Mercedes CLK DTM AMG

AMG UNLEASHED.

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Anyone who claims they are a genuine petrol head should know something about the Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM AMG. Actually it would make an excellent test, to call someone out if they claim to know the finer details of high performance sportscars. If they couldn't tell you it was built to celebrate Mercedes domination in the 2003 DTM series (it won nine out of ten races that year plus most podium positions too), incorporated race car technology and a very special engine in its chest, then alarm bells should ring about their claimed petrol derived passion. I'll be honest and admit that when the DTM was released back in 2004, my focus was elsewhere in the Mercedes-Benz range, namely the hotly anticipated Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar. The SLR would surely be a huge success, pairing the F1 great with a major luxury and sportscar manufacturer - sadly this was not the case. In the meantime Mercedes AMG engineers had been busy back in Germany, having been reluctantly given the green light to produce 100 examples of the ultimate road going CLK. I had dismissed this model, believing it was a case of a few stalwart AMG employees trying to steal the limelight away from the British led project, how wrong I was!

Fast forward to 2010 and I bought a 2007 CLK 63 AMG Black Series in Silver, which I still have and adore. The purchase of this car led me to delve deeper into the rare 2004 DTM model, to try and understand what it was about.