The Porsche Carrera GT is an icon among its fanatics, but it’s little more than a death trap to its detractors. Or at least, it was before Porsche worked with Michelin to develop all-new rubber, bespoke for this application and its unique characteristics. The rubber on a downforce-heavy GT3 RS is probably sufficient for the 20-year-old supercar, but Porsche wasn’t going to cut any corners, and the juice has been worth the squeeze, as you’ll see at the bottom of this article.

With updated suspension and tires on the mid-engine supercar, the Carrera GT should be better equipped to deploy the 5.7-liter V10’s 605 naturally aspirated horsepower and 435 lb-ft of torque, and to prove that, German publication Sport Auto got former Porsche factory racing driver and current Porsche brand ambassador Jörg Bergmeister to do a lap of the infamous Nordschleife at the Nürburgring to see just how much quicker the car can go, and the result was astonishing: 7:12.69 – some 20 seconds faster than the car managed in 2004.

Porsche Spent More Than A Year Perfecting Its Two-Decade-Old Supercar

In April last year, Porsche Cars North America had to issue a recall for both the 2004 and 2005 model years of the Carrera GT due to an issue with the suspension. The recall said that “the spherical joints that connect the wishbone suspension components on the front and rear axles in the affected Carrera GT cars do not meet Porsche’s service life durability expectations.”

Over time, these could corrode and crack, and to avoid another problem in the future, Porsche spent a year developing new parts with stronger steel that included more chromium. According to Carrera GT owner and founder of Cars&Bids, Doug Demuro, the Carrera GTs would get some $109,000 worth of new parts. This includes the tires, which are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 measuring 265/35R19 in front and 335/30R20 at the rear. Without any further ado, here’s the full lap. Turn the volume up and enjoy.