- Porsche’s V-10 within the Carrera GT was initially constructed for a race automobile
- Only one instance of the race automobile, referred to as the LMP2000, was constructed
- Video footage of the LMP2000 and its loud V-10 have surfaced
Porsche in 2000 launched the Carrera GT with a naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V-10 that was distinctive to the automobile. Nonetheless, the engine wasn’t initially supposed for that function.
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 referred to as 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 12 months 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’s motorsports division just lately marked the automobile’s twenty fifth anniversary by taking it out on Porsche’s Weissach check observe.
As first noticed by The Drive, an Oct. 17 put up on X by person Davey Euwema exhibits the LMP2000 and provides us a style of its V-10 engine’s howl.
Right here we go then – the wonderful V10 howl of the Porsche 9R3 (LMP2000). pic.twitter.com/DxjRfk8zxb
— Davey Euwema (@daveye97) October 17, 2024
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 because of make its motorsports debut in 2000.
Nonetheless, Porsche with its restricted price range and employees assets on the time canceled the challenge to deal with growth of the primary Cayenne, a cash maker that will ultimately give Porsche the funds it wanted to launch the Carrera GT, utilizing a few of the elements developed for the LMP2000, together with after all 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 staff in 1991, however the automaker pulled out following a disastrous run that season. The V-10 was designed to exchange the chubby V-12 however Porsche was already out of F1 earlier than growth might be accomplished.
The V-10 would ultimately energy the Carrera GT, however it could take greater than a decade to take action.
