This car is the result of an accident. Or rather a number of headline-grabbing prangs and write-offs. Gemballa, a German tuning company, has taken Porsche’s fire-breathing Carrera GT supercar and set about taming it. That may sound strange; normally the job of a tuning company is to take a car and turn it up to 11. But in the case of the Carrera GT, Porsche had already done this — hence the number of Carrera GT drivers who ended up unintentionally remodelling the car’s bodywork.

One of those was Anthony Hamilton, Lewis’s father, who crashed into a playground last June, proving that his world champion son’s uncanny hand-to-eye co-ordination wasn’t inherited from him.

Gemballa’s aim was to make the Porsche more driver-friendly and less accident-prone. Why was the Carrera GT so difficult to drive? One reason was that it was the result of Porsche developing an engine for top-level motor sport, and then withdrawing at the 11th hour. Unwilling to throw away all that effort, Porsche installed the V10 in its new supercar, giving it the characteristics of a thoroughbred racing machine. Fine if you’re a grand prix winner, not so good if you’re Michael Winner.

And when drivers weren’t being thrown off the road like novice bronco riders, the car’s highly sensitive clutch was causing owners endless headaches. It had a tendency to explode like a Ming vase hitting the floor. And at £3,400 for a replacement, antique pottery would be cheaper to replace.

Uwe Gemballa is the man who set about improving the car, and the Mirage GT is his pride and joy. All told, 25 Mirage GTs are being built, in batches of five, and this Carbon Edition costs £266,000 on top of the £330,000 price tag of the original Carrera GT, which Porsche stopped making in 2006. Gemballa says the price is no deterrent: he has Carrera owners knocking at his door, begging him to help prevent their precious machines ending up in a picture gallery on www.wreckedexotics.com.

The first thing the company does is replace the clutch with a bulletproof racing number that can handle start-stop traffic as well as the power kicked out by the 5.7-litre V10. This, combined with modifications to the chassis, means the Mirage GT is as foolproof as a supercar can be, the company claims. So much so that at an airfield just outside Stuttgart a representative throws me the keys and tells me to go drive the wheels off it.

On the move, everything gels. The short-throw, six-speed manual gearbox is a joy to use, rather than a game of Russian roulette. Slotting first gear, I blast down the runway with no embarrassing stalling or learner-like bunny-hopping, and the monster of an engine, sounding like something from Formula One circa 2006, sends a hollow bark deep into my consciousness. Surrounding scenery flies backwards and the speedo climbs at an obscene rate.

It hits 62mph in 3.7sec, just a fraction faster than the base car, and has been tested to 208mph. Gemballa couldn’t resist fiddling with the engine with the result that his version boasts 670bhp — 58bhp more than the standard car — thanks to a new air intake, exhaust and reprogrammed management system.

Flicking the original Carrera GT side to side on the airfield test track at well beyond 100mph would have been like putting the Grim Reaper on speed dial. But Gemballa’s Mirage GT Carbon Edition dances like Michael Flatley. In corners, it rolls gently, its adjustable suspension proving more forgiving and curbing the tail’s scorpion-like sting. All in all, pushing the car to its outrageous limits becomes easier.

There are other improvements. The suspension comes with hydraulics that can lift the car 2in to step gently over a sleeping policeman or slide into an oligarch’s underground garage without the expensive noise of grating carbon fibre for company.

Gemballa has worked on the exterior of the car to give it a new profile. Critics of the Carrera said the front and back looked like they were designed in different rooms by designers no longer on speaking terms. Now, with a sloping, removable hard top (complete with a non-functioning air scoop that may be used for a future, 1000bhp version) and a new engine cover, the lines flow gracefully towards the rear. The sculpted nose, side skirts, rear spoiler and diffuser all serve to mark this car apart from the standard model, giving it a touch of menace that was previously missing.

Gemballa’s styling work is not only concerned with the car’s appearance. The carbon-fibre add-ons are light and strong, with aerodynamics based on a spell in Stuttgart University’s wind tunnel. More downforce has been added to the axles.