Porsche Carrera GT
Car scale model kit in 1/24 scale manufactured by Tamiya (ref. TAM24275, also 4950344995349 and 24275)

The story of the Porsche Carrera GT begins in the early 1990s. Porsche had designed a 3.5-litre V10 engine for the Footwork Formula One team, but Footwork withdrew from the project, leaving Porsche with one engine, but no a car to ride. Despite this, Porsche engineers further developed the V10 with the idea of competing with it at Le Mans. However, at the end of the 90s, the Porsche board of directors decided to invest that money in the production of a 4x4 (the Cayenne) and thus the Le Mans project was scrapped. Once again, Porsche was left with a V10 that had years of development behind it, but no car to put it in.

The opportunity came in 2000, when Porsche presented the Carrera GT concept car at the Paris Motor Show. The interest was so great that Porsche decided to put the car into production. The V10 engine had finally found its vehicle, and the Carrera GT was built around the old V10. When production ceased in 2007, Porsche had produced 1.270 units of the Carrera GT, each of which was sold by pre-order before it was built.

Although the engine initially had a 3.5-litre displacement, during its development this V10 engine grew into a 5.7-litre masterpiece. It was a light engine to have 10 cylinders, with a weight of only 215 kg, which reached a maximum power of 612 CV at 8,000 rpm and with a torque of up to 591 Nm. This allowed the Carrera GT to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds and reach a speed of 332 km/h.

Another cutting-edge aspect of the Carrera GT was its chassis, and the first to have both the cockpit frame and subframe made of carbon fiber. The motor is bolted directly to the carbon frame and sucked dry to lower the centre of gravity. Fuel tanks are placed on either side of the engine to distribute weight evenly. In fact, the Carrera GT is very light, weighing just 1,250 kg, which is also achieved with other elements made of carbon, such as the seats or the roof.