Conspiracy theorists are going to love this. The day news comes out that the Nurburgring may have effectively prevented manufacturers from
setting lap times
around the 'ring Porsche issues a valedictory press release celebrating the success of
the 918 Spyder
. The car, lest we forget, whose reputation as the fastest of the hybrid hypercars was sealed with a
sub-seven minute lap
of the Nordschleife. Radical may have gone faster with a road legal car but, for many, the 918's status as fastest hypercar round the 'ring remains the ultimate accolade and confirmation of its apparent superiority over its LaFerrari and P1 rivals. If the McLaren did actually go faster and it's true nobody will ever get to set another time what's the betting someone is knocking up a press release somewhere in Woking right now...
Harris's apology to Wolfgang Hatz
We'll see about that. For now we have Porsche paying tribute to its all-conquering hybrid hypercar with the news that the final example of the 918-unit production run today leaves the line, having confirmed the car had sold out late last year. Good news for Porsche and a chance for Chris Harris to make his suitable apology to R&D boss Wolfgang Hatz after apparently telling him they'd never sell them all.
It might be the end for the 918 but Porsche is clear enough that the story will continue. "The legacy of this technology pioneer will reach far beyond its production time," it says in its press release. "Future generations of sports cars will benefit directly from innovations of the 918 Spyder." The technology transfer with the 919 Hybrid that won at Le Mans just last weekend is also mentioned, raising the question of how long this particular 918 has been sitting at the end of the production line awaiting its pre-delivery inspection in the hope of reflected Le Mans glory. Let's just file under spooky coincidence shall we...
Certainly we've already seen technology from the 918 like four-wheel steering and adaptive aero make it into the 911 range, the lessons learned from calibrating this with hybrid drive systems inevitably to feature in 911s of the future. For now though Porsche is happy to congratulate itself on a job well done, releasing an image of the 918 with its 959 and Carrera GT predecessors in celebration. Those who managed to bag one of the 918 cars sold will no doubt be rubbing their hands with glee too - of the 918 Spyder adverts in the PH classifieds currently all are placed by dealers looking for stock rather than cars actually offered for sale. All of which caps a pretty damned good week for Porsche - expect a big queue for the bar if you were going for a pint in Stuttgart any time today.