Week 3
On my way to the Barbican, around the corner from our flat, I got to see a car on the road that is very near and dear to my heart. For the first time, I saw a Porsche Carrera GT being driven on the street. The Porsche Carrera GT (CGT) is one of the most desired vehicles in today’s market due to its small production, naturally aspirated V10, manual transmission, no stability or traction control and celebrity history. No car today to can reproduce the same “Rawness” or Formula 1 like high revving V10 exhaust note as the CGT. In the early 2000s, Porsche was struggling as a car brand selling exclusively sports cars. During this time though, Porsche was developing a new V10 racecar, but the need for a vehicle to save the company was direly needed. Thus, development of the racecar stopped, and the Porsche Cayenne SUV was born. To not put the money and research from the racecar to waste, Porsche decided to build a track focused street legal car using some of the same technology including the naturally aspirated V10. At the time production was set to 1500 models with a Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $450,000 , but the final production ended after only 1270 units. At the time, the idea of spending half a million dollars on a car was unheard of unless it held a Ferrari badge. Thus, the CGT did not sell as well as Porsche had hoped. The demand and desire for the CGT would not come until 2013 when Fast and Furious actor Paul Walker died in the passenger seat with a professional driver behind the wheel. This car is very special to me because I have been and always will be a Paul Walker fan. Since I was little, I have loved the Fast and Furious franchise and before wanting to be an engineer, I dreamt of being a marine biologist specializing in sharks. Not many people know, but Paul Walker was a marine biologist before becoming an actor. I used to watch him on Discovery Channel helping the Ocearch team tag and document Great White sharks around the world. Senior year in high school, for my Advanced Art class final showcase, I painted a full 1:1 ratio of Paul Walker’s franchise car, the R34 Nissan Skyline GTR, can named the piece For Paul. So, seeing the Carrera GT in person really reminded me of my hero and why I love cars and want to be an engineer. One day, I hope to own a Carrera GT and park it next to my R34 Skyline GTR — for Paul.