Porsche 918 Spyder Prototype Unveiled!

The Porsche 918 spyder seems all set to be the supercar of tomorrow. There are only 918 of them at almost $1M each. Touching base with your rich distant uncle is a must.
Its half in completion rumours abound of it getting in full production by mid next year with an early 2014 debut. Ofcourse only 918 pieces of this super hybrid will be produced. Its seems to be the super sports car of tomorrow with a finger on green as well as raw muscle, and the legitimate successor of the Carrera GT.


Now lets see where we can start, For one the first thing that catches your eye is the upward venting top pipes exhaust system. The tail pipes terminate in the upper part of the rear, immediately after the engine, something no other production vehicle has. This new thermodynamic air  channeling concept comes with benefits since the hot exhaust gases are evecuated by the shortest root ensuring the engine remains cooler.


The car is made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) with a two piece targa roof. The carbon fibre ensures a lightweight design of 1700 kilogrammes with a low centre of gravity.This is highly influenced by the design based on F1 car concepts.


When we hear muscle cars the first thing that comes to mind is a guzzler, well atleast the americans made us believe that. Yet as a plug in hybrid  vehicle, the 918 spyder's high perfomance combustion engine and electric motor combination delivers a massive fuel consumption of approximately 3litres per 100km. This is despite packing a 770hp raving 4.6 litre engine under the hood with speeds upto 9000rpm. In terms of perfomance it does 0-100 kph in 3 seconds flat. That is just 0.05 seconds slower than the bugatti veyron and bugatti supersport.


The germans engineered the  concept of distributing the power of the car across three power units. So you have fiver right from E power mode which can cover 25kms purely on electric power, secondly the hybrid mode wherein electric motors and combustion engine work together with the focus on maximum efficiency and minimum fuel consumption. Thirdly the sport hybrid where the combustion engine provides the main propulsive force. Fourthly the the sport hybrid for sporty driving and finally the higlight Hot Lap which is very similar to qualification mode, where it pushes its traction battery to the maximum power output limits for a few fast laps, or lets say very fast laps!!!


The Spyder 918 has a multi-link chassis inspired by racing car construction with systems like the adaptive shock absorber system PASM and rear-axle steering. Basically this comprises a speed sensitive electro-mechanical adjustment system on each rear wheel meaning reduced turning circles at low speeds and a stable handling when you step on the gas.


We just cannot wait for 2014, and the Germans say that there is still more feature yet to be unveiled.