New tires have been designed for the Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche, together with its long-standing partner, Michelin, has developed new tires for the Carrera GT supercar, which was produced from 2003 to 2006. A total of 1,270 units were produced, and the new tires, introduced almost 20 years after the end of production of the famous Porsche model, were made using the latest technologies, which should improve the characteristics of the sports car on both wet and dry roads. As previously reported by the media, all owners of the Carrera GT will have their tires replaced for free.
The new Michelin has already been tested by test pilot and Porsche brand ambassador Jörg Bergmeister, who stated that "the Carrera GT is a real dream car, and I'm very happy that the new tires have taken its performance to a whole new level".
At the time of its premiere in 2003, the Carrera GT was one of the fastest production cars in the world, equipped with a naturally aspirated V10, initially developed for the "24 Hours of Le Mans" and featuring a displacement increased from 5.5 to 5.7 liters.
The power is 612 horsepower, acceleration to 100 km/h takes 3.9 seconds, and the Carrera GT was initially equipped with Michelin tires, custom-made for Porsche. Initially, Michelin Pilot Sport S2 tires were supplied, then in 2013, Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires became available, and now they are being replaced by Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 with the N marking reserved for the German automaker (the first version of the new tires is marked N0).
"Developing new tires for a car that has not been produced for 20 years is very unusual," noted Bergmeister. "It confirms that the Carrera GT and its owners are still just as important to Porsche".
In the process of developing the tires, in which Bergmeister participated, the goal was to improve the dynamic properties of the supercar and increase safety in any weather conditions, and to accomplish this, a dual-compound tread structure (bi-compound technology) was used. According to Mathieu Gregoire, a development engineer from Michelin responsible for creating tires for Porsche, "when manufacturing the inner zone of the tread, a rubber compound with a silicate content is used, which improves grip on wet surfaces, while the composition of the outer section is designed to improve performance on dry roads, and here one of the most important ingredients is technocarbon".
The tires also feature a modified contact patch, optimized after handling tests conducted, among other things, on the legendary Nürburgring North Loop. "I'm impressed by how much the engineers were able to improve the feedback on the verge of slipping. Now you can feel much more clearly when the tire starts to lose grip," Bergmeister said, adding that "the new tires not only make the Carrera GT faster, they also make it easier to handle at high speeds. This shows that tire technology is constantly evolving. One of the platforms for developing tires is motorsport, and new technologies will eventually".
Porsche notes that the tires not only improve handling at the limit of grip but also reduce the braking distance during emergency stops. According to the manufacturer, the braking distance from 100 km/h is 2.5 meters shorter, and from 200 km/h - 12 meters.
"Tires developed specifically for a particular car will always be the preferred choice, including in terms of safety," Bergmeister concluded.
The new tires were created jointly by Michelin, the Porsche Classic department, and the automaker's development center in Weissach (Germany). The tires are available for order at all Porsche dealerships.
Tires for cars that have long been out of production are also offered, for example, by Pirelli, which recently presented tires for the Ferrari GTO, whose production was stopped almost 40 years ago.