The 5 Most Hardcore Homologation Specials, As Chosen By You

Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

Like Porsche with its 911 GT1 Strassenversion, Mercedes was required to build a road-going machine in order to compete in the highly competitive GT1 championship. Incredibly, the development of the CLK GTR was completed by AMG in just 128 days; a shockingly short amount of time for a full on race car programme. As a result, nobody was surprised when AMG failed to get the road car homologated in time for the 1997 FIA GT championship. Despite this, Mercedes was allowed to race anyway.

The CLK GTR race car was absolutely dominant on track, winning the 1997 and 1998 FIA GT championships easily, and during this period AMG also cracked on with producing its 25 road cars. These road going machines were powered by an incredible 6.0-litre, 550bhp, V12, sourced from the rather humble SL600. The car’s tub was formed from a construction of kevlar and carbonfibre and the engine formed a stressed member of the chassis (like Colin Chapman’s innovative Lotus 49). The road cars dropped the huge GT wing in favour of an integrated unit but we actually think that it actually improved the lines of the vehicle. With all these developments the CLK GTR certainly wasn’t cheap. At £1,000,000, it was one of the most expensive road cars ever produced.

The story doesn’t end there, however. After Daimler Chrysler purchased the performance house AMG in 1999, AMG co-founder Hans-Werner Aufrecht decided to form his own company (HWA GmbH), allowing him to continue with his racing programme. Unfortunately, the GTRs had been ruled out of competition due to new rules. But not content to sit and watch the left over GTR chassis rot, he decided to produce roadster versions of the Le Mans racer. Only six of these mad vehicles were ever produced making them incredibly rare. One sold in June 2015 for an eye-watering £1,513,500.

Nissan R390

Nissan originally entered the highly competitive GT1 class in 1995 with its production-based Skyline GT-R. However, the GT-R was quickly outpaced by the opposition. The reason for this lack of pace was simple: other manufacturers were making full use of the rule books and building new from-the-ground-up homologation specials.

As a result the Japanese manufacturer wanted to return to the top step of the podium as soon as possible. To do so it brought out the big guns. Designing legend Ian Callum was put in charge of the car’s styling and Tony Southgate (of Formula 1 fame) was brought in to make sure it dominated on the track. The GT-R’s RB26 was dropped for a lightweight aluminium race-derived engine (the 3.4-litre, 641bhp VRH35L) and the chassis was heavily based on the very successful Jaguar XJR-15 racer. Unfortunately, due to a variety of reliability problems, the R390 never performed that well on track - its best result being 3rd at the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Strangely, Nissan never seemed to have much interest in producing road-going variants of its race cars. As a result only two R390 road cars were ever built. One was sold to a private collector and the other is stored in Nissan’s secret museum. The road car was a very quick machine with a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 220mph. Sadly, it looks like we’ll never see one of these machines out in the wild.

Renault 5 Turbo

We absolutely love small mid-engined French hatchbacks here at CT. But it all started with one car, the frankly bonkers Renault 5 Turbo (the ‘R5 Turbo’). The R5 Turbo was created to take the fight to Lancia in the war zone that was Group B International rallying.

Starting with a basic Renault 5, the car was completely re-engineered; nothing was left untouched. The chassis was heavily modified to accommodate the mid-mounted 1.4-litre, 160bhp, four-cylinder engine and drive was routed to the rear wheels. Like many of these homologation specials, the power output doesn’t seem that special, but back in the day, the little Renault was the most powerful French production car of all time. And with only 970kg to carry about, the car could hit 62mph in just 6.6 seconds (a time that would embarrass a modern hot hatch).

The car was very quick on track, using the original Mini’s technique of low weight and high manoeuvrability to win its first outing at the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally. Unfortunately, the rate of development in the Group B arms race was rapid, and the hot Renault was quickly outpaced by the four-wheel drive competition, but that didn’t stop the car becoming an icon. These little hatches are now commanding serious supercar money.

M3 GTR

The BMW M3 GTR is perhaps one of the most interesting homologation specials of all time. Built to a set of regulations that were only around for one year, the GTR allowed BMW to race in the 2001 American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The regulations in question stated that a manufacturer could field a racing car with a purpose-built motorsport engine, as long as 10 road-going variants were produced.

The thing that makes this car so exciting is that it was the first M3 ever to feature a V8 engine. And not just any V8. The 4.0-litre, 380bhp, P60 was pure motorsport. The engine weighed less than the S54 straight-six, featured a flat plane crankshaft and had a racing-spec dry sump. The chassis was also modified, featuring additional bracing and all new suspension.

The car is instantly recognisable with its aggressive bonnet vents, carbon roof and aggressive rear wing, and the interior received an overhaul with racing Recaro seats and rear seat delete. With the on-track domination of the GTR (it won the 2001 ALMS Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ Championship) and the road version featuring as the ‘star car’ in Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed Most Wanted, the GTR has become a legend.

Mercedes 190E 2.5-16V Evo II

Like the rest of these homologation specials, the Mercedes 190E 2.5-16V Evo II was built to take on an extremely competitive rival. In this case it was the dominant BMW E30 M3 in the German DTM Touring Car championship. To compete in DTM back in 1989, Mercedes developed the hardcore 190 2.5-16 Evolution. 502 vehicles were produced to homologate the car for competition with them featuring tuned engines, larger rear wings and flared arches to accommodate bigger wheels and brakes. The car looked fairly aggressive but was still civilised.

What a difference a year makes. For 1990, Mercedes decided to pull out all the stops and released the Evo II, one of the most recognisable Mercedes of all time. The car featured an absolutely mad bellicose body kit with huge arches, 18-inch wheels and a massive rear rear wing. To back up this new aggression, Mercedes managed to release another 40bhp from the 2.5 litre engine (195bhp vs 235bhp). The Cosworth’s self-levelling suspension was seriously high-tech too, meaning that this car really was a game changer.