My Porsche 918 Spyder Experience
Discussion
So I was at Sporting Bears at the weekend, and plumped up the bigger donation to have a ride in a 918 Spyder, and I'm SO glad I did.
So a bit of context, I've owned a fairly few fast cars (Lexus RCF, Alpine A110 GT), and I've had rides in much faster cars (F-Type R, 911 Turbo S, Ferrari F12). None of this prepared me for the 918 Spyder.
So after waiting around for a few minutes my car arrives and I'm called forward and clamber in to the passenger seat. The sill is pretty high and wide, and the seat super low, with the whole cabin generally pretty snug, so it's not the easiest thing to get in and out of by any means. It felt good though, very solid and purposeful, you feel like you're sat right down within the chassis. I belt up, shake hands with the driver and have a little chit chat, the car isn't his, but he's volunteering as a driver for the day.
We're in at Wycombe Air Park btw, so there are a lot of guys in high vis directing the cars around. After a minute or two we get cleared and head out onto the runway. As soon as we hit the smooth part of the runway he floors it. We're instantly pinned back into the seat with hard acceleration, we go through first gear, second gear, we're really picking up speed now. This part was impressive, but kinda what I expected. I've had the gut-wrenching acceleration before from the 911 Turbo S. What I didn't expect however, and what really blew my mind was when we got towards the top of third gear and it was like the car suddenly went "okay we've built some speed, now it's time for FULL power" and instead of changing gear it decided it had another 1000 rpm! The exhaust sound behind my head was so extreme and so high pitched. The gears were very long, but it had so much torque it just ate its way through them. Fourth gear, fifth gear, more power more speed! It felt a bit like we were attempting to launch into space. I was completely overwhelmed.
Finally we reach the braking point and he slams the anchors. I'm not sure what speed we reached, but I would guess at least 150-160 which felt crazy fast on such a short runway. We slow right down, do a U-turn around the cones at the end and as soon as we are pointed straight he nails it again. Same crazy acceleration, except this time I knew what to expect and could just enjoy it. We didn't hit quite as high of a speed on the way back because the braking point came earlier, but it was still incredible and I was absolutely buzzing. I didn't know cars could be this fast! Hypercars are the real deal.
The car felt extremely solid, stable and planted the entire time, there was never a hint of traction loss or sketchy handling. That naturally aspirated V8 engine is WAY more special than people give it credit for! It felt and sounded like a very serious motorsport engine which, to be fair, it is. The top-end power was absolutely immense, I look at the 563 bhp claimed figure and it just doesn't make sense. It felt like 1000 bhp. The electric motors were seamless, I didn't notice them at all really since they are just providing fill and assisting the engine.
Just an absolutely incredible car, if you ever get the chance, take it!
So a bit of context, I've owned a fairly few fast cars (Lexus RCF, Alpine A110 GT), and I've had rides in much faster cars (F-Type R, 911 Turbo S, Ferrari F12). None of this prepared me for the 918 Spyder.
So after waiting around for a few minutes my car arrives and I'm called forward and clamber in to the passenger seat. The sill is pretty high and wide, and the seat super low, with the whole cabin generally pretty snug, so it's not the easiest thing to get in and out of by any means. It felt good though, very solid and purposeful, you feel like you're sat right down within the chassis. I belt up, shake hands with the driver and have a little chit chat, the car isn't his, but he's volunteering as a driver for the day.
We're in at Wycombe Air Park btw, so there are a lot of guys in high vis directing the cars around. After a minute or two we get cleared and head out onto the runway. As soon as we hit the smooth part of the runway he floors it. We're instantly pinned back into the seat with hard acceleration, we go through first gear, second gear, we're really picking up speed now. This part was impressive, but kinda what I expected. I've had the gut-wrenching acceleration before from the 911 Turbo S. What I didn't expect however, and what really blew my mind was when we got towards the top of third gear and it was like the car suddenly went "okay we've built some speed, now it's time for FULL power" and instead of changing gear it decided it had another 1000 rpm! The exhaust sound behind my head was so extreme and so high pitched. The gears were very long, but it had so much torque it just ate its way through them. Fourth gear, fifth gear, more power more speed! It felt a bit like we were attempting to launch into space. I was completely overwhelmed.
Finally we reach the braking point and he slams the anchors. I'm not sure what speed we reached, but I would guess at least 150-160 which felt crazy fast on such a short runway. We slow right down, do a U-turn around the cones at the end and as soon as we are pointed straight he nails it again. Same crazy acceleration, except this time I knew what to expect and could just enjoy it. We didn't hit quite as high of a speed on the way back because the braking point came earlier, but it was still incredible and I was absolutely buzzing. I didn't know cars could be this fast! Hypercars are the real deal.
The car felt extremely solid, stable and planted the entire time, there was never a hint of traction loss or sketchy handling. That naturally aspirated V8 engine is WAY more special than people give it credit for! It felt and sounded like a very serious motorsport engine which, to be fair, it is. The top-end power was absolutely immense, I look at the 563 bhp claimed figure and it just doesn't make sense. It felt like 1000 bhp. The electric motors were seamless, I didn't notice them at all really since they are just providing fill and assisting the engine.
Just an absolutely incredible car, if you ever get the chance, take it!
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