The Porsche 918 Spyder has set a new lap record for road cars at the Nurburgring.
The new record, set at 6 minutes and 57 seconds, was set by Porsche factory race driver Marc Lieb, who also posted an average speed of 111mph.
In achieving the new time Porsche has shaved some 14 seconds off the previous record, set in 2009 by the Gumpert Apollo Sport. Porsche says the record is a demonstration of the 'enormous potential' that lies within the plug-in hybrid. McLaren has previously stated its intentions to complete a lap of the Nurburgring circuit in less than seven minutes with the new 903hp P1.
A mood board for the P1, showing a time of 6 minutes and 33 seconds was played down by the manufacturer.
The 875bhp supercar, unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show, has a top speed of 214mph and will be built in a run of no more than 918 units.
A price tag of £657,400 has been set for the production version, with Porsche saying orders for the new model are already exceeding expectations.
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It goes to show that despite
It goes to show that despite being nearly 30 years younger and sporting today's advanced technology and aerodynamics, today's hypercars are still some way off the pace of some old racing cars, and in this case, Porsche's 956 which although weighing 800kg, only had 635bhp in comparison and probably had brakes that probably now seem like milk bottle tops in stopping ability. Even the Zonda R, with slicks, 740bhp and only 1070kg dry weight only managed 6.47:50.
I thought the record is held
I thought the record is held by the Nissan GTR for some time, 7m 25 or something. Is this time done by a road car but on non road tyres?
I'm a huge McLaren fan but
I'm a huge McLaren fan but have to admit that when the big three eventually go head to head most punters will go for the Ferrari on looks, the journo's will go for the Ferrari on the V12 sound, the P1 on handling and the porky Porsche will be bringing up the rear as besting the other two on nothing of importance.
However the more I look at the front of the P1 the more I see some kind of grinning chameleon. It's like a big frog smile when it should be looking all angry and powerful...