RE: Porsche Reveals Hybrid 918 Spyder
Discussion
I want one. It's just shot into my all-time wish list.
I love the fact that it's also one in the eye for the authoritarian miserablists who seem hell-bent on trying to convince us all that fun has no place in the future of driving and that all low-emission vehicles will look like phone boxes on castors, will scud along silently at a computer-controlled walking pace and will have all the glamour and appeal of living in a skip and eating a diet of discarded potato peelings.
Technology always starts at the top and trickles down. If Porsche can get 500bhp and under 100g/km of CO2, then just think what'll happen when this technology is downsized and put in a hot hatch, quick saloon or small sports car. Even 125bhp in the right place is quick enough to be faster than you're ever going to go, and if that comes with the emissions of a farting gnat with next-to-nothing running costs to match, I'm all for it.
Honda's CR-Z looks like it'll pull off a similar trick for a lot less. Auto Express raved about its handling and performance.
I love the fact that it's also one in the eye for the authoritarian miserablists who seem hell-bent on trying to convince us all that fun has no place in the future of driving and that all low-emission vehicles will look like phone boxes on castors, will scud along silently at a computer-controlled walking pace and will have all the glamour and appeal of living in a skip and eating a diet of discarded potato peelings.
Technology always starts at the top and trickles down. If Porsche can get 500bhp and under 100g/km of CO2, then just think what'll happen when this technology is downsized and put in a hot hatch, quick saloon or small sports car. Even 125bhp in the right place is quick enough to be faster than you're ever going to go, and if that comes with the emissions of a farting gnat with next-to-nothing running costs to match, I'm all for it.
Honda's CR-Z looks like it'll pull off a similar trick for a lot less. Auto Express raved about its handling and performance.
My only issue with it is what it will do to the "eco roolz".
Porsche are quite clearly sticking up 2 fingers to the green brigade and playing them at their own game. Porsche Intelligent Performance? Not 'arf.
This thing is a way around the barmy restrictions that are put in place and, quite rightly, makes a mockery of them. As pointed out when you're gunning this thing, it's not going to have quite the same low emissions as it does in full leccy mode.
Much the same as the auto box cars that get such low ratings on the tests but don't produce that in real life.
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
Porsche are quite clearly sticking up 2 fingers to the green brigade and playing them at their own game. Porsche Intelligent Performance? Not 'arf.
This thing is a way around the barmy restrictions that are put in place and, quite rightly, makes a mockery of them. As pointed out when you're gunning this thing, it's not going to have quite the same low emissions as it does in full leccy mode.
Much the same as the auto box cars that get such low ratings on the tests but don't produce that in real life.
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
OlberJ said:
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
Probably a matter of just a few weeks until the developers just come up with a new and interesting way around whatever pathetic attempts the bureaucrats come up with to put in their paths.Personally I'd still sell my gran for one of these. Unfortunately I don't think I'd get enough for her.
OlberJ said:
My only issue with it is what it will do to the "eco roolz".
Porsche are quite clearly sticking up 2 fingers to the green brigade and playing them at their own game. Porsche Intelligent Performance? Not 'arf.
This thing is a way around the barmy restrictions that are put in place and, quite rightly, makes a mockery of them. As pointed out when you're gunning this thing, it's not going to have quite the same low emissions as it does in full leccy mode.
Much the same as the auto box cars that get such low ratings on the tests but don't produce that in real life.
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
Good point, although I think what these people fail to grasp is the fact that, in the same way most peacetime technology comes from warfare, most efficiency technology comes from motorsport. Therefore you can penalise and punish fast cars all you like, but the ideas for making ordinary cars cleaner will always serve to make them faster too, because most come from the motorsport sector. Porsche are quite clearly sticking up 2 fingers to the green brigade and playing them at their own game. Porsche Intelligent Performance? Not 'arf.
This thing is a way around the barmy restrictions that are put in place and, quite rightly, makes a mockery of them. As pointed out when you're gunning this thing, it's not going to have quite the same low emissions as it does in full leccy mode.
Much the same as the auto box cars that get such low ratings on the tests but don't produce that in real life.
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
Compare, for instance, the forthcoming Nissan Leaf with the new Honda CR-Z. They'll end up costing not dissimilar amounts, both offer four seat accommodation, and yet the Leaf comes from a company (GTR and 370Z aside) who majors on value for money, quality and reliability, and offers a range of just 100 miles, plodding performance and serious charging issues. There's been a great deal of trumpeting over the Leaf, but I have a nasty sneaking feeling it'll completely bomb.
Now compare it with the CR-Z. Looks a lot better for a start, but at heart, it comes from a company steeped in motorsport technology. The essence of Honda is motorbike racing, and they're also responsible for a lot of F1 engine technology. The CR-Z's hybrid system is based on an F1 KERS system, and as a result, you get hardly any emissions, fantastic handling, excellent electrically-assisted acceleration, a 'range extender' effect, self-charging through the petrol motor, and the option of being able to fill it up with petrol very quickly when the tank runs low.
I think it'll do very well indeed.
A cross-section of representatives of the UK's motorsport industries recently issued a plea to the government to help them, protesting that Jeremy Clarkson (yes, they mentioned him by name) had allowed the politicians and the public in general to associate motorsport technologies with a boorish, antisocial, outdated attitude as a result of, well, a certain outdated, antisocial boor.
Twincam16 said:
OlberJ said:
My only issue with it is what it will do to the "eco roolz".
Porsche are quite clearly sticking up 2 fingers to the green brigade and playing them at their own game. Porsche Intelligent Performance? Not 'arf.
This thing is a way around the barmy restrictions that are put in place and, quite rightly, makes a mockery of them. As pointed out when you're gunning this thing, it's not going to have quite the same low emissions as it does in full leccy mode.
Much the same as the auto box cars that get such low ratings on the tests but don't produce that in real life.
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
Good point, although I think what these people fail to grasp is the fact that, in the same way most peacetime technology comes from warfare, most efficiency technology comes from motorsport. Therefore you can penalise and punish fast cars all you like, but the ideas for making ordinary cars cleaner will always serve to make them faster too, because most come from the motorsport sector. Porsche are quite clearly sticking up 2 fingers to the green brigade and playing them at their own game. Porsche Intelligent Performance? Not 'arf.
This thing is a way around the barmy restrictions that are put in place and, quite rightly, makes a mockery of them. As pointed out when you're gunning this thing, it's not going to have quite the same low emissions as it does in full leccy mode.
Much the same as the auto box cars that get such low ratings on the tests but don't produce that in real life.
How long before the tests and rules are changed to counter act PIP's clever tactics?
Compare, for instance, the forthcoming Nissan Leaf with the new Honda CR-Z. They'll end up costing not dissimilar amounts, both offer four seat accommodation, and yet the Leaf comes from a company (GTR and 370Z aside) who majors on value for money, quality and reliability, and offers a range of just 100 miles, plodding performance and serious charging issues. There's been a great deal of trumpeting over the Leaf, but I have a nasty sneaking feeling it'll completely bomb.
Now compare it with the CR-Z. Looks a lot better for a start, but at heart, it comes from a company steeped in motorsport technology. The essence of Honda is motorbike racing, and they're also responsible for a lot of F1 engine technology. The CR-Z's hybrid system is based on an F1 KERS system, and as a result, you get hardly any emissions, fantastic handling, excellent electrically-assisted acceleration, a 'range extender' effect, self-charging through the petrol motor, and the option of being able to fill it up with petrol very quickly when the tank runs low.
I think it'll do very well indeed.
A cross-section of representatives of the UK's motorsport industries recently issued a plea to the government to help them, protesting that Jeremy Clarkson (yes, they mentioned him by name) had allowed the politicians and the public in general to associate motorsport technologies with a boorish, antisocial, outdated attitude as a result of, well, a certain outdated, antisocial boor.
..Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff