AMG Mercedes team unveiled the CLK GTRs in the pit lane of the Nurburgring 4 Hours. With enough time finally under his belt. The AMG team was ready. After a controversial qualifying session. Leading the pack would be entirely CLK and F1 and 146 laps later, two CLK GTRs would lead a group of five of Gordon Murray's masterpieces. Behind them. Where, more than 60 years ago, a simple paint job sparked a spirit of competition in the heart of Mercedes Benz, Bernd Schnieder and Klaus Ludwig climbed to the top of the podium.

Finally, after defeating McLaren and Porsche, Mercedes decided they liked the taste and would do it again and again for the rest of the season. The top three finishers would always include a silver arrow. AMG would return to Stuttgart with the drivers' and constructors' titles as the 1997 season came to a close. In the middle of the celebration in Germany. There was a firm knock on the door. The FIA ​​had been promised trams and they wanted to see them. But while a car so good that it appears to have killed a popular series may be bad news for racing fans, it's good news for a few very, very rich car fans because, in order to compete, Mercedes had to produce a road. version of the CLK, they have now built 25 of these delicious, fully street-legal machines, selling for a million pounds.

Unlike Group A, where homologation was essential for participation in FIA GT. It was only enforced in a way. to compete in season 97. Mercedes Benz promised that they are already working hard on their road cars. But as the season wound down, they had still only set one example. So in the off-season they had to scramble to build the rest of them, which to the buyers' benefit meant that what they got was basically a racing car with turn signals known as the Strabenversion or street version. German is fun. Hans Werner Aufrecht, also known as A an AMG, was tasked with bringing road cars to life.

It took the team 3 to 4 weeks to make each receive few changes to their race car pedigree. He got a friendlier 6.9-liter engine and some softer cams, giving it more torque and drivability. It got less aggressive aerodynamics, a more pedestrian interior, some airbags and catalytic converters. And if you're very lucky, air conditioning. Other than that, what you bought in 1998 was essentially an FIA GT championship-winning race car that you could use to scare people on the highway. However, it had the same sequential transmission. The tramwayit had flapping paddles, the same carbon-fiber monocoque, the same howling, haunting mechanical tune pouring from the exhaust pipes.

All yours for the price of two of Gordon's McLaren F1 cars: $1.5 million, making the CLK GTR the most expensive production car in the world, a record it would hold for almost 20 years until the FXX came along. of Ferrari. Even at that price, it was a bargain. You were buying history. History: It could be driven, but not very easily. It was difficult to motivate the CLK GTR from a standstill. It had a four-disc carbon fiber racing clutch. I hated driving slow, stuttering and skipping through the upshifts, barely maintaining traction in the first half of the gears. It had no rearview mirror, no cupholders, and no storage space.

Even getting into the car was a hassle. You had to step over the door thresholds and then get into an absurdly small cabin. Because, well, this was a race car, so you needed the height and weight of a fit little German to sit comfortably inside. What greeted you, if you fit, was a handful of dials, switches and a Mercedes Benz parts bin radio. But you didn't buy a CLK GTR to listen to music or find out how hot your engine was. You bought it to start it and heard the V12 chugging, wheezing and vibrating behind you, shaking the cabin and deafening you even at idle, or, more likely, you bought it because you knew it would be worth a lot more as it got older.

These cars were so hard to drive. that today many of them only have a couple of thousand miles on them. Even if you wanted to spend some time sitting in your CLK GTR. There was simply nowhere in the world to easily drive one off a racetrack. The road-going CLK GTR, largely thanks to racing excesses, had no trouble selling, albeit even at its absurd price. In 2002, Hans decided to make the roadster an even more limited version of an extremely limited car. In the end, only about 28 CLK GTRs were built for mortal consumption, two prototypes, 20 coupes and six roadsters.

Whichever model they purchased, buyers knew they owned a piece of history, a real-life racing car that dominated the race tracks of Europe. In '98, the CLK would return to contest the FIA ​​GT Championship and handily kick Porsche and McLaren's ass. Ten races, ten victories. The CLK GTR would be another name etched into the halls of relentless winners that the best from McLaren, Ferrari and Porsche couldn't even hope to keep up with. The AMG team's performance would essentially ruin all the fun. In 1999, the Gt1 class was canceled because everyone dropped out. Nobody wanted to step forward to win the CLK crown again, like in the DTM.

Before Mercedes and AMG were so good at racing, they wiped out an entire series, but they had spent a lot of time and probably money to make the CLK such a fierce competitor. It would be a waste to put it in a museum. So Mercedes finally made the decision to return to Le Mans, a decision they would probably regret. and once again the Germans had re-entered the field. determined to repeat their victory at the 23rd hour in 1952. There is only one darker day in the history of motor racing. On June 11, 1955, at the 23rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a series of split decisions made by drivers in the heat of the moment led to the loss of more than 80 lives.

That miserable day left an itchy scar on the hearts and

mind

s of everyone in the automotive industry for decades to come. It had etched a wound so deep in the hearts of Mercedes that it kept them out of racing for 30 years. Vowing never to return to the Cirque De La Sarthe But the success of the CLK GTR in FIA GT attracted the three-pointed star to return in 1998. The problem is that the Cirque De La Sarthe features one of the longest and fastest stretches of asphalt of the world. And while the CLK GTR dominated the FIA ​​GT Championship, AMG knew it wouldn't win in the unique landscape of Le Mans.

But the team didn't have time to develop an entirely new car from scratch, so they set out to modify the GTR to adapt the CLK to the new environment. AMG revised the car's aerodynamics and swapped the V12 for a more reliable V8 from the Sauber C nine. The 1998 race field was fiercely competitive. Nissan's ultra-rare R 390, in the field of Porsche's 911 GT1s, were the McLaren F1 vipers, and among them Toyota had entered three of the new Gt-One Supercars, including one driven by the King of drift. Keiichi Tsuchiya But as the qualifying sessions came to a close, the Mercedes team and CLK LM would be on top of pole position by a bullet.

Bernd Schneider would drive his LM one second ahead of Toyota's best. The stage was set for Mercedes to ruin the race again, but a problem with a power steering pump would put both LMs out of the race in the early hours. The team was still happy with the pace they had set and decided to take what they learned and apply it to a more dedicated LeMans racer over the next year. The CLR is lower, faster and lighter. The CLR was in every way a worthy successor to the GTR. Without the homologation standards of the Gt1 class.

Mercedes was able to build a racing car without limitations. The team abused the CLR for thousands of miles in practice, refining, hardening, and probably beating up that power steering pump. Unfortunately, however, their efforts would have been more appropriate at an airport than a race track. Le Mans, they say, is the only reality. The rest is just waiting. and the month of June seems to go by quickly for each of the teams involved. Suddenly you are in the technical inspection and then the qualifying is on Wednesday and Thursday and today, Friday, the last day of preparation before the start on Saturday.

During qualifying for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, Mark Webber was in the draft of an Audi prototype as he moved to pass it on the outside. The aerodynamics caught the ambient air and the CLR flew away. Webber was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Undeterred, the team spent two days repairing the car, got Webber out of the hospital and sent the car through another warm-up session. And it happened again. Webber was unharmed this time, but it was clear that the number four CLR was not fit to compete. The question now was: were any CKRs fit to compete?

Drivers complained that the front end lit up at high speeds. Then the Mercedes team contacted the head of aerodynamics and the McLaren Formula One team. The team placed some plastic pieces on the front of the CLRs and told the drivers not to follow other cars in the race too closely. We all see where this is going around the 4 hour mark into the race. Peter Drumbreck is hot on the heels of the Toyota GT-One as it barrels down the Mulsanne at about 200 miles per hour directly toward the setting sun. Drivers drive practically blind at these absurd speeds.

Drumbrecks' CLR goes over a small sidewalk, and the aerodynamic alteration is enough to lift him and his car 50 feet in the air, spin three times, and go over the barrier and down a hill. The impact left Peter unconscious, but he quickly got out of the car safely. Curiously, because Le Mans was run on public roads, they gave him a breathalyzer test before sending him to the hospital. Just a curious fact. It is not strange? Regardless, with visions of the 1955 Le Mans disaster still in their minds, Mercedes quickly called the remaining CLR tertiary and withdrew from the race, an embarrassing end to what was an incredible racing program.

Just two years ago there was a thriving international GT series in which Ferrar, F40, McLaren F1, Lotus Esprits and even my own Lister still had a chance of winning. But first they were shot down. With the arrival of the new Porsche 911 GT1 And then they were crushed into submission. But today the Mercedes CLK, and perhaps rightly so, the CLK racing program is remembered not for its victories but for its aerial acrobatics. But when left with its tires planted on the road, the AMG team in the 1990s was creating a pure gasoline-powered craze. What they created was the pinnacle of '90s supercar racing among the holy trinity of the world's most fantastic machines.

Between the 911 GT1 and the F1 GTR, the CLK GTR triumphed, a product with an unlimited budget but a limited time. It was unrefined and absurd, a long, low, monstrous constitution that groaned and rattled its way to the podiums across Europe. Built from the same machine, it was destined to destroy its design, a carbon copy of its own competition. It was a stolen piece of art that was repainted in brighter colors. A monster so destructive that it left entire championships destroyed in its wake. The only machine that could knock Gordon Murray down a rung of the ladder powered by a beating heart that would propel Pagani into the stratosphere.

The CLK GTR was one of the last great supercars that opened the doors to the Hypercar era. Its absurdity, its inspiration. Nothing was as brutal, as unrestrained, as indiscriminately violent as this savage beast unleashed upon the world by Mercedes today. Road examples are kept in climate-controlled garages, hidden in warehouses and museums, and only see the light of day to be auctioned off to their next caretaker. Domesticated and hidden ferocious monsters, who never tasted the blood on which they were supposed to feast. Their spirits were held captive in silent prisons, crying out to be released onto the racetracks of the world, to once again show the world that the company that launched the Silver Arrow in 1934 had finally pierced the hearts of the racing world.

In 1997. Thanks for watching to the end, my friend. I hope you had a good time.