The Baddest Coupe in the World; First drive of AMG's championship-inspired, limited-edition CLK-DTM street car.(News)

Byline: MATT DAVIS

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (or German Touring Car Masters) racing series is central Europe's NASCAR, routinely drawing crowds in excess of 100,000. Mercedes-Benz screamed its way to the 2003 DTM championship with a CLK built for racing by the company's in-house tuner, AMG.

No, we didn't drive that car, but we did snag some seat time in a limited-production CLK-DTM AMG that draws inspiration from-and claims a lineage to-that same champion race car.

Based on a slightly modified CLK chassis, body parts remain formed in steel except for the stout skirting all around, front and rear bulging fenders, and the rear spoiler, which are created in carbon fiber. The only available colors are silver or black. The CLK's interior gets gutted and is then draped in fresh carbon fiber, pieces that include high-back race seats and a cross-member behind the headrests. Grippy suede covers a steering wheel from HWA, the motorsports arm of Mercedes AMG that campaigns the DTM team and that will build all 100 CLK-DTM AMGs slated for public consumption over the next 18 months.

Sadly, except for a few gray-market models, none of those 100-all of which are already sold-will come to the United States, which is why, when given the opportunity to be first behind the wheel of this street racer, the invitation didn't have to be made twice.

The ubiquitous supercharged 5.5-liter V8 from AMG develops 574 hp at 6100 rpm. The real propulsion story, however, comes with the torque figures: 590 lb-ft churn through a multi-plate limited-slip differential to the rear wheels at a mere 3500 rpm, and 500 lb-ft are in action at just 2000 rpm. This thing pulls like a locomotive from a virtual dead stop.

Slicing through the twisty sections of the ultra-modern, ultra-exclusive Paul Ricard test track in southern France involves a judicious use of the ...