Rare Mercedes supercar with 7.3litre engine and just 1,335 miles on the clock set to fetch £1m at auction

A supercar described as being one of the brashest Mercedes ever built is expected to sell for £1million when it is auctioned later this month.

The 1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR will appear at RM Auctions’ Monterey sale in California on August 17 with the hammer expected to go down at around the £1 million mark.

It is a limited edition race car for the road, boasts one of the German company’s boldest designs.

This particular model, which has done just 1,335 miles, was the first of 25 road cars built by Mercedes.

It is powered by a huge 7.3-litre V12 engine which produces 720bhp. It can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 3.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 197mph.
It is powered by a huge 7.3-litre V12 engine which produces 720bhp. It can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 3.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 197mph.

Experts say the CLK GTR behaves like a 'bona fide race car' on the road with fast gear changes courtesy of the paddle-operated six-speed sequential manual gearbox lifted directly from the GT1 cars.

Owners were given very little creature comforts so they could get as close a feeling to that experienced by the race drivers competing in the GT1 race class.

To make it more practical, bosses at Mercedes fitted the CLK GTR with two small storage compartments under the doors which open upwards.