31770 view(s)  When the BPR went "official" and became the FIA GT, it stopped being the exclusive playground for the wealthy "gentleman racer".
But when Mercedes used its defunct ITC infrastructure to create the CLK GTR, 1997 became known as the year GT Racing turned into a "Corporate" affair.
With its Lola designed carbon monocoque, 600+bhp V12 and all the gizmos once found on its Class 1 Tourer's, Mercedes continued on the path taken by Lotus, McLaren, Panoz and Porsche.
Although a streetable version was show to the public the Silver Arrows at the end of the season, the Silver Arrows were GT's by name only.
After a troublesome start at Hockenheim it took AMG but little time to unleash the CLK's potential. Occasionally the well oiled Mercedes machinery did fail, but with some serious car hopping lead driver Bernd Schneider would still manage to score in the points. Six victories later Mercedes and Bernd were World GT Champions.
So successful were the Silver Arrows, that for '98' all but Porsche and Panoz called it a day. To boost the grids AMG leased the old GTR's to Persson Motorsport while AMG continued to dominate the FIA GT with the new CLK LM.
Brimming with confidence AMG set out for La Sarthe...but that, as they say, turned out to be a different story!
Mercedes CLK GTR (FIA GT 96):
Length : 4850 mm, Width: 1950 mm, Wheelbase: 2670 mm, Height : 110 mm,
Tyres: Bridgestone, Wheels : BBS
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