I got a call from a long time customer from Oahu and asked if I could shift my workday around on Thursday. Reason being he is in Socal for his ( order #79) 918 roadshow test drive, and is allowed to bring a guest. Fast forward to Thermal Club Raceway near Coachella yesterday and Porsche's 918 invite presentation. The track is only 50% completed but they had enough of it set up for this event. Coupled with about 30 confirmed buyers present, Porsche staff, track instructors, and static displays, it was a
total gearheads overload ! After some track familiarizing drive alongs in the e-power Panamera , you get partnered into the 918 Spyder. A few laps as a passenger, then switch seats. Two laps in e-drive, pdk does all the up/down shifting...then there is this little dial sitting in the steering wheel at about 4:00 position. One click ccw on the dial and the symphony of the flat-crankshaft Porsche v8 FIRES UP and howls right behind your head exhausting upwards out of the engine compartment. I was already throwing the 918 into the rumble strips in e-mode real good, when instructed to light the v8 and told to go for it ...it became an asphalt eating beast. Excellent feedback from cockpit to car, no understeer push, no oversteer tailwagging. Being around Porsches for some time, I dared not throttle lift...so I can't tell you how it reacts in that scenario♡. The best part of this short track was after a series of esses, you drift out to the right, ease the power on catch the gators and launch the car into the straight. I checked the speedo just entering the straight (80mph) and just before braking at the 5,4,3, mark I hit 140.
And this straight is only about 1,000' long !
The specs I've been reading today indicate 0-60 in 2.5 sec., 0-186 in 19.9 sec.
There will only be 918 of these Spyders built, hopefully each buyer will get to learn how to drive these on closed courses with a skilled instructor. This car is a ROCKET !Click to view attachment

New territory for the term "Dual exhaust"
Once the v8 engine engages there is no missing this symphony behind your ears !Click to view attachment

:beer3
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My favorite part of the 918 Roadshow day, the instructor giving up his driver seat to me, and becoming my passenger !Click to view attachment If you have never met me, I'm in the blue shirt.
BTW about the same headroom , side to side room as in our 914s. Definitely not as roomy as the 930. I felt right at home, and got right into carving up the course. The 918 has a carbon tub...which is the main reason you can serve it up at the track, just the way it leaves the factory. We have the aftermarket, technical people and products on 914world , to build fast, tight cornering mid engines right here...and when you're done building it, take all that extra 918 cash and buy a big old house !
The engineers in Zuffenhausen have just raised the bar, and a 6:57 at the Nordschleife, now let's see what the others build .
Marty

Wow!!!! Lucky you!!!!! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Totally Jealous!!!!!!! Congrats. That would be a once in a lifetime drive, all but for the wealthy 918 owners.

WoW!..very cool.

OMG, you've got to be kidding me...not only does a mere mortal get to ride in a 918 but also thrash it on a race track!!!...and that mere mortal gives us the skinning (the ultimate from the "poor mans Porsche" camp to the now only the very rich camp) on the situation.

This is huge...

the 918 is not just the next Carrera GT, it's not like developing the 959 to be the ultimate super car 911.

The 918 is the super car's super car. It has changed the game.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, even Bugatti are old technology.

At basically $1M it will be awesome just to see one, much less ride/drive one.

Thanks for sharing this...I've not seen an actual pic of a production car yet.

BTW: hitting 140 in a 1,000' straight is not even WOT for the 1,000' I hit 160 on Road America's 4,500...oh wait 140 in 1k' OMG...remember when 8 minutes was ungodly fast @ the ring?

You should have invited the instructor to take some laps in your 914gt and then to go back and have him tell the factory to build a real porsche again

I was not paying attention to the tach while driving in pdk auto. When I started in on the paddles I used 8k for upshifts but I was no where near the rev limiter. I'd say that without the red 991 in front me , and not really knowing what rpm to safely upshift at, I could squeeze the speed to 145. The pdk downshifting is spot on including LOUD rpm matching blips just milliseconds ahead of each downshift. Talking about the idle rich, back in the gravel parking lot these 2 guys arrive in a matte white Veyron. As the Porsche valet aporoached to greet them, the valet gets the stink eye from the Bugatti driver...so he respectfully doesn't offer his services.
The Veyron guys posed by their car for awhile, but nobody stopped, chatted or even gave the car a passing glance...PRICELESS !
Hey it was Porsche's 918 that shined today

Just have to win the Lottery!

Bill, the instructor was real cool with some pics I shared with him on the 914s.
He gets to hang out with Hurley Haywood and Derek Bell at various Porsche driving clinics, and hears all of their air cooled tales from the day
Marty

What a fun ride!

and I thought I was lucky last year when Nadine and I had a chance to climb all over a 918 while it was in the transport truck at Barber for the Media day intro! Poor truck driver had no idea that he had a one-of-a-kind car in his truck, so 'Sure" he said when we asked if we could climb in the truck and see it....

But...we didn't get to DRIVE it!!! Wow...that is so very cool. Thank you for sharing!

Awesome car performance wise but sorta looks like a boxster?

I just Can Not Imagine sitting in one , let alone Driving One on a Track , WOW ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEv_uFBnzwI


got to have balls of magnesium to race thru this narrow path

918 is only $845,000 base price
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/drive...che_918_spyder/

Different colors and different angles of photography give the 918 various style similarities to different sports cars. But I will say that it has a style unique to its own.
At first I thought the white was bland when compared to other 918 colors, now I like it.
MartyClick to view attachment

3/4 view from the back , returning to the pits.
Click to view attachment

The back looks pretty nice! Not sure if Ferrari copied the two front inlets from Porsche or visa-versa?

I dig the white too!

Click to view attachment

So some of the 918 buyers are not ok with the passenger seat. For some reason the seat only adjusts forward/ rearward. No height or tilt adjustment. Only the drivers seat has all of the adjustments.
For $900k , you would expect a fully adjustable passenger seat
The buzz around Thermal Club track that day was an upcoming supercar (960) from Porsche in the $300k range. Code name: "Fefi " Ferrari Fighter. Powered by a mid engine, ( 650 hp) flat eight boxer with 4 turbos, NO e-motors on board. Rumor is that VW ceo Ferdinand Piech is rolling around in a Cayman right now , with this engine
Marty

Nice. Wished my car shifted that smoothly

Electric seats= weight. Big Weight! One of the simplest upgrades in the Viper world was to switch from steel seat racks to aluminum. This saved around 55 lbs!

Bob
that is a huge weight savings ! One 918 buyer had backed out because of this seat issue. Seems that since he bought his new CGT in 2005, his wife/ passenger needs to sit on pillows to see over the hood.
Our intro year 914s had fixed passenger seats NO big deal
Marty