Driving Icons: Porsche Carrera GT

Driving Icons: Porsche Carrera GT

The Porsche Carrera GT heralded the dawn of the first wave of modern hypercars after the McLaren F1 set the benchmark way back in 1992, and it is celebrated as an automotive icon to this day. But what is like to drive today?

The Carrera GT has found plenty of fans in recent years, with prices rising and a growing appreciation across social media, but it’s easy to forget that in its day the Carrera GT had a reputation for being unforgiving when pushed and tricky to drive around town.

The Carrera GT has a real racecar feel to it and no wonder. The 5.7 litre V10 was derived from an F1 engine, it was super-light with the pushrod suspension attached to new structural carbon fibre and the carbon-ceramic clutch plate was small, ultralight and expensive which made parking tricky and clutch replacement frequent. And it only came in manual.

Like an even better Ford GT.

Harry Metcalfe

The Carrera GT also gained a reputation for being hard to read on the limit on the then-standard Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, but weighing in at 1386 kg wet with 600 bhp and rear-wheel drive the tyres certainly had plenty of work to do.

A major service every four years at a cost of £20-25,000 at Porsche UK HQ in Reading didn’t do much to allay any ownership fears, nor did the £5,000 clutch replacement cost. Prices for a decent Carrera GT during the late noughties dropped into the £200,000 bracket…

The Carrera GT may have been misunderstood in its day, but would Harry own one today? Watch and find out

Scare stories evaporate when you get behind the wheel of one…

Harry Metcalfe

Magnitude Finance are proud sponsors of Harry’s Garage

Images courtesy of Youtube/ Harrys Garage/ The Hairpin Company. To view or buy the car featured in the video, visit their website.