I remember growing up in the V12 and later the V10 era of Formula 1. Those were the days. I would watch the race broadcasts frequently, and the volume would always be turned up. And when there wasn't a Formula 1 race on TV, I would watch Australia's V8 Supercars Series or the Germany's DTM instead.
But with the recent trend of downsizing, nothing feels quite like it used to. V12 became V10. V10 became V8. V8 became V6. For almost two decades, this didn't affect DTM, though. And at one point, I remember talking to some of my friends, who noted that they'd much rather watch a DTM race than an F1 race. But everything changed in 2019, when new rules were implemented.
The V8 was cast aside, and turbocharged inline-four engines were brought in instead. It felt like half of the magic that used to be DTM just vanished overnight. Mercedes-Benz withdrew from the series, and others followed as well. We all know how 2020 went, but 2021 is shaping up to be a potentially better year. With the switch made from Class One cars to GT3 cars, the V8s are back, and so is Mercedes-Benz.
The battle will probably be tighter than ever before, with Ferrari and McLaren joining in on the action. And while the 2021 season starts in just a few days from now, today we're looking back at a piece of DTM history. Because if you've got the budget to play with, and a race car is what you had in mind, you shouldn't just settle for something that someone built in their small garage.
Photo: Mechatronik
Buying a Mercedes-AMG-built race car is not going to be cheap by any standards, but the level of execution is beyond what most mere mortals will ever be able to achieve. The car we're looking at is a 2014 Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM, a machine that has seen a lot of action, no doubt there. It has serial number RS15-012 stamped on it, and it went on its maiden race in 2015, piloted by Robert Wickens.
He won one race and finished second in another race, and by the end of the season, he was 13th overall with this vehicle. Fast forward to 2016, two victories and several podiums would see him drive his way up to 4th overall in the championship. Wickens would finish 9th overall in 2017, and in 2018 ex-F1 driver Pascal Wehrlein took over, ending up in 8th overall, while his team-mate Gary Paffett won the championship in a similar vehicle.
According to the seller, horsepower levels should be at around 540, and that must be without the air restrictor on the car. Can you imagine how exciting it must be to drive a vehicle like this? An extensive list of accessories is also said to be available, so if you've got €1,282,328 ($1,561,830) at your disposal, you'll get to be one of the few people on the planet to jump behind the wheel of such a pure-breed racing machine.
And I do hope this will still see some track action from time to time, instead of getting locked away in some underground storage facility for decades to come. And yes, I know you could go and buy a Veyron for that kind of cash, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to the kind of driving experience you're looking for.
The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S. Full profile
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