- Porsche’s V-10 within the Carrera GT was initially constructed for a race automobile
- Only one instance of the race automobile, often called the LMP2000, was constructed
- Video footage of the LMP2000 and its loud V-10 has been launched by Porsche
Porsche in 2000 launched the Carrera GT with a naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V-10 that was distinctive to the automobile. Nevertheless, the engine wasn’t initially meant for that objective.
As a substitute, it was initially developed for a Le Mans sports activities prototype race automobile that was canceled earlier than its first competitors. The automobile was often called the LMP2000, or 9R3 because it was referred to internally, and Porsche did not even point out the automobile publicly till years later.
Solely the one instance was ever constructed, a yr earlier than the Carrera GT made its debut on the world stage on the 2000 Paris auto present. It at the moment sits within the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, and Porsche not too long ago marked the automobile’s twenty fifth anniversary by taking it out on the company-owned Weissach check monitor.
The automaker even invited one of many automobile’s unique check drivers, Alan McNish, for the event.
Porsche within the late Nineties was already efficiently competing in top-level endurance racing, together with within the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the 911 GT1 and LMP1-98 race vehicles. The LMP2000 was developed because the successor to these vehicles, and was resulting from make its motorsports debut in 2000.
Nevertheless, Porsche with its restricted price range and workers assets on the time canceled the mission to give attention to improvement of the primary Cayenne, a cash maker that will finally give Porsche the funds it wanted to launch the Carrera GT, utilizing among the components developed for the LMP2000, together with in fact the V-10.
The V-10 was derived from an earlier design displacing simply 3.5 liters, which Porsche had designed for Formulation 1 within the early Nineties however by no means used. Porsche was supplying a V-12 to the Footwork Arrows F1 group in 1991, however the automaker pulled out following a disastrous run that season. The V-10 was designed to switch the chubby V-12 however Porsche was already out of F1 earlier than improvement might be accomplished.
The V-10 would finally energy the Carrera GT, however it might take greater than a decade to take action.
