If your heart is willing and your pockets are deep, now’s your chance to buy a genuine DTM (German Touring Car racing) race car—and a great looking one at that. This Mercedes CLK DTM car, built for the 2000 DTM season, is headed to the RM Sotheby’s auction in Paris on Feb. 1, 2023.
Only eight of these Mercedes CLK DTM cars were ever made, split between three different teams. Four of them went to the Works HWA team, two cars went to the semi-Works Persson team and another two went to the Rosberg team. The car in question—RS00-05—was one of the HWA team cars, driven by Swiss driver Marcel Fässler, while wearing its Warsteiner livery.
This Mercedes CLK DTM never won a DTM race but it did snag six podium finishes, and a few second-place and third-place finishes. It used a 4.0-liter naturally aspirated V8, making a regulations-limited 500 horsepower and was paired with a six-speed Xtrac sequential manual transmission. The engine made a buzzy, frenetic noise not typically associated with Mercedes V8s but it’s the sort of raw, motorsport noise that can make the hair on your arms stand on end.
Mercedes ended up keeping the Warsteiner CLK DTM car after the 2000 season and used it to promote the brand. But then Czech collector and motorsport enthusiast Antonín Charouz bought it from Mercedes, who eventually sold it in 2013. Since then, it’s had its entire gearbox, clutch, and water pump replaced and it only has around 3,500 km (2,174 miles) on the odometer.
Obviously, being a race car, you can’t register and drive this on the road. However, for a rich enthusiast that wants a genuine race car to use on track, this might be a very attractive buy. It’s a gorgeous racer with a kick-ass German beer livery and a free-breathing Mercedes V8. To whoever can afford it, why wouldn’t you want to buy it?
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