Des Cullen’s showroom in Dublin has always been something of a haven for unusual supercars. Buried within the narrow streets of Rathmines, the specialist car dealership saw a Ferrari Enzo pass through its doors last-year and nestled amongst the Hyundai’s (it is also a Hyundai main dealer), you will always find a couple of Ferraris, Porsches and Aston Martins. So when the phone rings from that particular dealership it is always a call you want to take. So for one lucky customer, at admittedly a rather exclusive price, there was the offer of something rather unique, the €1 million Porsche Carrera GT.
We could spout out figures to you and that would only tell you half the story but it is certainly a good place to start. 612bhp, 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds,0-100mph in 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 205mph. This isn’t just a fancy version of the 911, or anything like that. This is a totally new car. There is a monocoque chassis that’s dressed in carbonfibre panels. It has an all-wishbone,pushrod suspension and a new midmounted V10 engine.
In fact, the only parts that you will find taken from the Porsche parts bin are the steering column and the instruments. What it does share with other Porsches is the fact that this car has actually been designed to be used. Admittedly, if you were to spend €1 million a Porsche you might not necessarily want to pop to Tesco in it, especially one that sits down this low and has so little boot-space, but this car has traction control and you can get it with climate control and satellite navigation. It looks incredible. It still has the Porsche genes very much in evidence, but with a limited run of 1500 cars it had to look like something special. The engine and chassis were designed by Porsche’s factory race, shop for a Le Mans entry that never happened. So it became a road car. We were brought for a short and rather interesting trip around Rathmines in the car, and Michael Cullen told us that the ceramic clutch needs a special technique which takes a little bit of time to master. The visibility forward is pretty good, but over the shoulder it is pretty tricky to reverse. The low nose makes negotiating speed-ramps very difficult.
Obviously, at the low speeds we were going were getting little but a hint at the performance. There is vast grip and awesome braking force in this car. You would, of course, need a closed road or, indeed a runway to gauge the potential of this car, but suffice to say that this thing is in a different league to what most people consider a supercar. A Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche 911 Turbo or Ferrari 360 would be chewed up and swallowed by this. In their recent comparison with the Ferrari Enzo, American magazine Road and Track said “The Porsche is just as lively as the Enzo when braking, steering through bends and reacting to load changes. And, of course, driven at speed the Porsche presents less of a challenge.
The Carrera GT sprints to 60 mph in 3.6 sec., while speed tops out at a factory-claimed 205 mph.” But after one brief lap of Rathmines, at little more than a 10% of the speed that the car is capable of, it was at least fun to see builders fall off ladders, children drop their ice-creams and wonder just how it would feel to pull up somewhere in this car. But it also just felt all too odd in Dublin. Surrounded by Dublin Buses and the like it just seemed a bit out of place, a little too surreal. Monaco, California or an autobahn, would I bet, seem all the more suitable.
INFO
Engine 5733cc 10-cyl, 612bhp, 590Nm torque
Length 4613mm Width 1921mm Height 1166mm Wheelbase 2730mm
Boot Capacity 500 litres
Acceleration 0-62mph 3.9secs
Top speed 205mph
Price € 1,000,000
Transmission: Six-speed manual, four-wheel drive
Economy 32.6mpg
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