The tail end of the year just keeps getting better for Porsche Carrera GT owners. Not only can they drive their cars again after the much-discussed stop-drive order came to an end, but it turns out that the new CGT-specific Michelin PS Cup 2 tyres offered up as part of the fix have had a fairly marked effect on its performance.
German magazine Sport Auto recently popped Porsche development driver Jörg Bergmeister behind the wheel of a lovely bright yellow Carrera GT and sent him off around the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife, 20 years after legendary rallysmith Walter Röhrl lapped the car when it was new.
Back then, Röhrl managed a time of 7min 28secs, but that was on the best tyres that 2004 could offer. That rubber was part of the reason the Carrera GT has gained such a reputation for being a bit spiky to drive.
As a measure of just how far tyre technology has come in the ensuing two decades, Bergmeister shaved over 15 seconds off that time, lapping the track in 7min 12.69secs. He also topped out at 188mph down the Döttinger Hohe straight towards the end of the lap.
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Porsche Carrera GT – rear
That time, for reference, is near-identical to the one managed by the far more modern, and arguably more track-focused, 991.2-generation Porsche 911 GT3.
Happily, Sport Auto has released a full onboard video of the lap, which is worth watching not for the impressive time, but to hear that glorious 5.7-litre V10 singing its song, and watching Bergmeister working away at the six-speed manual ’box.
Of course, this has also got us wondering what some other, older cars could do with some modern rubber. After all, the CGT’s successor, the 918 Spyder, is just clinging on to a spot in the top 10 fastest ’Ring laps, but that was a time set 11 years ago. Got anything in the works, Michelin?
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