Mat Watson drag races his ultimate dream car: Porsche Carrera GT vs Lexus LFA

I am so excited. I’m finally going to drive my dream car for the first time, and it’s in a drag race against another of my favourites. It’s the Porsche Carrera GT, a V10-powered, manual supercar from the early 2000s with one hell of a reputation.

And I’ll be taking on the Lexus LFA, which also took the world by storm in the early 2010s with its insane engineering and screaming 10-cylinder engine.

I can’t wait to tell you more about these two cars.

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Porsche Carrera GT: driving my dream car for the first time

Sitting in this Porsche, I feel like a kid at Christmas. The Porsche Carrera GT is widely coveted as the last properly analogue supercar ever made. It doesn’t have traction control or even stability control – only the skill of the driver keeps this thing on the straight and narrow.

And taming it is no easy task, because mounted in the middle is a 5.7-litre naturally-aspirated V10 engine putting out 612hp and 590Nm of torque, and this is all sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. That’s a lot of power in a car which only weighs 1,380kg.

My excitement to drive this car is paired with a degree of nervousness, because the Carrera GT has a notoriously tricky clutch which is easy to break if you launch it too hard, and fixing it is a £50,000 job.

When this car was new, back in 2005, it cost £330,000. That’s around £600,000 in today’s money, but it’s worth a lot more than that today. This car’s frightening reputation made them tricky to sell, and as a result they’re now rare and ultra-desirable. You’ll part with around £2 million for a Carrera GT in 2026.

Lexus LFA: the supercar which no one was ready for

To take on the Porsche, I’ve lined up another bonkers supercar with a tale to tell. In the 2000s, Lexus was known for making very comfy, reliable and luxurious cars which were the go-to for elderly golfers.

So when it revealed a supercar with a V10 engine developed by Yamaha, the world stopped and took note. The LFA was a stunning-looking thing with one of the best engine notes of all time, but it had a long and difficult birth.

The first concept came along in 2003, but right towards the end of development Lexus decided that it actually wanted to make the car from carbon fibre instead of aluminium, so it started again. The result was truly insane development costs, meaning Lexus lost a fortune on every LFA it sold.

It has a 4.8-litre naturally-aspirated V10 engine with 560hp and 480Nm of torque. This drives the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic gearbox, and the car weighs 1,480kg. Back in 2010 it cost £340,000, about £540,000 in today’s money, but it’s now worth £750,000.

So which of these cars will win? The Porsche has the power, and less weight, but the launch is all down to me and my left foot. I reckon it’ll be a close one.

Make sure you watch the video to see what happens, as well as see me stall a £2 million supercar while giggling like a school boy.

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