The 918 Spider: A Symphony of Speed and Technology

As I step into the 918 Spider, I feel an electric excitement coursing through my veins. The moment I engage race mode, the car transforms into a high-performance beast, ready to unleash its full fury on the track. But it's not just about raw power; this is a car that has been engineered to deliver an unparalleled driving experience. With its electric motor at the front and rear axles, plus a 4.6 V8 engine in the middle, this hybrid supercar is a marvel of modern engineering.

I put my foot down harder, feeling the acceleration push me deeper into my seat. The 918 Spider's electric motors come to life, propelling the car forward with incredible speed and agility. It's like being strapped to a rocket, hurtling down the track with a sense of urgency that's hard to match in any other car. As I accelerate, the sound of the engine grows louder, until it becomes almost deafening – a cacophony of power and energy that's both exhilarating and terrifying.

But the 918 Spider is not just about speed; it's also about handling and precision. In hotlap mode, I feel like I'm driving an absolute rocket, with the car carving through corners with ease and precision. The grip is incredible, the response is instant, and the overall feeling of control is unmatched. Even under heavy braking, the 918 Spider still feels remarkably composed, thanks to its clever use of electric motors to generate stopping power.

The brake pedal, too, has a unique character that's worth noting. Under gentle braking, it feels surprisingly vague – almost as if the car is not engaging the brakes at all. But push hard on the accelerator and downshift into first gear, and suddenly the brake pedal comes alive, delivering a firm but still progressive feel that's reassuringly tangible.

One of the most striking things about the 918 Spider is its incredible straight-line speed. Not only does it hold its own against some of the fastest production cars in the world, but it also has a blistering acceleration rate that leaves even supercars like the Bugatti Veyron for dead. In fact, our benchmark tests showed that the 918 Spider was just a second slower than the Bugatti Veyron over a kilometer – an astonishing margin of performance that sets the bar incredibly high.

As I continue to push the limits of this incredible car, I begin to appreciate its true nature: it's not just about being the fastest car in the world; it's also about delivering an unparalleled driving experience. Whether I'm cruising through the paddocks or flat-out racing down the track, the 918 Spider always feels like a joy to drive – its precision handling, incredible grip, and thrilling acceleration making it one of the most enjoyable cars I've ever had the pleasure of piloting.

In short, the 918 Spider is a car that sets the bar incredibly high for any road car, let alone a supercar. Its combination of tech and conventional wisdom has resulted in something truly special – a driving experience that's both exhilarating and refined, with an incredible level of performance and handling to boot. Whether you're a seasoned racing enthusiast or just someone who appreciates the finer things in life, this is a car that will leave you speechless and wanting more.

What will Porsche do next? Will they be able to improve upon this incredible achievement? Only time will tell, but one thing's for sure: the 918 Spider has set a benchmark that few cars can hope to match.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enin Porsche's words not ours the 918 spider is the sports car of the future except that it's here right now and we've driven it and it's a fair bit more incredible than we were expecting in my hand here I have the 2nd of March 2011 edition of autar In which you can see there was a road test of the Bugatti veyon Super Sport and in the road test we concluded with the words right now it's hard to imagine how another car anywhere will ever eclipse the Von Super Sport but who knows question mark 2 and 1 half years later we're at the launch the 918 spider and I've just been looking at the performance figures for the 918 spider and up to about 190 mph it's quicker than the veyon Super Sport I cannot imagine what that's going to feel like but now it's time to find out you start moving in what is at the moment the world's fastest car and there's no engine noise at all listen it's like a milk float there's this Porsche is equivalent to a kind of Mantino switch down here which you dial up you go into hybrid mode from E mode then you go to sports mode then you go to race mode then you go to hotlaps mode during which time the response from everything just gets that much sharper and you go quicker you got electric motor at the front you got electric motor at the back for each axle plus a bleeding great 4.6 V8 in the middle which as yet hasn't contributed to proceedings but let me put my foot down harder out of here and it wakes up I hope you heard that that was nothing other than me putting my foot down that much harder to get that thing to come to life oh I love that okay I'm going to go to sport wow all of a sudden the whole thing just feels more urgent more switched on and just faster that's Walter Royal in front driving a new 911 Turbo S by the way and driving it quite hard as you'll see but the 918 spider isn't all about going mentally fast around circuits even even though it's just set a record-breaking time of 6 minutes 57 seconds around the nurburging it's also about being green running for 20 M on E power alone returning a theoretical 94.1 MPG on the combined cycle and emitting less nasty stuff into the atmosphere than the average super mini and all of these things it does very well but in the end it's about going fast really really fast okay now I'm in hot lapse mode and now it feels like a proper sports car no it doesn't feels like an AB animal remember that's Walter doing his utmost in a Turbo S in front but the 918 is so fast that I could actually short shift most of the way around the lap and still stay with him look tiny bit of under steer but not much it's interesting what happens to the brake feeli when you're on the move when you really start to use the brakes hard and use them proper then you get nice feel through the pedal if you use them lightly it's not really very much nice feel through the pedal at all it just kind of depends where you are and the guy in the 911 Turbo in front of me has just gone straight off the circuit it's not just the 918's Mad straight line performance that's so impressive though it's the handling and stick hearing Precision it has the grip it develops everywhere and the pure speed that it can carry through any given corner it is truly one of Porsche's most memorable cars and there have been quite a few of those over the years this is a serious weapon okay we've done our quick laps now what have we learned on those quick laps I'm going back into sport mode and they want me to shift manually which I will do via the paddles just so I can discharge all the power that's been built up by breaking hard what do you learn what do you learn in this car it's amazing it's got all this Tech I mean masses and masses of tech out 23rd Century Tech and yet when you put it in either race or hot lapse mode it just feels like a really really fast incredibly well sorted very composed super sports car the noise it makes is fantastic and the lack of under steer and the way it turns in it's just beautiful okay the the feel of the brakes under gentle braking is not nice it's there's something kind of unnatural going on and that is because there is something slightly natural going on it's using the electric motors to generate the first half G of stopping power but beyond that it just feels like a really well sorted staggeringly fast just just brilliant superc car it also feels a lot lot lighter than I thought it would do on a track like this I think if you were to try and stay anywhere near this car in a veyon even a Veyron super sport around this circuit you would fall off within two corners this thing would dust a veon superp sport on a track and you know what the amazing thing is it's really not that far off in a straight line either the KN to 186 mile an hour SL300 km hour time says that this car is 1 second slower than the buatti Von super sport that we figured 2 3 years ago that is amazing that's incredible what an extraordinary car what will they do next what will they come up with to better this in X number of years time we just keep saying that nowadays though limey what this is though what the 918 really is is so far the ultimate combination of tech and conventional wisdom and for 99% of the time it combines the the the two beautifully there's going to be 918 very very lucky people in the world that own this car and before I drove it I was a little bit skeptical that there would be sufficient numbers of people for porsch to sell them all but 918 people w't buy this car but it is so good surely they will eventually shift all they deserve to it's that good oin Porsche's words not ours the 918 spider is the sports car of the future except that it's here right now and we've driven it and it's a fair bit more incredible than we were expecting in my hand here I have the 2nd of March 2011 edition of autar In which you can see there was a road test of the Bugatti veyon Super Sport and in the road test we concluded with the words right now it's hard to imagine how another car anywhere will ever eclipse the Von Super Sport but who knows question mark 2 and 1 half years later we're at the launch the 918 spider and I've just been looking at the performance figures for the 918 spider and up to about 190 mph it's quicker than the veyon Super Sport I cannot imagine what that's going to feel like but now it's time to find out you start moving in what is at the moment the world's fastest car and there's no engine noise at all listen it's like a milk float there's this Porsche is equivalent to a kind of Mantino switch down here which you dial up you go into hybrid mode from E mode then you go to sports mode then you go to race mode then you go to hotlaps mode during which time the response from everything just gets that much sharper and you go quicker you got electric motor at the front you got electric motor at the back for each axle plus a bleeding great 4.6 V8 in the middle which as yet hasn't contributed to proceedings but let me put my foot down harder out of here and it wakes up I hope you heard that that was nothing other than me putting my foot down that much harder to get that thing to come to life oh I love that okay I'm going to go to sport wow all of a sudden the whole thing just feels more urgent more switched on and just faster that's Walter Royal in front driving a new 911 Turbo S by the way and driving it quite hard as you'll see but the 918 spider isn't all about going mentally fast around circuits even even though it's just set a record-breaking time of 6 minutes 57 seconds around the nurburging it's also about being green running for 20 M on E power alone returning a theoretical 94.1 MPG on the combined cycle and emitting less nasty stuff into the atmosphere than the average super mini and all of these things it does very well but in the end it's about going fast really really fast okay now I'm in hot lapse mode and now it feels like a proper sports car no it doesn't feels like an AB animal remember that's Walter doing his utmost in a Turbo S in front but the 918 is so fast that I could actually short shift most of the way around the lap and still stay with him look tiny bit of under steer but not much it's interesting what happens to the brake feeli when you're on the move when you really start to use the brakes hard and use them proper then you get nice feel through the pedal if you use them lightly it's not really very much nice feel through the pedal at all it just kind of depends where you are and the guy in the 911 Turbo in front of me has just gone straight off the circuit it's not just the 918's Mad straight line performance that's so impressive though it's the handling and stick hearing Precision it has the grip it develops everywhere and the pure speed that it can carry through any given corner it is truly one of Porsche's most memorable cars and there have been quite a few of those over the years this is a serious weapon okay we've done our quick laps now what have we learned on those quick laps I'm going back into sport mode and they want me to shift manually which I will do via the paddles just so I can discharge all the power that's been built up by breaking hard what do you learn what do you learn in this car it's amazing it's got all this Tech I mean masses and masses of tech out 23rd Century Tech and yet when you put it in either race or hot lapse mode it just feels like a really really fast incredibly well sorted very composed super sports car the noise it makes is fantastic and the lack of under steer and the way it turns in it's just beautiful okay the the feel of the brakes under gentle braking is not nice it's there's something kind of unnatural going on and that is because there is something slightly natural going on it's using the electric motors to generate the first half G of stopping power but beyond that it just feels like a really well sorted staggeringly fast just just brilliant superc car it also feels a lot lot lighter than I thought it would do on a track like this I think if you were to try and stay anywhere near this car in a veyon even a Veyron super sport around this circuit you would fall off within two corners this thing would dust a veon superp sport on a track and you know what the amazing thing is it's really not that far off in a straight line either the KN to 186 mile an hour SL300 km hour time says that this car is 1 second slower than the buatti Von super sport that we figured 2 3 years ago that is amazing that's incredible what an extraordinary car what will they do next what will they come up with to better this in X number of years time we just keep saying that nowadays though limey what this is though what the 918 really is is so far the ultimate combination of tech and conventional wisdom and for 99% of the time it combines the the the two beautifully there's going to be 918 very very lucky people in the world that own this car and before I drove it I was a little bit skeptical that there would be sufficient numbers of people for porsch to sell them all but 918 people w't buy this car but it is so good surely they will eventually shift all they deserve to it's that good o\n"