Video: Onboard the 918 Spyder’s brutal Nürburgring lap record | GRR
The first 60 seconds of this Porsche 918 Spyder onboard video are almost pedestrian. The following 6 minutes and 57 seconds are as intense as they come. This is the Porsche 918 Spyder’s Nürburgring record run from 2013, and it’s superb.
It’s hard to believe that it’s now a decade since the stars aligned and Porsche launched the 918 Spyder, Ferrari the LaFerrari and McLaren the P1. Each a limited-run electrified hypercar employing different tactics to make the fastest machine possible. Ferrari went for a hybrid 6.3-litre V12, McLaren a hybrid 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 with a much bigger battery than that of its Italian rival, allowing it to run on electric power alone for just over six miles. Porsche, meanwhile, went for a 4.6-litre flat-plane crank V8 with the most substantial battery of the lot, enough for 18 miles of EV driving, plus all-wheel-drive. It was heavier than the cars from Woking and Maranello, and in the eyes of many it appeared to be the lesser of the three beasts. But Porsche being Porsche, it created a monster, and so confident of its abilities it sent four-time Le Mans 24 Hours-winner Marc Lieb flying around the Nordschleife to set a production car record. McLaren did the same, but never published the time, while Ferrari never gave it a go.
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