What a spot !! Having not been to London for a few weeks over the Christmas holidays my first trip back did not disappoint. Usual journey down gave a few standard Ferraris and Porsches but going into the centre of London I spotted a Porsche Carrera GT just parked up on the side of the road. I say “the side of the road” but to be honest it was very nice part of town where houses certainly do not come cheap so I guess having a £200K car just left outside could be deemed to be a little bit more normal ?

Anyway, what a car ! I’ve seen a few on the roads over the years and every time I conclude it is the road car I’d buy if I ever came properly into some money.

There were 1,270 Carrera GT’s built of which basically 50% were sold in the USA, so with 600 left for the rest of the world it remains a rare treat to spot one. It’s also an interesting car due to its history and if you like, its reason for birth…. the story is that Porsche was building a new sportscar for Le Mans (see photo below) :

It then got just 2 days of testing (and one caught here !) before the project got cancelled with stories of both needed engineers to focus on their new off-roader (the Cayenne !) and that as Porsche wanted help from VW / Audi for the Cayenne it was suggested Ferdinand Piech didn’t want to compete against its Audi R8.

This engine then made it into a concept car at the Geneva Motor show where strong consumer interest in the car lead to Porsche building the Carrera GT.

So, in a strange way we have to thank both Audi & the Cayenne for giving us the Carrera GT !!

You may be interested in this book about the Carrera GT

or reading more about the Porsche LMP1 on Mulsannes Corner

Interested in going driving with Porsche at their facilities ? Well now you can thanks to their new Porsche Driving Experience Centre at Silverstone GB.

Right at the edge of Silverstone it offers loads for the driving enthusiast with areas for :

• Handling Circuit
• Kick Plate
• Ice hill
• Low Friction
• and Off Road

Sessions are £275 (or £400 for the GT course !!) and whilst this clearly isn’t cheap looks like great value and certainly an experience to enjoy !

See key elements of the track in use here and watch a video from Car Magazine of a Carrera Cup race car driving the circuit below :

And if you can’t quite afford that, why not treat yourself to a shiny new Porsche book from the CKnet book store.

Wow ! How beautiful is this, and all made in CG !!!

Massive credit to the boys at C4Real for a truely amazing piece of animation of the Porsche 911.