Luxury Insider

The moment of truth, and when we turn the key, we are not disappointed. The engine bursts into life with a muffled explosion of sound as air and fuel molecules combust in all cylinders of the 5.7 liter V10.

We blip the throttle. Wap, wap! The revs rise and fall instantly, which is why we prefer a good, normally-aspirated motor to a forced-induction one anytime. As addictive as turbo power is, you simply cannot get such sharp throttle response when a big column of pressurized air has to be moved around the induction system each time you flex your right toe.

The upright cast-aluminum pedals are museum-quality pieces in themselves, and their bottom hinged organ pedal design is perfection in use. And here comes the first lesson in Carrera GT dynamics. To move the car off the line smoothly, you just have to select first gear and gently let the clutch in. Feed the throttle in first and you will leave the line jerkily or even stall embarrassingly.

With 612 bhp at 8,000 rpm and 590 Nm (435.5 lb ft) of torque peaking at 5,750 rpm, the 1380 kg (3040 lbs) GT blasts through the benchmark 100 km/h (62 mph) time in 3.9 sec, takes just 6.9 sec to reach 160 km/h (100 mph) from rest, and a further 3.0 seconds to pass 200 km/h (124 mph) on its way to its 330 km/h (205 mph) top speed.

The Carrera GT carves a big hole through the air since, like all supercars that see the far side of 320 km/h (200 mph), the big intakes that feed the radiators and brakes, and the aerodynamic aids that help to keep the Carrera GT from aviating also prevent it from being blessed with an ultra-slippery drag factor. A Cd (coefficient of drag) of 0.39 is the number Porsche quote, but unerring stability over 300 km/h (187 mph) is a serious issue.

When we first speed wrung the GT out on the 3.2 km (2 mile-) long main runway of a former Russian airbase in East Berlin back in 2003, our test car rocketed away from rest to a data logger indicated 318.4 km/h (198 mph). The car was still perceptibly accelerating when we passed the marker bollard indicating the safe braking distance to prevent us shooting off the end of the runway. On another run, 330 km/h (205 mph) was the indicated terminal speed.

Braking is something the Carrera GT does exceptionally well too. The 10 runs we did in each direction involved anchoring hard from around 320 km/h back to around 60 mph at the end in each direction, and the massive ceramic brakes proved up to the task. This was a brake test that no Italian supercar we know of could have come away from covered in glory.

In one respect, the GT reminds us of a modern jet fighter in being inherently slightly unstable so as to be as agile as possible, using electronics to reign in its excesses at the bald limit. Walter Rohrl was quick to praise the PSM (Porsche Stability Management) system and told us that the car is faster with it on, and that he always uses it on the Nurburgring where the sheer speed of this car leaves no margin for error. His seven minute, 32 second banzai lap here in an early Carrera GT on its standard Michelin street tires is indicative of the car's speed and handling prowess on the most demanding racetrack in the world.