Porsche slows down its GT project

German carmaker Porsche is expected to delay the release of its $1 million Carrera GT because its main test driver says it is too powerful for the average driver.

Former rally champion and Porsche test driver Walter Rohrl said the Porsche supercar is "the first car in my life that I drive and feel scared."

The Carrera GT will rival the $2 million Enzo Ferrari for the title of the world's fastest production car.

Rohrl, who has been testing the prototype Carrera GT for the past three years, said it is so powerful that it spins the rear wheels in each gear up to fifth.

He said he discovered the car's daunting performance in the wet at the Nurgburgring circuit.

"I came back into the pits and was white," he said. "I immedeiately said to the engineers that we need one button for the wet and one button for the dry" - referring to the need for a traction control switch.

The Carrera GT is powered by a 5.5-litre V10 engine from a stillborn Le Mans race project and is built from carbonfibre and aluminium to keep weight down.

The V10 engine, which drives the rear wheels via a six-speed gearbox, is said to rev to about 9000rpm, on the way producing about 430kW and 600Nm of torque - much of it from 2000rpm.

Rohrl said the car would not be released until Porsche was satisfied with every aspect of its output and design.

"That is one of the good things about projects like this," he said. "Everyone wants the best and we will do what it takes, as long as it takes, to build the best.

"The car will sell whenever we bring it out."

The GT broke cover as a study concept at the Paris motor show in 2000 and reaction was such that Porsche decided to go ahead with it.

Said chairman Dr Wendelin Wiedeking: "With the Carrera GT we want to do more than just demonstrate our technical competence in the sports car segment.

"This vehicle also mirrors the strength and self-confidence of the Porsche brand."

Porsche New Zealand expects to sell a couple of Carrera GTs to private collectors here. "We are not sure of the price yet," said general manager Grant Smith. "But whatever it is it will be a truckload of money."

At the Nurburgring, Rohrl tested the Carrera GT with several tyre combinations, including 20-in Michelins and equivalent Pirellis.

The Michelins were excellent on a dry surface but a handful in the wet. The Pirellis ate up the wet track, lapping 20 seconds quicker in such conditions than the Michelins.

The tyres Porsche eventually settles on will be rated to 400km/h - the Carrera GT has reportedly swept past 350km/h on Rohrl's hands.

It is expected to accelerate from zero to 100km/h in about 3.7 seconds. However Rohrl remains guarded about sprint times.

"We develop the car to be the best we can possibly build and then put a stop watch on it," he said.

"We don't come up with a time and say 'this is what we must achieve' because then you have a limit."

The fastest production car on record is the three-seater McLaren F1 which recorded 386.7km/h in 1999. But the F1 hasn't been in production for three years.

Porsche plans to limit Carrera GT production to 1000 units over three years, starting from June next year.

It will be built by hand alongside the Cayenne four-wheel-drive at the Porsche plant in Leipzig.

The Enzo will be limited to 349 models. It is named after the founder of the Prancing Horse marque and will arrive in the first half of next year. Production will begin in Italy in January.