But the result works miraculously well in our opinion. The mere idea of the Mirage GT, of ‘fixing’ an object that is so obviously not broken, is outrageous in itself. Beloved by oil-rich sheikhs, Hollywood film stars and bling-obsessed rappers alike, Gemballa’s cars have always been outrageous – who remembers the 1980s Porsche 930 Turbo-based Avalanche, a car that screamed of the devil’s dust perhaps more than any other in the era of excess? The 1,000 hours it took Gemballa to finish each of the 25 Carrera GTs it transformed weren’t all devoted to frankly boring practical concerns, though. And the redesigned wheels and enlarged air intakes (including the scoop on the carbon-fibre roof panel) help to cool the brakes and engine respectively. The notoriously difficult clutch has been improved with special pads to facilitate judder-free stopping and starting. There’s a new adjustable suspension system which employs gas-filled dampers and, among other things, can be raised or lowered at the push of a button. Yes, believe it or not there’s method to this madness – this is not another clueless tuning company needlessly slicing up what is an undeniably beautiful supercar in a bid to garner popular YouTube vloggers’ precious minutes and shock people silly on Instagram. Need we remind you of any of the high-profile incidents involving Carrera GTs over the years? Have you ever wondered what the Porsche Carrera GT would have looked like had its maker taken it endurance racing? With its ground-scraping splitters, swollen air intakes and enormous active rear wing, Gemballa’s audacious take on the vivacious V10 supercar, christened the Mirage GT, paints the perfect picture.Ĭontrary to the car’s conspicuous appearance, the longstanding German tuning house – whose enigmatic founder Uwe Gemballa was murdered in South Africa in 2010 under shady circumstances – actually aimed to make Porsche’s noughties flagship a bit more user friendly.
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