918 Drive , Leipzig
Discussion
I was lucky enough to drive the 918 last week .
Let me get the boring stuff out of the way quickly .
I have recently driven the 918 around Leipzig . Heres the not very interesting stuff .( inhales )
Paul ( my main man from Porsche Guildford ) and I arrived leipzig had drinks went to bed ( not together you perverts) and went to the factory where we were introduced to Guido ( our instructor ) and our BEAUTIFUL guide for the day we drove 991turbo s it was faced we had impromptu race in 2 cars which was unexpected then i had a coffee , a biscuit ( or 7) and a wee ( and exhale ).
Then they opened the Garage doors and I saw 2 very nearly production quality Porsche 918s . They were gorgeous and jewel like , one a weissach pack car and the silver one a road spec car . I walked around it just drinking in its beauty . To me the best looking of the 3 e supercars ( by far ) it looks even better than I remembered but we are here to drive them not look .
First its Guidos turn .
The first thing you notice is the beauty of the interior . The fit and finish , quality of fitments and (potentially) game changing infotainment system . The system id based on 2 screens . The controls are basically like an i pad . You have all the scroll , pinch , stretch etc functions and combined with the burmester sound and enhanced html5 smart phone compatibility , make for a formidable display of electronic power from Porsche . Yes this is a supercar but believe me stuck on the autoroutes in Belgium on the way to spa , you will really love this stuff .
After talking me through stuff ( trying to listen but failing terribly , hypnotised by the cars beauty , quality and almost paralyzed by excitement ) I don't really hear much of it . I do pick up the fact that the car will be supported as battery tech improves so the cars cells can be upgraded ( more power less weight anyone ?) , 9 year warranty , quality of build , design integrity etc etc
We pull away in purely electric mode , its completely silent . All you can hear are the tyres rolling . He throws the car at the first couple of corners ( still silent) and I am amazed at how nimble , direct and low the car feels . We are still in electric mode and talking while doing over 100kph in eerie silence . We discuss the integration of the systems and how shocked I will be at the performance when with a bellow the sweet ,sweet , sweet normally aspirated engine explodes into life . As Guido floors it my head is bumped unceremoniously into the headrests as the sheer fury of the acceleration literally almost takes my breath away .
We approach another corner fast , I begin to think “too fast” . In the Turbo S we had already braked by now , the 918 needs no such thing and verily dives into the corner . No drama , no problems and no sweat . It was a speed that would have had the Turbo S upside down in a field somewhere yet it didn't even begin to scratch the ability of the 918 .
All I remember are violent direction changes , sheer accelerative thrust , eye popping brakes conducted to the symphony of “ bellowing flat plane crank engine with exhausts screaming only 2 feet from your head “ . It is a soundtrack Wagner would have been proud of .
Dazed and somewhat excited ( mouth went into overdrive poor Guido could not stop laughing )we crawled back into the pits . Amazingly we had slightly more electric power in the “tank”( so to speak) that when we went out .
It is unbelievable , the car is charged by the brakes and sometime from the engine so the speed of recovery is unbelievable . The sheer immediacy and amount of the torque fed into driveline has to bee seen to be believed and I do believe 4wd will be better able to exploit this than 2wd .
Please let me explain myself before the purists get up in arms and attack me and take away my Jaffa Cakes as punishment .
These new breed of supercars are not Carrera GT , Ford GT and Enzo ferrari . Right or wrong they are 900 hp plus cars , this is F1 and Le mans level power put in the hands of Joe Public and put on the a217 or Champs Elysee . In my experience Rich Joe Public is not necessarily a better Driver than Poor Joe Public so that makes each car a potential cataclysm . Unlike the CGT ( still the best car ever imo ) these cars need trick safety systems they need things to keep the buyers of these cars on the road and the people they share the road with safe and alive .
Would I want a 600hp car with 1250 kg weight ? yes of course I would . BUT those of them with CGT , FGT , F50 etc already have the best of this type of car so I recently decided I was not going to bury me head in the sand and I would look at it from that perspective . I am lucky enough to own as far as I am concerned the finest , manual , driver aid less rwd supercar available for regular use/abuse ( cgt )
so why should Porsche make it again ? This is the direction Porsche , Mclaren and Ferrari have ALL TAKEN . Independently of each other too , Im going to give it a chance .
For me the 918 is not and never will be a replacement for the Excalibur , the Fire breathing snorting Dragon that is the Carrera GT . It is an ADDITION piece for people who already own that type of car , a regular use , do it all supercar with enough exclusivity , quality and performance to keep most people happy .
Lets face it buyers of this car have at least 20 cars in their stables already , raw ones , comfy ones , ugly ones , you name it . This is how I now try to view the new hybrid super cars ...
Anyway sorry I got distracted a little .
My turn to drive .
I put the roofs in the boot , attach the wing and off we go .
again its silent , its eery . Theres barely any wind coming in the car , we can talk at 100 kph traveling faster than a hot hatch in complete silence and e power alone , very odd .
Patience exhausted I beg for full power .
Knob turned to race hybrid , engine roaring and foot down we shoot off into the distance . I am literally laughing like a maniac , poor Guido was a very good sport .
I cannot believe how low the centre of gravity feels , its amazing . The car JUMPS left to right , I presume the 4ws is just another name for witchcraft . The steering is very good indeed , there is no understeer . The car goes where you want , when you want . The brakes are superb , the pedal issues experienced by the early test drivers are now well on the way to being resolved .
I up the pace . Guido gives me the thumbs up , he is still comfortable ( poor deluded fool !!!!!). The power is astounding , the punch out of corners game changing . Imagine a GTR , on steroids , growth hormone and pcp and you are still not really there . There are a couple of corners I'm using now as testers . one to go IN as fast as I can and one to Go out .
Going in to the corner is a shock too . I am able to brake really quite hard with considerable lock applied to the wheel , in effect turning in very fast still braking . Then because of the electricery you can just hammer her out of the corners too , it will take a while to get our heads around this car . The impressive thing is you cant really feel all this going on .The car feels mainly 2wd , light and nimble not artificial and lumbering like I expected ( or indeed the specs hinted ) . The centre of gravity seems so low , in fact it is at or below the wheel centre hight (it shows ) with almost all the weight of the car mass centralised between the axles to boot).
I come out of the corner , harder , faster and still faster !
Then just as the earth was going to go back in time because of the sheer speed out of corners the rear lets go (!). In a split second I correct the slide , check out Guido( still comfortable bless him ) and curse myself . I apologize to Guido who genuinely is not fusssed . We discuss how amazingly communicative the chassis is and the way we were able to correct the slide so comfortably ( apparently a few more degrees and the car would have stepped in ). I loved this aspect of the car , I think ( albeit at significantly higher speeds than usual ) this car can be a hooligan . Its chassis is just beautiful , its helm so communicative and its character so surprising . Yes its a hybrid but in its heart , beats the blood of Porsche . I play with the angles exciting the slow corners from then on and usually am able to start correcting before the systems decide to step in , I do not have the nerve to ask them if I can turn everything off ( I was REALLY outnumbered ).
All too soon the fun comes to an end and I ask Guido if instead of going straight back in I can drive one more lap in the comfort and hybrid setting to go over rumble strips , curbs etc to see how she is in a less agresssive mode . He agrees and again this car amazes me . The way she deals with ripples , bumps etc is amazing . You could take the misses across europe in this car , with the stunning sound system playing , roof off in utter comfort . Then when you get to the hotel and she has a shower you can go nuts on the route Napoleon or nurburgring ( while you “pop out to get some petrol dear “). It really is a Porsche supercar , it can do everything . Is it as raw and alive as my blessed Carrera Gt ? NO it is not but bloody hell can it do so many different thing and well at that .
Also It is completely bespoke. It shares a handful of screws and basic wires etc with other porsches . The engine , chassis , electrical systems everything is bespoke to this car ( even the infotainment ! can you imagine the expense ) . While 8 year olds on Mclaren and Ferrari forums fight each other over who carried over more parts from their engines ( 12c/P1 and F12 / La Ferrari) Porsche did everything bespoke , I think this gets unfairly lost sometimes . Even the gearbox had to be turned around on its axis to be put in lower , this sounded simple at the time but was far from it . So much was modified , again its basically a new box . Porsche went to town on this thing and it shows . A million or so development miles have been driven in this thing . It has gone through everything a boxster or cayenne has to go through . For such a fast complex machine this is nothing short of amazing .
In fact the car is amazing . We knew it would be fast , well built , gorgeous , sound great etc etc But I at least , did not think it would handle so light on its feet , turn in so well , have such a playful nature and just be so damn good at everything . What a car , what an amazing car .
I apologise but my flash disk with my footage (in car
) with all the swearing and on track antics seems to be damaged and does not work .
I have left out technical detail but it would be my pleasure to answer any questions to the best of my ability .
Let me get the boring stuff out of the way quickly .
I have recently driven the 918 around Leipzig . Heres the not very interesting stuff .( inhales )
Paul ( my main man from Porsche Guildford ) and I arrived leipzig had drinks went to bed ( not together you perverts) and went to the factory where we were introduced to Guido ( our instructor ) and our BEAUTIFUL guide for the day we drove 991turbo s it was faced we had impromptu race in 2 cars which was unexpected then i had a coffee , a biscuit ( or 7) and a wee ( and exhale ).
Then they opened the Garage doors and I saw 2 very nearly production quality Porsche 918s . They were gorgeous and jewel like , one a weissach pack car and the silver one a road spec car . I walked around it just drinking in its beauty . To me the best looking of the 3 e supercars ( by far ) it looks even better than I remembered but we are here to drive them not look .
First its Guidos turn .
The first thing you notice is the beauty of the interior . The fit and finish , quality of fitments and (potentially) game changing infotainment system . The system id based on 2 screens . The controls are basically like an i pad . You have all the scroll , pinch , stretch etc functions and combined with the burmester sound and enhanced html5 smart phone compatibility , make for a formidable display of electronic power from Porsche . Yes this is a supercar but believe me stuck on the autoroutes in Belgium on the way to spa , you will really love this stuff .
After talking me through stuff ( trying to listen but failing terribly , hypnotised by the cars beauty , quality and almost paralyzed by excitement ) I don't really hear much of it . I do pick up the fact that the car will be supported as battery tech improves so the cars cells can be upgraded ( more power less weight anyone ?) , 9 year warranty , quality of build , design integrity etc etc
We pull away in purely electric mode , its completely silent . All you can hear are the tyres rolling . He throws the car at the first couple of corners ( still silent) and I am amazed at how nimble , direct and low the car feels . We are still in electric mode and talking while doing over 100kph in eerie silence . We discuss the integration of the systems and how shocked I will be at the performance when with a bellow the sweet ,sweet , sweet normally aspirated engine explodes into life . As Guido floors it my head is bumped unceremoniously into the headrests as the sheer fury of the acceleration literally almost takes my breath away .
We approach another corner fast , I begin to think “too fast” . In the Turbo S we had already braked by now , the 918 needs no such thing and verily dives into the corner . No drama , no problems and no sweat . It was a speed that would have had the Turbo S upside down in a field somewhere yet it didn't even begin to scratch the ability of the 918 .
All I remember are violent direction changes , sheer accelerative thrust , eye popping brakes conducted to the symphony of “ bellowing flat plane crank engine with exhausts screaming only 2 feet from your head “ . It is a soundtrack Wagner would have been proud of .
Dazed and somewhat excited ( mouth went into overdrive poor Guido could not stop laughing )we crawled back into the pits . Amazingly we had slightly more electric power in the “tank”( so to speak) that when we went out .
It is unbelievable , the car is charged by the brakes and sometime from the engine so the speed of recovery is unbelievable . The sheer immediacy and amount of the torque fed into driveline has to bee seen to be believed and I do believe 4wd will be better able to exploit this than 2wd .
Please let me explain myself before the purists get up in arms and attack me and take away my Jaffa Cakes as punishment .
These new breed of supercars are not Carrera GT , Ford GT and Enzo ferrari . Right or wrong they are 900 hp plus cars , this is F1 and Le mans level power put in the hands of Joe Public and put on the a217 or Champs Elysee . In my experience Rich Joe Public is not necessarily a better Driver than Poor Joe Public so that makes each car a potential cataclysm . Unlike the CGT ( still the best car ever imo ) these cars need trick safety systems they need things to keep the buyers of these cars on the road and the people they share the road with safe and alive .
Would I want a 600hp car with 1250 kg weight ? yes of course I would . BUT those of them with CGT , FGT , F50 etc already have the best of this type of car so I recently decided I was not going to bury me head in the sand and I would look at it from that perspective . I am lucky enough to own as far as I am concerned the finest , manual , driver aid less rwd supercar available for regular use/abuse ( cgt )
so why should Porsche make it again ? This is the direction Porsche , Mclaren and Ferrari have ALL TAKEN . Independently of each other too , Im going to give it a chance .
For me the 918 is not and never will be a replacement for the Excalibur , the Fire breathing snorting Dragon that is the Carrera GT . It is an ADDITION piece for people who already own that type of car , a regular use , do it all supercar with enough exclusivity , quality and performance to keep most people happy .
Lets face it buyers of this car have at least 20 cars in their stables already , raw ones , comfy ones , ugly ones , you name it . This is how I now try to view the new hybrid super cars ...
Anyway sorry I got distracted a little .
My turn to drive .
I put the roofs in the boot , attach the wing and off we go .
again its silent , its eery . Theres barely any wind coming in the car , we can talk at 100 kph traveling faster than a hot hatch in complete silence and e power alone , very odd .
Patience exhausted I beg for full power .
Knob turned to race hybrid , engine roaring and foot down we shoot off into the distance . I am literally laughing like a maniac , poor Guido was a very good sport .
I cannot believe how low the centre of gravity feels , its amazing . The car JUMPS left to right , I presume the 4ws is just another name for witchcraft . The steering is very good indeed , there is no understeer . The car goes where you want , when you want . The brakes are superb , the pedal issues experienced by the early test drivers are now well on the way to being resolved .
I up the pace . Guido gives me the thumbs up , he is still comfortable ( poor deluded fool !!!!!). The power is astounding , the punch out of corners game changing . Imagine a GTR , on steroids , growth hormone and pcp and you are still not really there . There are a couple of corners I'm using now as testers . one to go IN as fast as I can and one to Go out .
Going in to the corner is a shock too . I am able to brake really quite hard with considerable lock applied to the wheel , in effect turning in very fast still braking . Then because of the electricery you can just hammer her out of the corners too , it will take a while to get our heads around this car . The impressive thing is you cant really feel all this going on .The car feels mainly 2wd , light and nimble not artificial and lumbering like I expected ( or indeed the specs hinted ) . The centre of gravity seems so low , in fact it is at or below the wheel centre hight (it shows ) with almost all the weight of the car mass centralised between the axles to boot).
I come out of the corner , harder , faster and still faster !
Then just as the earth was going to go back in time because of the sheer speed out of corners the rear lets go (!). In a split second I correct the slide , check out Guido( still comfortable bless him ) and curse myself . I apologize to Guido who genuinely is not fusssed . We discuss how amazingly communicative the chassis is and the way we were able to correct the slide so comfortably ( apparently a few more degrees and the car would have stepped in ). I loved this aspect of the car , I think ( albeit at significantly higher speeds than usual ) this car can be a hooligan . Its chassis is just beautiful , its helm so communicative and its character so surprising . Yes its a hybrid but in its heart , beats the blood of Porsche . I play with the angles exciting the slow corners from then on and usually am able to start correcting before the systems decide to step in , I do not have the nerve to ask them if I can turn everything off ( I was REALLY outnumbered ).
All too soon the fun comes to an end and I ask Guido if instead of going straight back in I can drive one more lap in the comfort and hybrid setting to go over rumble strips , curbs etc to see how she is in a less agresssive mode . He agrees and again this car amazes me . The way she deals with ripples , bumps etc is amazing . You could take the misses across europe in this car , with the stunning sound system playing , roof off in utter comfort . Then when you get to the hotel and she has a shower you can go nuts on the route Napoleon or nurburgring ( while you “pop out to get some petrol dear “). It really is a Porsche supercar , it can do everything . Is it as raw and alive as my blessed Carrera Gt ? NO it is not but bloody hell can it do so many different thing and well at that .
Also It is completely bespoke. It shares a handful of screws and basic wires etc with other porsches . The engine , chassis , electrical systems everything is bespoke to this car ( even the infotainment ! can you imagine the expense ) . While 8 year olds on Mclaren and Ferrari forums fight each other over who carried over more parts from their engines ( 12c/P1 and F12 / La Ferrari) Porsche did everything bespoke , I think this gets unfairly lost sometimes . Even the gearbox had to be turned around on its axis to be put in lower , this sounded simple at the time but was far from it . So much was modified , again its basically a new box . Porsche went to town on this thing and it shows . A million or so development miles have been driven in this thing . It has gone through everything a boxster or cayenne has to go through . For such a fast complex machine this is nothing short of amazing .
In fact the car is amazing . We knew it would be fast , well built , gorgeous , sound great etc etc But I at least , did not think it would handle so light on its feet , turn in so well , have such a playful nature and just be so damn good at everything . What a car , what an amazing car .
I apologise but my flash disk with my footage (in car
) with all the swearing and on track antics seems to be damaged and does not work .I have left out technical detail but it would be my pleasure to answer any questions to the best of my ability .
Edited by wtdoom on Saturday 31st August 21:13
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