Watching a professional race car
driver slide off the track as he struggles to keep
the Porsche 911 Turbo S he’s driving in front of your journalist-piloted 918
Spyder is a remarkably satisfying feeling. That is, until you realize that the
car is doing much of the work for you.
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During my first drive of the 918 Spyder at the fantastic
Circuit of the Americas, I saw just that happen. As the 911 and its pro driver
threw up a rooster tail of dirt (he safely made it back on track just a few
hundred feet later), I felt a surge of confidence in my driving ability. Then I
felt a corresponding deflation—there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes
of the 918 even when it’s in full race mode.
As I noted in my first drive review, “If, at some point, you find yourself executing flawless apexes at speeds that you’d normally encounter at the end of a middling-length straightaway, and wonder to yourself, “Just how in the hell did I do that?”, you’ll have taken the Wizard of Oz’s advice to heart. You’ve ignored the man—or, more precisely, the 80 or so computers—behind the 918’s technological curtain. The giant green-headed monster of flaming speed is very real to you. The illusion is preserved.”
I bought the Wizard’s line, but then I peeked behind the curtain.
On the other hand, that huge level of technological sophistication that enables pace inconceivable to most ordinary humans, especially from behind the wheel of a street-legal car, is part of what makes the Porsche 918 Spyder such a masterpiece of the automotive art.
“Make no mistake: the speed is real. You’re really doing it. But there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes to make that experience possible,” I noted. “Computers
talk to computers, telling each other how much power to
apply to the front axle (which has its own standalone electric motor, capable
of delivering up to 129 horsepower). Other computers take that information and
filter it through their own algorithm, deciding how much power
to send from the 156-horsepower rear electric motor
to the rear axle, while the 608-horsepower V-8 engine does the same, all of
them responding to the requests of your right foot.”
But the 918 Spyder isn’t just a track-honed scalpel. It’s also a street car, and a very good one at that. It even offers an all-electric mode. “E-Power (electric) mode does just as you'd expect, siphoning off the car's 6.8-kilowatt-hour supply of electrons to supply a maximum of 230 kW of power to the two electric motors
for a maximum range of up to 19 miles (not
coincidentally, about the distance from Weissach to Zuffenhausen), or about 12
miles in more normal driving conditions,” I wrote. “A Jetson's-like whine
accompanies the all-electric mode, louder at lower speeds, then slowly subsumed
by the susurrus of the wind over the cabin. You might think the 918 Spyder
would feel a bit sluggish in electric mode, but you'd be wrong; and if you need
to accelerate more quickly than electric mode will allow, give it the boot, and
the car will automatically kick on the throaty V-8 and send you into Hybrid
mode.”
Pair these two extremes with a range of hybrid-drive modes, some advanced infotainment, an audiophile-grade Burmester sound system, and the 918’s incomparably gorgeous looks, and you can understand the superlatives I laid on the car in the conclusion of my first drive report: “E-Power (electric) mode does just as you'd expect, siphoning off the car's 6.8-kilowatt-hour supply of electrons to supply a maximum of 230 kW of power to the two electric motors for a maximum range of up to 19 miles (not coincidentally, about the distance from Weissach to Zuffenhausen), or about 12 miles in more normal driving conditions. A Jetson's-like whine accompanies the all-electric mode, louder at lower speeds, then slowly subsumed by the susurrus of the wind over the cabin. You might think the 918 Spyder would feel a bit sluggish in electric mode, but you'd be wrong; and if you need to accelerate more quickly than electric mode will allow, give it the boot, and the car will automatically kick on the throaty V-8 and send you into Hybrid mode.”
As I noted in my first drive review, “If, at some point, you find yourself executing flawless apexes at speeds that you’d normally encounter at the end of a middling-length straightaway, and wonder to yourself, “Just how in the hell did I do that?”, you’ll have taken the Wizard of Oz’s advice to heart. You’ve ignored the man—or, more precisely, the 80 or so computers—behind the 918’s technological curtain. The giant green-headed monster of flaming speed is very real to you. The illusion is preserved.”
I bought the Wizard’s line, but then I peeked behind the curtain.
On the other hand, that huge level of technological sophistication that enables pace inconceivable to most ordinary humans, especially from behind the wheel of a street-legal car, is part of what makes the Porsche 918 Spyder such a masterpiece of the automotive art.
“Make no mistake: the speed is real. You’re really doing it. But there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes to make that experience possible,” I noted. “Computers
But the 918 Spyder isn’t just a track-honed scalpel. It’s also a street car, and a very good one at that. It even offers an all-electric mode. “E-Power (electric) mode does just as you'd expect, siphoning off the car's 6.8-kilowatt-hour supply of electrons to supply a maximum of 230 kW of power to the two electric motors
Pair these two extremes with a range of hybrid-drive modes, some advanced infotainment, an audiophile-grade Burmester sound system, and the 918’s incomparably gorgeous looks, and you can understand the superlatives I laid on the car in the conclusion of my first drive report: “E-Power (electric) mode does just as you'd expect, siphoning off the car's 6.8-kilowatt-hour supply of electrons to supply a maximum of 230 kW of power to the two electric motors for a maximum range of up to 19 miles (not coincidentally, about the distance from Weissach to Zuffenhausen), or about 12 miles in more normal driving conditions. A Jetson's-like whine accompanies the all-electric mode, louder at lower speeds, then slowly subsumed by the susurrus of the wind over the cabin. You might think the 918 Spyder would feel a bit sluggish in electric mode, but you'd be wrong; and if you need to accelerate more quickly than electric mode will allow, give it the boot, and the car will automatically kick on the throaty V-8 and send you into Hybrid mode.”
source: Motorauthority
by Nelson Ireson
http://www.boscheuropean.com
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