The Porsche Carrera GT is one of the automotive world’s icons. Back when Porsche introduced it, the supercar was met with a lot of affection by car nuts because, well, it was an engineering marvel and it was a Porsche, but at the same time, it also came after the first-generation Cayenne, which at the time, did extremely well to upset every Porschephile out there.

A select few have had a chance to drive the Porsche Carrera GT and even fewer got to own one. In the U.S., a Carrera GT sold for $448,400, as per Car and Driver. These days, you’ll need to shell out north of $1 million to get one at auction.

Race-inspired engine and transmission, and so much more

Porsche debuted the production-ready Carrera GT in 2003, after previously showing the concept car during a private event at the Louvre, just before the 2000 Paris Motor Show kicked off. We did a little digging and found the original presentation video. You’re welcome.

The engine screamed its way to the 8,400-rpm redline under the close supervision of a six-speed manual transmission with a beechwood gear knob for the shifter - a nod back to the legendary Porsche 917 race car. The gearbox alone was a chef d’oeuvre: it used a carbon-ceramic-composite clutch to shove all the power to the rear wheels through a traction control setup that was there because the engine’s grunt would have been too much to handle for the tires.

Porsche Carrera GT specifications

Porsche developed the Carrera GT around a carbon-fiber monocoque and subframe that gave it strength and lightness at the same time. The center-lock wheels were magnesium-alloy and used eight-piston calipers in the front and four-piston calipers in the rear, which bit into carbon-ceramic discs - at that time, the largest ever to be found on a production model.

Obviously, performance was a prerequisite, but so was the car’s unforgiving character, ready to bite your head off for any mistake. The GT could blast from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds - for the sake of comparison, the Ferrari Enzo did it in 3.3 seconds - and clear the quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds at 130 miles per hour - the Enzo also needed 11.2 seconds, but at 136 miles per hour.

What’s more, with Walter Röhrl behind the wheel, the Porsche Carrera GT ran a full Nürburgring Nordschleife lap in 7 minutes and 28 seconds. And as much as we’d love to keep talking about it, we believe Mr. Metcalfe is a way better narrator. So do check out the video below. Those are 30 minutes well spent.