This Porsche Carrera GT is Out of This World
From 2004 to 2007, Porsche produced the mid-engine sports vehicle known as the Carrera GT (Project Code 980). The Carrera GT was ranked first on Sports Car International’s list of the Top Sports Cars of the 2000s. The “Best of What’s New” award was given to it by Popular Science magazine in 2003 for its cutting-edge technology and advancement of its chassis.
The 911 GT1 and LMP1-98 racing cars served as the precursors of the Carrera GT. Both concepts had been abandoned, in part because of the 1998 FIA and ACO regulation amendments.
A new V10 engine was eventually added to the vehicle after it was originally planned to employ a turbocharged flat-six engine.
Due to Porsche’s desire to build the Cayenne SUV, which required engineering expertise to be pulled from the motorsports division, the project was shelved after two days of testing.
Development on a road-legal variant that would be produced in modest quantities began when Porsche decided to produce the car due to unexpected interest in the vehicle and an infusion of funds from the Cayenne.
A 1,500-car manufacturing run was initially anticipated. Porsche, however, said in 2005 that it will stop making the Carrera GT after 2006. The company cited a change in American airbag rules as the reason for the withdrawal. More than 1,270 automobiles had been sold by the time production ended in May 2006, with 644 of those sales occurring in the US, 31 in Canada, and 49 in the UK.
