Porsche Carrera GT

Saw a Porsche Carerra GT this morning passing through my local rich neighborhood. Wow! NEver saw one in the wild before.

They really are good looking in person. When they first came out the Porsche dealership in Bellingham, WA had one and my buddies and I went to go see it. They showed us the whole car in and out even though there was obviously no way all of us combined could afford it. That was very cool, and I'll never forget it.

Fun fact: The center-lock wheels are right and left handed threads so the nuts on the left (red) are a different color than on the right (blue).

There was one at a track day last summer at Mosport. Beautiful car.

That's from my cell phone last Summer...

It may or may not belong to an Indycar driver...

They sound AMAZING. Unfortunately, the owner contained within can sometimes be a toolbag. Case in point, guy drives Carerra GT to the local Cars and Coffee. Proceeds to get out and be all "I'm better than you" about it to all the gawking flatbillers. Then- he can't even open the damn hood on the thing himself, completely has no clue how to do it. More money than brains as they say.....

I've seen one run in he wild at the glen. They sound great, look great but the guy driving it was obviously either intimidated or regretting the payments. It was moving very cautiously... giving the Ferrari and Mini equal opportunities for glory photos

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I've seen one run in he wild at the glen. They sound great, look great but the guy driving it was obviously either intimidated or regretting the payments. It was moving very cautiously... giving the Ferrari and Mini equal opportunities for glory photos

There was a guy with a silver one at an Audi club track day at Road Atlanta. Guy was taking it super easy. But every super car I have seen at the track was like that. There was an LFA at a NASA event I saw that was putting around the track. That is kinda to be expected.

Only seen one or two in the wild myself and they are a sight to behold. Not sure I would have the stones to drive one on track in anger even if I could afford it. That's a lose /lose if you ask me; If you can drive it fast you get accused of not being a fast driver but, just have a fast car. If you can't drive it fast you get accused of not "deserving" such a fast car.

In reply to LopRacer: You could be driving the balls off it, passing everyone and you'd still be told "well you only had a fast car". Rumor mill from my friends in the PCA claim its almost as sketchy at the limit as a 930T.

They sound so, so good when up in the rev band. If I owned one, I'd never take it out of first gear around town.

I have seen one blasting down the 101 in the San Fernando Valley followed by various Lambos and Porsches (must have been going to some show / meet).

Saw a Skyline do a full throttle acceleration onto the 405, that lasted about 1.5 seconds.

I am pretty sure I have only seen one Ford GT in the wild. No one seems to drive those. I am sure they are all well tucked into garages somewhere.

Saw a couple Ferraris, a Maser, more S5s than I could count and some kind of new exotic looking think I couldn't pick out from the rear 3/4 passing at 40mph - Fisker maybe? - while I was in Chicago for a few days recently. The most exotic thing I see in my neighborhood is the Geo Metro convertible that lives a few blocks away.

LopRacer wrote: Only seen one or two in the wild myself and they are a sight to behold. Not sure I would have the stones to drive one on track in anger even if I could afford it. That's a lose /lose if you ask me; If you can drive it fast you get accused of not being a fast driver but, just have a fast car. If you can't drive it fast you get accused of not "deserving" such a fast car.

Same problem Elise owners have, but on a larger scale.

Saw a GT at Motorsport Ranch years ago. Wasn't being driven (the owner was probably driving a Spec Miata or something), but it sure wasn't locked in a climate controlled garage so I give thumbs up.

I remember way back in 2005(?), my dad was looking at a used Porsche 911 Turbo and the salesman had a Porsche Carerra GT in the showroom and he actually allowed us to sit in it! He was going to start it up as well but the battery was flat. And a little picture of a timid Carrera GT driver: http://www.onehotlap.com/2013/03/this-is-why-you-need-to-invest-in-driver.html

In reply to aircooled:

There's a guy in Muncie, IN that drove his ford gt daily through the winter.....I lol'd.

Only seen one once so far - it belongs to Ralph Lauren, who has a ranch about 10 miles from my town. He keeps a few of his "modern" cars up here to drive occasionally when he's in the area - like two McLaren F1s and a Veyron. The Carrera GT was parked at the local supermarket - his ranch foreman was giving it some exercise.

Must be tough.

I've never seen one. There's a movie where the crazy mad engineer guy who offs his wife drives one and it sounds good. The good guy DA drives an E9. Decent movie, but the sound of the CGT is the best part.

I've seen a handful of Ford GTs out and about. I used to see one fairly regularly when I lived in AL. Up here in MN, at least the places I go, I don't see anything worth talking about.

Javelin wrote: They really are good looking in person. When they first came out the Porsche dealership in Bellingham, WA had one and my buddies and I went to go see it. They showed us the whole car in and out even though there was obviously no way all of us combined could afford it. That was very cool, and I'll never forget it. Fun fact: The center-lock wheels are right and left handed threads so the nuts on the left (red) are a different color than on the right (blue).

Javelin, Wow I never though I would ever see my home town referenced on this site!

aircooled wrote: I am pretty sure I have only seen one Ford GT in the wild. No one seems to drive those. I am sure they are all well tucked into garages somewhere.

There is a black and silver Ford GT running around Huntsville that I see kinda often during the summer.

I have seen two Porsche Carrera GTs. One was at a Lamborghini/ Bentley dealership. The other was at a Panera.

This was run at an unsanctioned 1 mile LSR out in the everglades I was running my Firebird at a couple years ago.

aircooled wrote: I have seen one blasting down the 101 in the San Fernando Valley followed by various Lambos and Porsches (must have been going to some show / meet). Saw a Skyline do a full throttle acceleration onto the 405, that lasted about 1.5 seconds. I am pretty sure I have only seen one Ford GT in the wild. No one seems to drive those. I am sure they are all well tucked into garages somewhere.

The beauty of living in SoCal Love spotting the CGT out and about, such a gorgeous car. I've even seen a few Ford GTs in the wild, even once in the backroads of Ventura.

Any decent time on the 101 and 405 and you see at least one Ferrari or Lambo. And let's not forget PCH for carspotting.

I work on the same street as BMW Design in Newbury Park, next door to it is a private museum for Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters fame. Plenty of eyecandy driving by or being flatbedded or trailered up and down the street, Veyron was parked out front of BMW one day, old Ferrari spotted driving toward the fwy, vintage Skyline spotted a few times, there was a Rolls being delivered a week or two ago, even a Qvale Mangusta spotting (last time I saw that car was many years ago in Ventura)

DuctTape&Bondo wrote: ...I work on the same street as BMW Design in Newbury Park, next door to it is a private museum for Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters fame...

Weird dude! I am very aware of those. I am literally walking distance from there right now! (In a certain large collection of buildings near by)

Apparently Richard is a super nice guy, and if you catch him at the right time he will show you around. It's that building on the corner, right?

Yes, you do see some interesting cars around here. There is someone where I work that regularly drives a bright yellow Europa to work! I have even followed a Noble M400 on my way home a few times! (I just looked up what that is... zowie!)

Hey, if you have any urge to AutoX. The Corvair club I belong to tries to do two AutoX's a year down in Camarillo. You get a pretty interesting selection of cars there sometimes (Cobras, pro touring guys etc). Send me an IM if you are interested and I can send you a flyer when they come up (normally May / September, but I haven't heard what is going on this year yet).

Keith Tanner wrote: Same problem Elise owners have, but on a larger scale.

Really? I mean, the Elise is a really good car, but it is still a momentum car. It doesn't have gobs of power, AWD, or trick electronics to compensate for not knowing how to drive.

Z06, Evo, or GT-R are cars I might accuse someone of it being the car and not them. Maybe if they are driving a supercharged Exige.

Maybe it's just my experience locally, but it seems that if an Elise isn't being driven to 110% then everyone is disappointed. The owner's just not trying, and obviously owns the car for show instead of performance.

Or so the perception goes.

aircooled wrote: I have seen one blasting down the 101 in the San Fernando Valley followed by various Lambos and Porsches (must have been going to some show / meet). Saw a Skyline do a full throttle acceleration onto the 405, that lasted about 1.5 seconds. I am pretty sure I have only seen one Ford GT in the wild. No one seems to drive those. I am sure they are all well tucked into garages somewhere.

A former coworker of my wife bought a Ford GT and ended up loving to drive it so much that he bought another one exactly like it so that he could have a driver and a super low miles collector. He really liked the car.
Yesterday a guy auto crossed his 72 (I think somebody said 72) Pantera with us in Houston. It was suuuuuper awesome.