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Even driving the Carrera GT at more normal speeds
on public roads is a tremendous treat. All its controls are relatively
light and very positive, and have a synergy that only the best cars
of any type exhibit. And yet, despite its eagerness to change direction,
below the bald limit it never feels darty or nervous. This makes
the car very easy to drive on the road. The perfect honing of every
control movement creates a level of synergy where the controls become
an extension of the driver’s will. Rather than driving the
car, you begin to think it down the road and through the bends.
At low speeds, tractability is exemplary. In fact,
in the ultimate lugging test, the 5,733 cc V10 pulled smoothly from
1,000 rpm and really vigorously from 2,500 rpm. One gear from just
over 25 mph to 205 mph (40 to 330 km/h), now that’s impressive!
Use all the gears and all the revs however, and performance
is explosive. Walter told us that when the speed testing was carried
out at the Papenburg proving grounds in north Germany, he achieved
0-100 km/h (0 - 62 mph) in 3.9 sec, 0-160 km/h (0-100 mph) in 6.9
sec, 0-200 km/h (0-124 mph) in 9.9 sec, and the standing kilometer
in 20.0 sec dead.
The motor picks up instantly and you take second of
the six forward gears. The clutch is medium to heavy as you would
expect of a unit that has to pass 612 bhp at a screaming 8,000 rpm
and 590 Nm (435 lb-ft) of torque at 5,750 rpm. But it is oh-so-progressive
in operation and feels much lighter on the fly.
The soundtrack that accompanies the V10’s leap
for the red line in each gear redefines the description of the term
‘spine tingling’. It is an awesome and intoxicating
sound, but because of its lower volume and higher bass content,
it has none of the pain-inducing frequencies and volume that accompany
the scream of a nearby V10-powered Formula One racecar. The sound
of a sheet of silk being ripped by a rapier in slow motion, amplified
through a 1000-watt pro sound system behind your head, is a rough
approximation of what reaches your ears.
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