Watch a Porsche Carrera GT Hit the Nurburgring for the First Time
It’s always nice to see a rare supercar stretching its legs on track, just the way its creators intended.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a rare beast; one of those limited-production models that too often end up tucked away in a garage as an investment-grade car. However, one driver wasn't afraid to take their rare Porsche for a hot lap around the Nürburgring on a public drive day, and YouTuber Misha Charoudin was lucky enough to ride along.
Only 1,270 Carrera GT examples were built from 2003 to 2007. The mid-engined Targa roadster sports a 5.7-liter V10 that roars like nothing else, and reportedly costs $190,000 to replace. The naturally aspirated engine sends 603 horsepower to the rear wheels through a manual transmission. It hails from the last class of old-fashioned analog supercars, before dual-clutch transmissions and buckets of stability control systems became the order of the day.
The car in question is just the 64th Carrera GT built, manufactured by Porsche in 2003. It features a beechwood gear knob sitting proudly in the middle of the dash, a throwback reference to the Porsche 917 Le Mans racers of the 1970s.
Taking such a rare vehicle out on the Nürburgring is certainly a bold move. The circuit is considered one of the more challenging drives in the world. Furthermore, it's open to the public as a one-way toll road, providing plenty of traffic to contend with at speed. Amusingly, as the owner pulls onto the circuit with Misha in tow, he notes that he's never taken the Porsche out on track before, either, despite owning it for 5 years.
Out on track, the V10 engine sings through its aftermarket GMG Racing exhaust as it climbs up towards 8,000 rpm. It's a unique timbre, one with a throaty rumble lower in the rev range that gives way to a high shriek on blipped downshifts.
Naturally, the owner doesn't attack the track at full strength, which would be ill-advised on a public drive day anyway. A couple of underbody scrapes happen, too, over some of the lumpier parts of the track. There are also a few wiggles and twitches that suggest the car's tires weren't quite at their peak grip levels during the lap.
Regardless, the drive looks like an absolute blast. The Carrera GT looks like it shifts like a dream, and dancing it around the high-speed sweepers at over 200 km/h has to be a singular delight. Acceleration is in no short supply, either, with the V10 absolutely flinging through the rev range when pushed.
Recreating this adventure yourself will come at a hefty fee. Prices are in the vicinity of $2 million for a Carrera GT, though sometimes a bargain comes up, like a car owned by a lowly F1 World Champion for under $900,000. Then you'll need flights, accommodation, and the luck of the racing gods to keep overconfident Instagrammers from crashing into you in their overboosted Volkswagen Polo GTIs.
However, to hear that V10 wail around the Nordschleife? It might just be worth it.
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