From an esoteric Track Day World Championship dominating car to a car that in comparison seems downright sensible and practical, the Porsche 918 Spyder.
Love these type of videos, none of the hideous music Ferrari so often pollutes their clips with, just the fantastic sound of that Porsche 4.6 V8 through those amazing top mounted flame spitting exhausts.
Porsche driving instructor Matthias Hoffsümmer sets what Porsche claims is the unofficial production car record at Philip Island, 1:38.02.
How does that compare? Have a look at track records by class HERE
Back when Mr. Harris choked on his tortellini and threw his parmigiano out of the pram on Jalopnik, he neglected to mention Mclaren behaves in essentially the same manner when it comes to how their cars are tested vs their rivals.
All car manufactures do this to one degree or another but Ferrari AND McLaren seem to have taken this behaviour to a new a new level. Top Gear confirms in their latest episode.
Who would be fastest around Top Gear's track, the Porsche 918, the Mclaren P1 or the La Ferrari (it pisses me off every time I have to write that name, thanks Luca Montezuma!).
I agree it's wholly irrelevant but I, and I'm sure you, would love to see it right?
If anyone could actually make it happen it would be Top Gear but no, neither Ferrari nor McLaren would allow it. Porsche was fine with it as they have nothing to lose, not the fastest and they can claim they are close at a significant savings. Win and someone in Woking and Maranello is losing a job.
But Jezza's right, c'mon, group a pair. Take the cars to Le Castellet or some properly fast track and have at it already.
Last week, the car internets got very excited about a Mclaren P1 timed at 7:01 around the Nürburgring. Not as excited was Mclaren who did not publicize the fact, why?
It's Frankfurt Auto Show time and notoriously Nordschleife time shy Porsche announced a Martini liveried hybrid drive 918, driven by factory driver Marc Lieb, was timed at under seven minutes on the 'Ring:
In this clip, Harris goes to a Porsche PR even at the ring, skip the first four and a half minutes or so and go to the interview with 918 project leader Frank Wallinser.
Harris makes a good point about the 959 vs the F40. Years later, the F40 is on every car guy's top 5 list while the 959...Bill Gates owned one right?
This car weighs in at over 3700lbs. Granted modern suspension design has shown weight is not the performance handicap it once was but that is one heavy car, no matter how many evocative stickers you put on it.
You get the impression there's a three way hypercar chess game being played between Porsche, Ferrari and Mclaren. Porsche, the day after Mclaren's P1 "pre" reveal laid claim to a 7:14 lap at the Nurburgring with the 918, just enough to be the fastest street tire car but likely well short from the car's true potential.
Meanwhile at Maranello they are keeping very very quiet...
