During its seventy years as a manufacturer, Porsche has built three of what one might term production supercars, namely the 959, the Carrera GT and the 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid. With the first of the trio, Porsche was determined to demonstrate the breadth of its engineering and technological expertise. Thirty years later, the 918 Spyder had a comparable purpose, showcasing how Porsche could manufacture a gamechanging hypercar to compete with thoroughly modern output from old enemy, Ferrari, or upstart, McLaren. The aim of the Carrera GT was less clear.
For a start, the name was a puzzle: the Carrera GT was neither a Carrera in the 911 sense – it was mid-engined, after all — neither did it have the space for proper grand touring. And good luck trying to find parallels with the 924 Carrera GT. With a normally aspirated engine, albeit an exotic V10, plus manual transmission and no electronic assistance, the Carrera GT certainly didn’t present a technological showcase, carbon-fibre chassis notwithstanding.
Legend suggests the Carrera GT project was a consolation prize awarded to Porsche’s race engineers, who were dismayed and demotivated by the abrupt decision of then company CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, to pull Porsche out of the 24 Hours of Le Mans a mere seven months before the race in 2000. The Stuttgart concern’s motorsport department had been developing the LMP2000 (also known as the 9R3), a promising open prototype making use of a five-litre V10 based on the 3.5-litre engine developed in 1992 for Formula One as a replacement for the V12 adopted by the Footwork Arrows team. The LMP2000’s V10 was reliably producing 680bhp in extended track testing and was further developed for 5.5
