The Greatest Porsche I have ever driven- Carrera GT

[RDMcG]

It was early in the morning in 2007 and there was no traffic and there it stood. A Fayence Yellow Porsche Carrera GT. Its owner, a good friend, had invited me to drive it. “ How hard can I drive it”?

“As hard as you like”…


Game on.

Getting into the car, the Porsche controls are familiar, but the high centre console is different, and the gearshift is ideally positioned, its balsa shift knob a nod to the 917s. The seats are non adjustable except for distance.

5.5 litre race-derived V10 originally designed for F1 use, then deployed in the GT1 at Le Mans. They had introduced the concept in Paris in 2000 with Walter Röhrl driving it down the Champs Élysées to the Louvre, a complete surprise to journalists. Three years later they put it into production, and 1270 were made.

Carbon-fibre tub, mid-engined and the engine mounted very low, six speed with a tiny clutch, ceramic brakes.

I promptly stalled it.

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Getting into first requires zero pressure on the gas, let it slip into gear and then touch the gas.

It is magically precise and after a while I got used to the clutch, The V!0 was one of the greatest engines ever and once I get up the rev band it sounds like nothing else. One of the two best-sounding engines for me ( The other is the Lexus LF-A).


I get on some open empty road. God, it is quick,brilliantly balanced ,perfectly weighted steering. And that scream. An hour on some twists and turns and I am in love.
At 180 km/h this is alive.

No other Porsche will ever feel as good as this thing. Although clearly a Porsche it comes from some magic engineering corner where the truly special , truly great cars emerge.

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The CGT is very, very expensive to service, but is now a better car than new as the tire technology has caught up with it. There is no stability control or any of the modern nannies, so a car that has to be respected. They have become very valuable now so well beyond the means of most people. A good one is not too far off $2 million.

Worth it though. Hands down the greatest car of any kind that I have driven.. I have done lots of other performance Porsches and other marques. Nowadays of course there are faster cars and better track cars. I would have one in a flash if I could afford one.

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[blueline]

Unbelievable! The pic of this magnificent car in front of the old, 40's era, patina laden, bedless dually looks like a time machine dream.

Meanwhile, I cannot imagine what it would be like to drive one. I'd be panicked. Even 16-years ago when the future value was maybe a bit less known, driving it would have been nerve wracking, even on mostly empty streets. I have this image of a car plowing through the the red light in the intersection action pic.

Not important, but that pic made me curious if it was Toronto.

That yellow is breathtaking; likewise for the interior shot of the steering wheel, dash and center console.

Broken record, but once again, thanks for sharing that rarefied story and pics.

Oh, and one other thing - I love the fact that all gauges are visible through the steering wheel. And that they are all analog. Apparently the one analog gauge on my TTS, the tach, is the last if 992.2 rumors are accurate.

[Tom]

Awesome post -- thanks so much for sharing. I've never had a chance to drive one, so great to get a real world review. Love that yellow too, and wonder if it's on the PTS list. My dealer tech is a CGT guru, so I've need quite a few in various states of disassembly, but never in that color!

[RDMcG]

The colour was one of the few standard colours called fayence yellow and is now the most valuable . I loved it too:)

[RDMcG]

Yes.Was Toronto at about 5am one weekend .