The Carrera name has been applied to a number of cars built by Porsche over the years, beginning with the 356 in the early days of the company and continuing to its modern offerings.

Carrera literally means 'race' in Spanish and the name is given to Porsche models in order to mark various victories that Porsche has had in a Mexican road race known as Carrera Panamericana.

While there have been plenty of Porsche Carrera models which were derived from existing cars like the 911 and the 924, there is only one version which bore the name outright; the Carrera GT.

The Carrera GT started life as a concept car and was in part derived from the various racing vehicles which the company produced in order to take part in the Le Mans 24 hour race during the late 1990s.

It had a relatively difficult development cycle, if only because it resulted from a number of cancelled projects and canned initiatives before it was eventually launched in 2004.

With a 5.7 litre V10 engine capable of developing 604bhp, it was actually more powerful than the original concept on which it was based.

A maximum speed rating of 205 miles per hour is cited in the official Porsche documentation and the Carrera GT can reach 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds. However, its performance ratings on paper have actually been exceeded in real world road tests, which perhaps suggests that Porsche was underestimating, rather than overestimating, its capabilities.

The wheels are an inch larger at the rear than they are at the front and carbon ceramic disc brakes give the Carrera GT all the stopping power it needs to keep its speed under durable control.

A rear mounted spoiler which only protrudes when the 70mph mark is crossed is a nice touch, albeit one which indicates that UK speed laws have been breached if seen on public roads.

Close to 1300 Porsche Carrera GTs were built in its three year production run and it remains one of the most prestigious supercars around, not only in terms of its performance but also the technology which went into it.