Mercedes-Benz CLK Touring Car '00

"The pipe-framed racing machine that fought the new era of the DTM."

The DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) in which powerful works teams clashed, earned great popularity in the beginning of the 1990s. However the technological competition became too costly and the series was cancelled in 1996. The DTM made a comeback in 2000, revised with its previous mistakes in mind. To reduce development costs, vehicle regulations were greatly revised, and all cars were restricted to rear wheel drives with 4L V8 engines. The tires and brake system were unified, and electronic features like ABS and traction control were banned. The transmission was a selection between Hewland or X-Trac.[1]

Manufacturers expressed the image of their base cars with roofs and front grills, but inside was a pipe frame, with carbon fibre panels all around the cabin, making it a type of semi-monocoque. It was far from being anywhere near a production car. In the case of the CLK, only the front grill, front headlights and rear combination headlamps were the same as the production CLK. Its weight was 1000 kg,[2] and its V8 engine produced roughly 444 HP.

The Mercedes-Benz group assembled a formidable team including former F1 driver Bernd Schneider to overwhelm the competition in the initial year of the new DTM. In 2000, and 2001, the DTM D2 AMG Mercedes CLK took the overall win for the season.