The Porsche 924 Carrera GT Is An Underappreciated Sports Car
Story by: David Leger // Photography by: Franck Couvreur
Far from the very fashionable rear-engined Porsche 911 and 912, the mid-engined 914, Boxster, and Cayman, and even the other front-engined 928, 944, 968, and Panamera models, the small but strong 924 Carrera GT has a lot to say—if you look closely at the details.
To start, the Porsche 924 Carrera GT remains a rare pearl in the range, and colored black it is even more so compared to the red, and grey.
Porsche’s small production run of just 406 examples ensures that the first Carrera GT will remain a little-appreciated sports car for years to come. In this photo set, photographer Franck Couvreur and myself, a graphic designer, decided on an attempt to capture the rare and fascinating car, and say they both “fell for this one, well before starting to talk about the project.”
Far from its turbocharged cousins, the 924 Carrera GT is more than just a turbocharger. Porsche endowed the car with a much more capable chassis for racing and Group.4-style fender flares to cover its wider stance. Inside, however, the car retains all of the classic elements of the 924, including the austere speedometer, gearshift and instrument panel.
Power comes from a small 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine with 210 horsepower, and it’s the perfect combination for tackling Alpine roads as we searched for the ideal place to photograph the car.
It is in a loft in the south of France, at the foot of the Alps, that we ended up shooting this car at night, trying to discover it through some light painting, done in a subtle manner—with more than a little left to chance.
Like a discussion between a psychiatrist and patient, we tried to capture its best lines, in the hopes more people would appreciate its unique look. Beyond a few racing engagements, the least of which the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 924 Carrera GT captured only a few good results before descending into oblivion.
What a pity, when we’ve been able to experience the incredible balance of this car on the track and on the road. We can be assured that this car would have had the same success if the factory had wanted to develop it as it should have.
You can read more of David Leger’s work and see more of his photography at 69racingattitude.com.
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