Porsche has been beavering away on its 918 Spyder Nürburgring programme. Two days ago, a 918 Spyder prototype set a 7:14 (minutes:seconds) on the Nürburgring, which Porsche says is amongst the best for a street-legal vehicle on production tyres.
In fact, it’s just 4 seconds faster than the time Porsche claimed for test driver Timo Kluck in a 911 GT2 RS on Michelins back in 2010, but almost 30 seconds slower than road-legal Radicals. If you’ve ever experienced a Radical, you’ll know it is hardly the same. Still, half a minute’s a bit of a gap.
With this lap time set one year ahead of the Spyder’s launch date, Stuttgart delights in the 918’s progress. “By turning in this fabulous time, the 918 Spyder prototype fully confirms the viability of its future concept, after just a few months on the road,” said Dr. Frank Walliser, overall 918 project leader.
Surprisingly, Porsche notes that, as they only had one clear lap available, the time was set from a standstill. It also notes the Michelin tyres and an optional Weissach package, which “integrates modifications to boost driving performance”. I don’t know why the über-Porsche to beat all others has a standard non-sport configuration, but it just goes to prove that everything’s an option on a Porsche price list.
There’s a ton of Youtube video of the 918 at the ‘Ring. Here are two of my favourites, starting with a some video of a 918 unload, and shots of Walter Röhrl driving EVO’s Harry Metcalfe et al ’round the track. The second has some great tracking footage of the 918 in motion on the lanes around the circuit, including one of my favourite routes out.
Youtube vids show how every notable European pressman has run ’round the ‘Ring in this now. It’s not due out for a year and it’s already everywhere. By the time it gets interesting and heads to Le Mans, we’ll be burnt out on Spyder.
The first thing we bobble hats want to know about any new Porsche is the weight. You can whack in tons of power but, if the weight is OTT, that power is soaked up just hauling it around.
The standard body 991 C2 tops the scales at 1380 kgs DIN curb weight. That is the basic car on a full tank with no options: no sunroof, small wheels etc. DIN also includes a spare wheel, but the spare wheel in a new 911 is a Triple-A card in your wallet.
There’s no tech datasheet for the C4 as yet. Porsche says it’s ‘up to 65 kilos lighter’, which I presume means the basic manual car in lightest guise is 65 kilos lighter than the 997 C4.
Sixty-five kilos is slightly heavier than Allan McNish, so a nice saving, but few people would run a ‘basic’ 991. With some weight added for the front diff, shafts and prop, a bit more wiring and another chunk for that sunroof, an average C4 should weigh circa 1530-ish kilos DIN. That’s not too shabby for what most air-cooled 911 guys would assume was much more of a luxo-barge (edit Dec 2012: in fact UK C4 weighs just 1430 kg DIN).
If you’re in the UK and fancy one of these, they launch at Christmas: just in time for skiing. You’ll need 77 grand for the C4 Coupe; ten more for the widebody. Add nine grand to either for a droptop, so £96k plus options for a C4S Cabriolet.
I dunno what extra options you will want, though. Standard equipment includes full leather, a colour touchscreen PCM with sat nav, auto climate, Bi-Xenons, Thatcham Cat 5 tracker and iPod hook up. Order it in Blue like this Cabriolet and job done.
Used 997 C4 GTS Coupes currently (August 2012) start at £68k in the franchised network for a year-old PDK Coupe with 4k miles. As a long-time used car values specialist, I suspect the arrival of the 991 C4S will have an effect on 997 C4 GTS residuals. Could be good news if you’re planning some GTS shopping in early 2013.
Porsche have sent out some pics of the Martini-painted 918 Spyder, currently lapping at the Nürburgring. One target for the car is a 7:22 lap at the bankrupt race track, so Nürburg snappers have had a field day with the 918 going around in development.
Personally, I wasn’t sure about the Martini stripes to start with. That’s the blog I just wrote but deleted after adding the pictures. Have a look at them yourself and consider your reaction.
Silver-painted Porsches never do much for me, but I loved the shade on the 918 when the Preserve launch pics shot by Marc Urbano were released a few years back. This latest 918 livery reminded me of the Cayman race at Rennsport, where the cars were wrapped in classic colours.
I know the intention was fun, and I did shoot some track runs where the cars looked pretty hot but, when the Caymans all trailed silently back to the pits together, wearing fake paint schemes from historic cars with multiples more aural drama, it smacked of nerd poseurs with freshly-ironed Porsche shirts.
I’m sure most others loved it but, as a diehard classic fan, pimping out the heritage to sell what is a very pretty car in its own right seemed like desperate measures by the marketing team. Instant deathly turn-off.
The Martini-painted Cayman was perhaps the best of all those Rennsport cars, but I think the 918 looks better as Batman. Bad-ass Porsches have always been black and I see this as the baddest of the lot. Bring back Matt Black and the evil of the 918: playing the good guy with the white hat does not seem to suit it.
I’m sure I’m in the minority here: fan boys will love it and no doubt the 918 looks killer at speed in this livery. I wish Porsche had sent some riskier pics: inches-from-death at high speed, scraping the rock face as it chased a fast lap. Badass is as badass does.
Porsche AG has officially opened its stunning new Pavilion in the Autostadt at Wolfsburg. The Pavilion will house twenty-five Porsches, taking visitors through Stuttgart’s heritage, and showcasing the current product range.
The Autostadt lies alongside the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. Attracting more than two million visitors a year, it’s one of the city’s top tourist draws.
Autostadt’s seed was sown in 1994, when VW exhibited their production methodology at Hanover’s Expo 2000. Strong interest inspired Volkswagen to start on a permanent experience centre four years later, adjacent to the Wolfsburg plant. After two more years and an estimated €435 million, the main building opened for business.
Today’s opening ceremony drew all the big names from Porsche AG, VW and the Porsche family, including Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piech and Dr. Wolfgang Porsche. Inspired by the roofline of the Porsche 911, the new Pavilion looks a worthwhile addition to Porsche’s portfolio of engaging architecture.
“With its extraordinary design, this building is one of a kind…possessing a symbolic and historic dimension that evokes the common ties that have closely bound Porsche and Volkswagen and will continue to do so in future,” said Matthias Müller, President and Chief Executive of Porsche AG.
The recent announcement that Porsche would skip a €1.5 billion tax bill on the close of its Volkswagen buyout must have made this event even sweeter. More of that tax dodge anon. Err, not tax dodge, I mean financial astuteness.
What’s the biggest building project in the history of Porsche? Stuttgart central? The Porsche Museum? The Weissach test facility? Wrong, wrong, wrong. The answer is the line for new Macan at Porsche’s Leipzig plant. Says Porsche:
Leipzig is gearing up for production of the new Porsche Macan. For more than seven months, architects and building experts have been working flat out on expanding the production site. It is the biggest building project in the history of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, which is investing a total of 500 million euro in the construction of a body assembly line and a paint shop.
Home of Cayenne and Panamera, Leipzig was recently showcased on the Porsche stand at AMI Lepizig. Porsche promoted “interesting details on every facet of car manufacturing and the visitor experience programmes, as well as the latest job offers and information on the plant expansion”.
Once Leipzig’s new paint shop and body assembly line for production of the Macan go live, Porsche expects 1,000 new jobs to be created in the medium term. If you’ve got a CV to send them, wake up and do it.
Everything pre-release these days is a spy video, spy shots, exclusive pictures, blah blah. The way viral marketing works, you know manufacturers are behind the vast majority of it.
Here’s a pair of videos of much disguised new Cayman and Panamera spotted in traffic in Stuttgart. A tranche of videos shot at the same traffic lights shouts manufacturer to me, but whatever. New Cayman first:
Cayman is heavily masked, but you do get some engine noise and a hint of stop-start technology. Also following a 991 Cabriolet: maybe in convoy.
Ferdinand is all for midnight excursions in camouflaged test cars. Porsche black ops are go! Those mega masked headlights would be interesting on a late night charge – maybe that’s what the 991 is for…
The other video is the next Panamera: odd back end and will be interesting to see what the real deal looks like. Expect Boxster-style teardrop headlights on both. Platform sharing R us.
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