Porsche and Michelin Develop New Tire for Carrera GT
Production of the Porsche Carrera GT ceased nearly 20 years ago, but Porsche is continuing its efforts to make its millennial supercar even better.
Porsche announced Thursday that it has developed new tires for the Carrera GT in collaboration with Michelin. According to Porsche, the tire is a variant of the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 and incorporates recent technological developments to improve performance on both dry and wet pavement.
To make the new tire a better all-rounder than the previous Carrera GT's rubber, Michelin used two different rubber compounds. According to Michelin, the inner shoulder and tread blocks use a compound with a high silica content that favors grip in wet conditions. The outer shoulder and outer tread blocks use a compound with industrial soot that provides superior performance in dry conditions.
The tires were tested at the Nürburgring Nordschleife by former Porsche factory racing driver Jorg Bergmeister.
“The new tires not only make the Carrera GT faster, but also make it easier for the driver to steer the car with gusto,” Bergmeister said in a statement.
Porsche also claims that the stopping distance from 62 mph has been improved by up to 8 feet and the stopping distance from 124 mph is 39 feet shorter than before. This is significant for a car that, when new, boasted a 0-62 mph time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 205 mph. This was accomplished by a 5.7-liter V10 engine producing 605 hp and 435 lb-ft of torque to propel the 3,043-pound chassis.
Porsche produced only 1,270 cars from 2003 to 2006. Although it has been a long time since production ended, this is not the first time Porsche has commissioned new tires for the Carrera GT; in 2013, Porsche offered the newly developed Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires to replace the original Pilot Sport PS2 rubbers.
More recently, Porsche had to offer new tires to Carrera GT owners for another reason: as part of a fix for a suspension-related recall announced in April 2023, the automaker announced earlier this month that it would offer owners a set of tires at no cost.
