One hundred and ninety-three grand. That's what a 530-hp Porsche 911 GT2 costs.

In the case of the latest Porsche 911, the GT suffix stands for anything but Gran Turismo. Guaranteed Trauma is more like it, at least when the beast is not treated with due competence and caution.

In the case of the Porsche 911, that one second costs $36,500. That's what it takes to upgrade from a 911 Carrera 4S cabriolet (0 to 62 mph in 4.9 seconds) to the Turbo cabrio (0 to 62 mph in 4.0 seconds).

The stock 911 Turbo is, as you might imagine, already a ridiculously powerful machine with 480 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque.

The 2008 GT2 is the quickest and fastest Porsche 911 ever built, capable of 0-60 mph acceleration times under 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 204 mph.

The 911 GT2 comes with a twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter flat six that generates 530 horsepower, 50 hp more than the Turbo, with 505 pound-feet of torque available from just above idle to 4500 rpm, making it extremely flexible and willing in any of its six gears. It gets the extra 50 hp by using its two turbochargers with a very clever new intake system. While most other 911 models are offered with a choice of transmissions, the GT2 is manual only.

The current body and interior package of the 911 is known to enthusiasts as the 997, a longer, wider, lower and more flowing version of the previous 996 and its predecessor, the 993, which was the last 911 model to have round headlamps.

The Porsche 911 GT2 is one of the quickest, fastest, most nimble cars available today, with a 0-60 mph time of about 3.5 seconds, 0-100 mph in 7.4 seconds, and 0-125 in 11.2 seconds.

This car is so bloody quick, so easy to drive fast, the ride so well controlled and the chassis so forgiving that it took us only a few familiarization laps around the long sports car course at Daytona International Speedway and we were going 170 mph on the front and back straights before braking and downshifting, snick-snick, for the infield turns. Yet, on the street, it's a pussycat, behaving for the most part like regular 911 except for the thundering exhaust note.