Under the Pen: Porsche 918 Spyder Concept
If you've been looking at my you can have your caek and eat it series, there has been many attempts to make fuel efficient sports car in the past and so far the ones in production are really the anorexic cars that barely lug around any weight. What the world has been waiting for is a responsible supercar, the biggest oxymoron in automotive history. Jeremy Clarkson famously stated that:
"supercars are designed to melt ice caps, kill the poor, poison the water table, destroy the ozone layer, decimate indigenous wildlife, recapture the Falkland Islands and turn the entire third world into a huge uninhabitable desert, all that before they nicked all the oil in the world. "
This statement is not entirely true as most supercars are never driven hence they are nothing more than sculptures, but due to increasing emission laws, car have to meet a benchmark mpg rating or pay fines. Lamborghini has already said they're going to pay the fines, but Porsche are fighting it, aiming to please the green people.
Porsche isn't the first to attempt the greenpeace hypercar special, Audi's R8 V12 TDi teased fans with its racecar derived engine transplant. The R8 V12 was only a concept and Audi decided it wasn't worth building as it needed extreme structural redesigning to digest the big engine, and they couldn't find a transmission to hold the reported 700lbft of torque.
Now to put this in perspective, the first hybrid was created by Porsche, 110 years ago! The design was heavily based on the racing 917s which dominated the 24hrs of Le Mans [hence the name]. Its chassis is based on its predecessor the Carrera GT but it swaps out the Carrera's V10 motor for a smaller, lighter, more economic and less powerful 500hp V8 but to make up for the power drop, the electric motors produce an astounding 200hp, combined that is 700hp! There are 3 electric motors in total, one going to the front wheels and two mounted on the rear. These motors get electricity from batteries that can also be charged via plugs! But the reason I decided to highlight this is because a) it works, no half working transmission or plastic brake pads and b) Porsche plans to race it at next year's Nurburgring 24hrs, which means that there is a high chance that this might reach production. The Carrera GT was also born from similar methods.
Funny enough earlier this year Porsche blatantly stated that they would not build a hybrid sports car. Were the playing us all along? Or is this saying that the 918 is just a joke? We will only know if the car reaches production.
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