Cars - Porsche Carrera GT

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	Cars - Porsche Carrera GT

The Porsche Carrera GT is a sports car, regarded as a "supercar", manufactured by Porsche of Germany.

History

Porsche began developing the car in 2000 as a successor to the 911 GT1 car they had discontinued in late 1998, but the project was abandoned. Porsche maintained that the vehicle was dropped because of FIA rule changes, although speculation has indicated that Porsche discontinued development at the behest of VW/Audi chairman Ferdinand Piëch; Piëch was reportedly concerned over the prospect of a Porsche vehicle competing against the Audi R8 race car, which had just been introduced. As a member of the Porsche family, Piëch holds a seat on the company's board of directors and owns a percentage of the firm, so his influence could be exacted from inside. In addition, Porsche needed to free up capital and manpower for development work on the Cayenne, and dropping development of the race car made it possible.

Porsche did however produce one unit, and showed it at the 2000 Geneva Motor Show, mainly in an attempt to draw attention to their display. Surprising interest in the vehicle and an influx of revenue being provided by the Cayenne helped Porsche decide to make use of the car, and development started on a road-legal version that would be produced in small numbers at Porsche's new manufacturing facility in Leipzig. Porsche started a production run of Carrera GTs in 2004, shipping the units with an MSRP of $440,000 USD. Originally, a production run of 1,500 cars was slated, But Porsche announced in August, 2005 that it would not continue production of the Carrera GT into 2006, reducing the total production estimate to 1,250 units. 340 Carrera GTs were sold in the United States in 2005.

Design

The Carrera GT is powered by an all-new 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 605 SAE horsepower (451 kW). Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 332 km/h (204 mph), although road tests indicated that in actuality the car could accelerate from 0-60 in under 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 335-340km/h. The Carrera GT has a basic 5 colour paint schemes which include: Black, Guards Red, Fayence Yellow, Basalt Black, GT Silver and Seal Grey. A six-speed manual transmission is the only available transmission, in contrast to its rival the Ferrari Enzo which is only offered with sequential manual transmission. With the Ferrari Enzo priced around $660,000, the Carrera GT (in/or around €449,000) makes the dream of a piece of Le Mans inspired technology possible, albeit with a large bank account. The Carrera GT is currently priced as $559,000 in Canadian dollars.

The Carrera GT has large side inlets and airdams that help cool the large V-10 that lies framed by the carbon fibre rear hood. Fitted with Porsche's latest racing brake system, the 15 inch ceramic pad brakes make a stunning appearance underneath the 19 inch front and 20 inch rear tires. Similar to other Porsche Models, the GT includes an automated rear wing spoiler which deploys in the higher ranges of speed (circa 60 mph to 70 mph).

Technology

Technology of note includes a pure carbon fibre monocoque and subframe, dry-sump lubrication and inboard suspension. The main innovation on this vehicle however is the use of a ceramic clutch. This is the first appearance of this race car technology in a road car. The clutch although difficult to master allows the engine to sit lower in the chassis than in any other super car, both improving its aerodynamics and lowering its centre of gravity.

Despite a seemingly difficult clutch, Porsche incorporated computer management of the clutch when the car is on an incline. Drivers are able to lift completely off the clutch and not stall the car.

Unlike its rivals the Carrera GT eschews cutting edge driving aids such as dynamic stability control. Instead Porsche engineers have placed their faith in a communicative chassis and the ability of the driver.

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Cars - Porsche Carrera GT

History

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