MotorTrend drives the 2004 Porsche Carrera GT, a 612-hp V-10 powered supercar born from a canceled Le Mans program and built to challenge Ferrari’s Enzo.
This story originally appeared in the January 2004 issue of MotorTrend.'s amazing Enzo is. In a way, the Carrera GT can make an even stronger claim for its racing roots than can the Enzo, as it actually derives from a V-10-powered, carbon-fiber-structured race project that had reached the running-prototype stage, aiming to contest the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the starting grid: Porsche dropped out of racing. In January 2000, Porsche Chairman Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking stunned the racing world, and most of Porsche Motorsport, when he abruptly announced that the factory was halting race-car development and canceling plans to run at Le Mans. Why? The official line now is that senior management had identified the need to develop and sell a roadgoing supercar to protect Porsche's reputation and market strength, and the small, independent company didn't have the resources to do that and mount a Le Mans campaign. Even if other considerations helped change the priorities , the real competition car was indeed dead. In its place would come the fastest, most technically advanced street Porsche ever.Less than four years after Dr. Wiedeking's policy J-turn, about the time the first customer Carrera GTs were reaching the end of the assembly line in a new Leipzig facility, Porsche invited us to a get-acquainted drive of the car, outside Berlin. Let's be honest: There are no bad 600-horsepower, half-million-dollar, road-legal super-sports cars from big-time race-winners. We expected to be dazzled, and we were. But the particular wonder of the Carrera GT is how civilized it is. Porsche's history and philosophy demanded that its flagship be brutally fast, of course, but also refined, comfortable, easy to drive and to live with, safe, reliable, and efficient.The performance basics were easy, relatively. Bore out the light-alloy Le Mans V-10 to 5.7 liters, tune it for a flexible and responsive 612 horses at 8000 rpm, and put it in a stiff carbon-fiber chassis with highly developed pushrod-operated suspension and massive ceramic brakes. The finished package weighs 3043 pounds, accelerates to 60 mph in the low-three-second range, and goes 205 or better.Okay, but how about the tough part, all that friendly-car refinement? Without any kind of fudging, we can tell you there are exactly three areas in the GT that some people might view as competition-car compromise: It's pretty easy to stall the engine until you adjust to its utter lack of flywheel effect. Your shoes will occasionally scuff a door panel as you clamber across the chassis' broad side pontoons. The upright posture forced by the thin-shell bucket seats feels a little too at-attention for a passenger .Otherwise, you just walk up to the Carrera GT, hop in, twist the key , and go tearing off in a car that delivers a thrilling level of real-racer flavor, including snappy reflexes, ultra-fine control, and 200-plus-mph velocities any moment you have the urge and the opportunity, with absolutely none of the grief associated with a true sports-prototype racing implement. The Carrera GT's cockpit leaves on display the beautiful, gloss-finished, three-dimensional weave of carbon fiber that gives even this open roadster astounding structural rigidity. But unlike the Enzo's, the rest of the interior is finished to the same high standard as your typical 911's, with leather and satin aluminum trim, a real glovebox, a wood-capped shift knob , and a great Bose stereo and a nav system you can specify or not, without charge. It can get a little noisy inside the GT, but most of the sounds are happy ones: an eager engine deep-breathing, gears meshing, suspension calling out road qualities, and grippy dual-compound Michelins liking the pavement texture. The steering wheel feels perfectly tied to the front contact patches, wants medium-light effort, and talks to your fingertips plainly and honestly. You can even see out of the GT in all directions--unheard of in a mid-engine exotic. Anywhere you look around the Carrera GT, technical details glisten.Suspension is by delicate, finely rendered aluminum locating arms working on inboard spring/damper units via pushrod linkages. The control is race-car-sharp, but harshness is entirely acceptable despite the lack of elastic bushings. Ceramic-composite brake rotors provide phenomenal stopping power while cutting overall weight, unsprung weight, and rotating weight--the Triple Crown of mass reduction. Forged magnesium wheels do the same. The greatest technical feature of all, the loud-and-proud V-10, is a marvel. Flexible from 2000 rpm, with a torque peak of 435 pound-feet at 5750 rpm, it builds thrust smoothly and cleanly. The 612 horses shove rather than kick, and gears in the narrow-gated six-speed manual flash by in a hurry. Nowhere but a wide-open test track will let you see lots of revs and lots of throttle for more than a brief burst. And the soundtrack to this passion play is a forceful, complex roar with a hint of 10-cylinder lope and--we kid you not--a busy whirr that suggests the air-cooled voice Porsches have had since time began. Only 1,500 Carrera GTs are scheduled for production, a bit over a third of those earmarked for the U.S. Get your $440,000 arranged quickly, because--as this most remarkable Porsche indeed does--they're going fast.Upper and lower control arms, coil springs, pushrod actuated dampers and anti-roll bar; upper and lower control arms, coil springs, pushrod actuated dampers and anti-roll barGet the newest car reviews, hottest auto news, and expert analysis of the latest trends delivered straight to your inbox!
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