One year ago to the day I rolled out of Porsche Centre Guildford in the UK not quite believing my good fortune. I was driving out of the showroom in a Carrera GT, and despite it being early December, the weather gods were kind. I don’t need to describe the thrill of driving a new car for the first time – we are all petrolheads after all – but I thought I would share my experience of the car in its first year. I hope you enjoy my recollections.

The short answer is simply this – the Carrrera GT rocks. It is like no other car I’ve driven – it’s a scalpel, a precision instrument and yet it generates such emotion when driving it. Whether it has been a B road blast, a V-max run on the autobahn or a lap of the Nürburgring, it has dynamically excelled.

But before I go over too far over the top with praise, let me recount some of my real word experiences with car.

First off, it is not a particularly hard car to drive. The clutch takes a bit of getting used to, but like most owners it did not take long to master the art of pulling away without stalling. And the extreme lack of any flywheel effect does mean that matching revs on gearchanges takes some practice. But after a pretty short while the whole drivetrain is a sheer delight – taught, precise and with a gearshift action like no other.

It is also very wide and very, very low, so route planning is important – on the odd occasion when I have been caught out unexpectedly by speed humps I have had to adopt the so-called “crab” technique, one hump at a time. And in between humps, I’ve had to let the queue of cars behind me past!

To demonstrate the width, here is the CGT side by side with a Boxster.



Driving with cold tyres is the biggest issue to be aware of. Until they are warmed up, grip is easily overcome and the first time the car tried to spin its wheels at 70mph on a dual carriageway in fourth gear on a cold February morning was a wake up call!

The reaction to the car has been universally positive. Quite a few people at petrol stations mistake it for a Ferrari, which given how beautiful many Ferraris are, I take as a compliment. I am now quite used on motorways to what I call the “supercar overtake”, whereby the overtaking car pulls alongside, pauses while various mobile phone cameras click away, and then carries on with a big thumbs up from the passengers! Not that I particularly court or enjoy too much attention when on the road, but I will take this sort of positive reaction over the negative sort any day of the week!

Reliability has been perfect. The car simply hasn’t missed a beat. Of course it has been looked after – I have checked tyre pressures and fluids religiously. Oil usage has been very light – less than 1 litre in 6,000 miles. And at its annual service the clutch wear was measured at around 20%, suggesting a 30,000 mile lifespan, which I think is extremely respectable for a car with over 600bhp.

In short, I think Porsche have achieved a minor miracle by building a supercar that feels so strong and robust, but then again this is Porsche’s USP.

In just over 6,000 miles of motoring there have been some real highlights. Although every drive is an experience, the best drives have been over in France and Germany, on deserted and well surfaced roads. Here the pace of the car is astonishing; the grip (particularly front end grip) is tremendous and it handles ridges and bumps in a way that no 911 could ever manage (and here speaks someone who truly loves his Mk2 996 GT3). At higher speeds, the positive benefit of the aerodynamic downforce can be felt.

In April 2007, I took the car to the Nürburgring for the Easter weekend. I did several laps, and was not surprised to find that it was truly stunning. I’ve driven around 500 laps of the Nürburgring, including about 10 races in the VLN endurance series in a 996/7 GT3 Cup car, but I was still intimidated by the sheer pace of the CGT between corners – a rapid recalibration of braking points was required! Walter Röhrl did much of the chassis development work at the Nürburgring, and it showed in the way in which this very stiff supercar rode the bumps and cambers with such aplomb. Suffice it to say that the car’s abilities far, far exceed mine, and I look forward to many happy hours exploring and learning the CGT at the Nürburgring.

Parked at the public entrance:



On track, rather gingerly , in the wet:





Whilst on this trip, I also took the car out for some road driving with a good friend of mine (who runs a 968 Club Sport). The German roads suit the car so well – wide and generally well surfaced – and thus the CGT’s performance could be exploited in safety. With the roof off we could also both enjoy the stupendous and melodious howl that emanates from the standard exhaust. Like children, we wound down the windows for tunnels just to hear the F1-like scream! We also took the car on the de-restricted section of the A1 Autobahn down to Bitburg, reaching an indicated 305 km/h before traffic required that I back off. It was here that I could really feel the benefit of the downforce generated by the car. Compared to my GT3, which I have also taken on this stretch of road, the CGT felt completely planted, and of course its acceleration above 125 mph was in a different league.

At Bedford Autodrome, I was able to push the car harder (the Nürburgring not being the place for limit handling!), and frankly it was all I could do to get near to the car’s limits. It was easier to hand the keys over to a good friend, a true master driver, who gave me a demonstration of just how adjustable the car is mid corner. He rotated the car on entry on the brakes, and managed the car through the corner on the throttle with small, corrective steering inputs. I am told that from the outside it was a sight to behold and a sound beyond compare. Inside I was just grinning inanely at my friend’s skill and the race car feel of the chassis. I have yet to try the car on slicks, but I know from a friend that it transforms the car to another level, and has to be experienced. Something for 2008!

In contrast to my normal desire to just drive the car, I took the car to the rather ill-fated PCGB Ragley Hall event in the late summer. It was my first visit to such an event, and although it was a disappointing day, it was great to talk about the CGT, and quite a few young lads enjoyed sitting in the driver’s seat!



So, one year in, my appreciation for the car has only increased. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to own one, and several of my friends have driven the car and I have taken great pleasure from how much they have enjoyed the experience. My philosophy is very much to drive the car and share the experience as much as possible. It may not have the sheer charisma of a McLaren F1 or Ferrari F40, but dynamically it is close to peerless and I shall savour every mile!

Kind regards

Steve

 

Great write-up. Good to see you're enjoying the car and putting it to its intended purpose!

 

Thank you for this message.


Samuel

 

wonderful real world write up...thanks stefan !

 

Steve
Great report, thanks for sharing

 

Stefan,

Thanks for your insight.

BBS

 

Stephan,

Wonderful prose!

It's great to read about how much you enjoy your car.

Drive it in good health!

 

Thanks for sharing your one year of proud ownership, great story!

 

A very pleasant read, thank you very much. One thing pops to mind - if Porsche made just 100 CGT´s, maybe it would be considered as special as a McLaren F1. Don´t be so hard on it.

 

Fantastic write up and what a great way to own such a car.

My experiences mimic yours through a very good friend's ownership of a Carrera GT!

Driving it and riding in it (at the track and on the street and on a road trip thru central Wisconsin, USA),
the car is unrivaled in it's excitement and visceral look and feel.

thanks for such a wonderful write up!

Marty K.

 

Trust me, I'm not being "hard" on the CGT - as you can tell from the above, I love it to bits.

However, I have been extremely fortunate to be driven in, and drive, a McLaren F1, and IMHO the McLaren is in another league for emotional impact. The engine is utterly epic and does shade the engine in the CGT in most ways - power, torque, sound and responsiveness. The BMW designed F1 engine is clearly one of the finest road car engines ever, ever made. The CGT's is merely () outstanding.

On the other hand, thanks in no small part to over a decade of technological advancements, the CGT is dynamically superior in many ways (better aero, chassis, handling, brakes etc).

But, still, the F1 has more charisma based on personal experiences. And as with everything, it is a very personal opinion that others may well disagree with!

Kind regards

Steve

 

Ok you have seat time on a Mclaren F1. What was that like?

Even with things like the Bugatti Varyon and other "super cars" that have come along since, the F1 still holds my greatest desire in an automobile.

IPSC

 

Great write up and pictures. 1. I agree that the clutch is a non issue, especially once you realize that the accelerator isn't required for 1st and R driveway maneuvers. 2. Having tracked the car with slicks, it would be great to hear from someone who has done so at the Ring. To this driver, the car feels a lot safer and a whole lot more fun. 3. Based on the comments of others, the sonic enjoyment is greater for those outside the car, less so for the driver. Best car I've driven.

 

I have driven one twice, thanks to a very generous friend.

The first time I drove it I was horribly intimidated, and whilst the experience was fantastic, I did not actually enioy the driving process. I struggled with the ultra light flywheel when changing gear, and the car, in standard form, had a fair bit of understeer, and on damp, British roads, it did not feel entirely keyed into the road surface. Candidly, I was embarrassed at what a fist I made of driving the car in front of my friend who probably expected better.

That same day, however, at a disused runway, I sat alongside a great driver who showed just what the car could do - from the off we were at max attack, and after several impressive and beautifully controlled slides, we went for a quick run. His gearchanges were lightening fast and the acceleration in a different league to anything I had experienced. It was almost violent. We reached 200 mph quicker than I could have imagined. The engine noise is utterly epic - sitting in the left passenger seat the intake roar is very, very loud! Braking was quite fun too, on the slightly broken and ridged surface!

The second time I drove the car was last year. Since then, some adjustments had been made to the handling, and after several years of driving high performance cars, I was more attuned to the gearbox action and clutch. My gearshifts were even half decent.

It was only a thirty minute drive, but it was the most memorable drive of 2007 - the car is ferociously quick in a straight line with a great deal more torque that the CGT. With no power steering or power brakes, everything is heavy, and yet at speed it feels so right. The driving position, in the centre, is perfection.

It is, when all is said and done, a uniquely evocative machine.

And, once the drive has finished, you drink in the engineering details which put even the fabulous CGT into the shade.

Like you, I consider the F1 to be the most inspirational car ever made. Sadly, prices are very firm and to get one would cost about the same as five CGTs!

Kind regards

Steve

 

In the US, the CGT is considerably faster in a straight line than a US-spec McLaren F1. Do the road tests show a non-US McLaren F1 faster than a CGT?