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NEWS
Porsche 918 makes public debut at Goodwood
Zuffenhausen's upcoming hypercar turns its wheels in anger at Goodwood's annual three-day speed-festPorsche’s keenly awaited 918 Spyder is still a couple of months away from making its international launch, but the hybrid hypercar has already whetted British appetites with a dynamic public debut at last weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The 918 will arrive on the market around the same time as the McLaren P1 and Ferrari’s LaFerrari (all three launch in September), so the scene is set for an epic standoff in the hypercar segment.
The all-wheel-drive rocket (a 95kW electric motor powers the front axle) will be priced in its home market from 781,155 Euro ($1,112,708), while the ‘Weissach’ package will cost 853,155 Euro ($1,215, 319).
Including local taxes, the price would be closer to $1.5 million in Australia, where the left-hand drive-only vehicle is illegal on public roads -- which explains why at least one well-heeled Aussie has ordered one strictly for his driving pleasure in Europe.
Propelled by a mid-mounted 4.6-litre V8 engine and two electric motors with lithium-ion batteries, the new Porsche flagship sprints from 0-100km/h in a claimed 2.8 seconds, on its way to a top whack of 340km/h.
Porsche claims the 918 Spyder’s drivetrain – comprising a combustion engine and electric motor on the rear axle and the second electric motor on the front axle – was honed using knowledge gained from its racing program with the 911 GT3 R Hybrid.
The company says the all-paw format makes for impressive surefootedness, while the advanced ‘boost’ strategy maximises the thrust provided by the V8 and supplementary electric motors.
Of course, no supercar these days is worth its salt without a Nürburgring-Nordschleife brag, and the 918’s benchmark for the Green Hell is quoted at 7min 14sec, which, as you’d expect, puts it ahead of the likes of the Corvette ZR1 and Nissan GT-R.
Despite its hybrid layout (which adds weight), the 918 tips the scales at 1640kg (unladen) with the ‘Weissach’ package, which isn’t excessively lardy.
Porsche says all the drivetrain bits and any other components that weigh more than 50kg have been mounted as low as possible, and the vehicle has a pronounced rearward weight bias (43:57 over front and rear axles respectively).
The 918’s dynamics are claimed to further benefit from Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) adaptive dampers and rear-axle steering, as well as Porsche Active Aerodynamic (PAA), which automatically tailors the aero elements to the driving mode.
The 918 Spyder has a greener focus than the P1 and LaFerrari, as reflected by its ability to cover 30km on electric power alone, and even in this mode it can accelerate to 100km/h in under seven seconds and reach a v-max of 150km/h.
More dynamic driving calls for ‘Sport Hybrid’, ‘Race Hybrid’ and ‘Hot Lap’ modes, which progressively tap more into the reserves of the battery to unleash the car’s full potential.
The dry-sumped 4.6-litre V8 petrol engine is a state-of-the-art unit that kicks out 447kW and can spin up to 9150rpm. It features titanium connecting rods, thin-wall low-pressure casting on the crankcase and the cylinder heads, a high-strength lightweight steel crankshaft and an extremely thin-walled alloy steel/nickel exhaust system.
PORSCHE 918 SPYDER SPECS
Body: Two-seat Spyder; carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) monocoque interlocked with CFRP unit carrier; two-piece Targa roof; fixed roll-over protection system
Drivetrain: Parallel full hybrid; 4.6-litre V8 mid-engine with dry-sump lubrication; hybrid module with electric motor and decoupler; electric motor with decoupler and gear unit on front axle; auto start/stop function; electrical system recuperation; four cooling circuits for motors, transmission and battery; thermal management
Engine power: 447kW at 8600rpm (V8 engine)
115kW (hybrid module on rear axle)
95kW (electric motor on front axle)
887hp (combined)
Max. torque: 530Nm at 6600rpm (V8 engine)
1275Nm (crankshaft equivalent combined, 7th gear)
1086Nm (combined, 3rd gear)
> 800Nm (800-5000rpm)
Power transmission: Combustion engine with hybrid module and transmission bolted together to form a single drive unit; seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK); rear-wheel drive; front electric motor with gearbox for driving the front wheels (decoupled from 235km/h); five pre-selectable operating modes for optimum coordination of all drive units
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Written byGautam Sharma
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