BOOM.

and somewhere in Woking could be heard an anguished "Nooooooooo!!!!"

hehehe

Props to Porsche... they really held some in reserve for the 918.

I do think the P1 will eventually beat this time, but being able to announce a sub-7 minute time for a production car surely stole a bit of thunder there.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/...-6m-57sec.html

 

Not sure how, anytime soon, unless they give the P1 a power upgrade (or maybe perfect weather and no traffic)?

McLaren were at their wits end determined to break the 7 min barrier (so much so, they haven't announced anytime, thus none is official). Good Luck with that.

Porsche [on the other hand] did this on their first try, with out active aero to boot. So they could still shave a little more time off their time.

When I say "the first try". I'm talking the current vehicle. The last vehicle with the 7:14 time (that some here clung onto so tight) was an early production model, thus had the higher time.

Congrats to Porsche, and good Luck to McLaren.

PS: The 918 is not going to weight much more than the P1.
P1 should be over 3400 lbs, despite what they said earlier in the process. And the 918 has engineered the weight out of the vehicle marvelously. So that's not an issue with them in most cases at all. Only top end speed in this vehicle vs the others will slow it down. And that's only because (besides weight), the front engine/drive aborts above 146 mph. But the 918 should be better in the twisties and during short acceleration burst up to the 1/4 mile, and on a circuit.

PS 2: The 918's tires are optimized for both rolling resistance (i.e. good mileage) and to be sticky. I'm sure if Porsche came out with a more sports oriented tire, that would shave a few more seconds off it's time. Maybe that's what happened with the 6:48 time that was bandied about earlier? Maybe it was Sports tires (as opposed to non spec tires). But since it doesn't currently come with the vehicle, it wasn't allowed? Nonetheless, the 918 should still have more in the tank, and unless they get some great weather, upgrade their power (or hold back production) the P1 appears all tapped out at the moment. But I'm sure they'll try some more.

We'll find out soon enough.

 

well, to be bestowed with a model designation one up from the 917, you'd expect it to be bloody special.

 

well then.
Looks like McLaren missed the mark.

 

pretty incredible

 

Congrats to porsche

 

i desperately hope you're right! i mean, as much as I love the P1, of course i'm biased towards Porsche. though in black, that P1 looks awesome...

going back, i don't know for a fact how hard Mclaren tried... just as we don't know for a fact how hard Porsche tried, to get their respective times. with Porsche being based in Germany, it could simply have been that they had more regular access to the 'Ring. i'm not saying i know that, just saying that i don't think any one of us really knows the story.

(if someone has facts either way, please chime in!)

its just that-- ON PAPER-- the P1 seems to have more going for it-- more power, and more aero. plus they're turbocharged, so an extra PSI or two of boost is but a click away.

now of course we're talking about Porsche, that are an engineering powerhouse. But... one of the winningest teams in Formula One aren't anything to sneeze at either.

i just think that Mclaren aren't going to take this sitting down, and we're all in for a treat over the next few months.

the BIG question should be: will Ferrari even bother setting a 'Ring time with the LaFerrari?

 

That is Awesome, good for Porsche. Looked like they were making it very obvious that they were using street tires, not slicks.

 

That's because they know what the first comment would have been had they not shown that!

 

One thing I don't understand with lap times is why are they doing a rolling start from about 100 miles an hour...you probably gain a few seconds right there as opposed to doing a warm up lap,then stop and go...

 

Amazing achievement. Amazing how wrong I've been about Porsche lately, too.

Lesson learned for me... do not doubt Porsche.

This company's products are simply amazing.

 

imagine the chassis potential with a proper non hybrid drivetrain

 

On-board video:

 

Wow!

Lightening fast reflexes and LARGE attachments.