Last Monday private Porsche 918 Spyder tests were held at the Formula 1 track in Abu Dhabi for the purpose of new customer acquisition. Salah Alamoudi, one of founding members of the PP-Performance tuning studio, invited Dragtimes to participate in the tests. As we reached the pits, we were almost deafened by the sound of a 918 Spyder passing by. The all-new Porsche model is fitted with three engines — one petrol motor and two electric ones. Let us give you more detail on the engines. The petrol one is similar to those used in racing series. It’s a 4.6-litre V8 delivering 608 hp without a turbo or supercharger in sight meaning it makes 133 bhp per litre! As a comparison, the engine of the legendary Carrera GT produced “only” 106 bhp per litre. Apart from the combustion engine, the supercar is equipped with two electric engines delivering 280 hp in total. It means that the overall power produced in Race Hybrid mode is 887 hp and the total torque is 1280 Nm!
Performance characteristics of the car really heat the imagination:
0–100 km/h: 2.6 sec
0–200 km/h: 7.3 sec
0–300 km/h: 20.9 sec
Top speed: 345 km/h
The tests were conducted in the following way: first the guests had one lap driving a Porsche 991 Turbo S and only after that they were invited to get behind the wheel of a 918 Spyder thus providing them with a possibility to compare two different cars. Here are the conclusions: the 991 Turbo S made a big step forward in comparison with the 997 Turbo S in improving cornering stability, the work of the direct-shift PDK gearbox and it also demonstrated excellent standing start performed in the Launch Control mode. What concerns the 918 Spyder, one thing is certain — this supercar left no one indifferent! It features outstanding cornering stability together with the great performance of the gearbox and more than decent straight line acceleration. As a comparison, on the straight-line sections of the track, where Turbo S was only able to reach 220 km/h, the 918 Spyder was easily accelerating up to 270 km/h. The price of this car is about €1 million and, according to Porsche representatives, 75% of the vehicles have already been prepaid.
