[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHRIS HARRIS: The Nurburgring, the new Porsche 918 Spider,
Walter Rohrl, and no chance to drive the car myself.
Let's get this straight--
I hate ride stories.
They are rubbish.
But I'm so unconvinced by the need for a heavy hybrid
hypercar that I thought I'd go and see what a 795 horsepower,
1,700-kilogram, part-electric Porsche feels like from the
wrong seat, and then have some clever people tell me why my
skepticism is unfounded.
HOLGER BARTELS: Silent mode.
CHRIS HARRIS: Silent mode.
That's just weird.
HOLGER BARTELS: Cool, huh?
CHRIS HARRIS: Wow.
And how many miles can we go like this?
HOLGER BARTELS: Miles?
CHRIS HARRIS: Mostly kilometers, though.
HOLGER BARTELS: OK, kilometers, 150 about.
CHRIS HARRIS: On one charge?
HOLGER BARTELS: Ah, no.
25 kilometers.
CHRIS HARRIS: 25 kilometers.
But maximum is 150?
HOLGER BARTELS: Yes, yes.
CHRIS HARRIS: Wow.
That's just freakish.
HOLGER BARTELS: Cool.
CHRIS HARRIS: It's flat.
HOLGER BARTELS: That's flat.
CHRIS HARRIS: I love the fact that the rev
counter isn't working.
HOLGER BARTELS: Yes.
CHRIS HARRIS: It doesn't need to, does it?
HOLGER BARTELS: No.
Just electrical engine.
CHRIS HARRIS: This man is the secret behind so many great
Porsches and the way they drive.
So calibration king, honestly, real king.
And this is the most complicated car you have ever
calibrated?
HOLGER BARTELS: Yes.
CHRIS HARRIS: By a long way.
HOLGER BARTELS: Yes, yes.
By a long way.
CHRIS HARRIS: And we were discussing earlier, you
reckoned something like, five or six times the length to
calibrate this car than a normal car?
Maybe more?
HOLGER BARTELS: At least, yes, I think so.
But we made a lot of work with the GT3, and we put a lot of
stuff from the GT3 to this car as well as I have a lot of
guys which make all the calibration and simulation.
And so I have about--
I would guess about 60%, perhaps 70% of all the
calibration stuff with simulation.
CHRIS HARRIS: And is it the same control unit for the
chassis electronics as the GT3?
HOLGER BARTELS: Yes.
It's completely the same.
Are you ready for race mode?
CHRIS HARRIS: I think we're ready for race
mode, aren't we?
HOLGER BARTELS: OK.
CHRIS HARRIS: So--
[REVVING ENGINE]
CHRIS HARRIS: Yes.
I think we can say that that's a slight change
in character, wow.
That's ridiculous.
HOLGER BARTELS: [CHUCKLES]
CHRIS HARRIS: That is ridiculous.
Wow.
How can I describe it?
It's a flat-plane sound.
So you really feel that it's a flat-plane crank.
So it doesn't sound like a normal V8.
It sounds like a racing V8.
It's quite cool, actually.
We're in a 1918 Spider turning up to the public entrance.
HOLGER BARTELS: Yes.
CHRIS HARRIS: You certainly get some views.
HOLGER BARTELS: I think the people like our new car.
CHRIS HARRIS: Wow.
That's quite an interesting motor car.
OK, Frank.
This is your baby.
FRANK WALLISER: Kind of.
CHRIS HARRIS: I know there's an element of nerves because
it's the first time that you've allowed us into a car
that's as finished as this.
I have to say, of the ones that's out today, this is my
favorite livery.
This is the psychedelic one, isn't it?
FRANK WALLISER: [CHUCKLES]
Exactly.
CHRIS HARRIS: It does look absolutely awesome.
Let's talk about some specific points of technical stuff here
that I'm just blown away by this car.
First of all, curb weight.
So we have the most extraordinary packaging
exercise here.
And this car is 1,700 kilograms?
FRANK WALLISER: 1,700 kilograms is the standard car.
With a Weissach package, we expect 1,665 or even
a little bit less.
And weight is, of course, one of our toughest tasks to bring
it down as low as possible.
CHRIS HARRIS: So if you applied normal technology, and
when I mean normal technology, I mean for a normal GT series
car, like GT3 technology and materials, to a car of this
package, how much would it weigh, do you think?
FRANK WALLISER: We made a comparison to Carrera GT, what
was definitely a light car in that time.
And if you compare the basic car without the hybrid
components, this car is 100 kilograms lighter than a
Carrera GT.
And if I compare it to GT3 or GT2, the 911 standard based, I
expect another 50, 80 kilograms plus.
CHRIS HARRIS: OK.
So we've got a carbon top with carbon
structures attached as well.
The engine is attached.
Is that an aluminum frame, or is it--
FRANK WALLISER: No.
That's also carbon fiber.
CHRIS HARRIS: It's all carbon.
It's all carbon fiber as well.
FRANK WALLISER: It's all carbon fiber frame, like the
Carrera GT.
And Porsche is the only one that is doing also the frame
for the engine in carbon fiber.
CHRIS HARRIS: OK.
Weight distribution is?
FRANK WALLISER: 57 in the back, 43 in the front.
CHRIS HARRIS: Is this optimum for you?
FRANK WALLISER: That's optimum.
That's the same like our Spider.
And with that, we won many races.
CHRIS HARRIS: Yeah, fair enough.
I can't argue with that.
Some interesting technical points for me on a practical
level is this tire that you've developed with Michelin,
which, apparently, the claim is it's giving you kind of
rolling resistance of almost like an eco-tire.
And yet you've got massive amounts of
grip from it as well.
FRANK WALLISER: Exactly.
And tire, as always, is extremely important.
And here it helped us to bring out very tough targets like
the fuel consumption on one side and the track performance
on the other side really together all in one tire.
CHRIS HARRIS: OK now, for me, this feels like we're moving
into an area that's very much like 1987.
Bear with me here.
In 1987, Porsche built a car called the 959.
Remember that one?
Quite a cool car.
And Ferrari built a car called the F40.
Now, when you launch this car next year, there's going to be
a new Ferrari, we think, as well that might be called an
Enzo-something.
I don't know.
Son of Enzo, what do they call it?
Now, there were comparisons between the F40 and the 959.
The 959 was a technical showcase for Porsche.
And that's exactly what this car is, isn't it?
So this is a technical showcase?
FRANK WALLISER: Yes.
CHRIS HARRIS: And we expect to see this technology coming
through other Porsche in the future, don't we?
FRANK WALLISER: For sure.
If you're doing cars like that that's not only for an
engineer's fun.
It must come out something for other Porsches.
That's why we really advanced not only the drive train but
also in the technology of the body panels Also the
instrument cluster, of the steering wheel, of this
generation, all these things can be then
taken to other Porsches.
And we will see concepts.
We will see parts.
We will see ideas also in future Porsches.
CHRIS HARRIS: OK now, the tough question.
People like me look at this car and say it's an incredible
engineering exercise.
And having been in it now, it's staggering.
To go along the road like that silently, and then for someone
to flick a switch and go, should we go full hybrid now?
Bang, and this engine in sport mode just erupts.
It's a new sensation.
And that's what cars like this should be all about.
They should be about new sensations.
But what about this car without all the electricity in
it at 1,200 kilograms with 500 horsepower?
What's your counterargument to that?
FRANK WALLISER: [CHUCKLES]
I always say, why would you want to be slower?
You have this additional electric power.
This is number one, and more serious, number two, is the
questions of the future.
And for us it was very fundamental.
Will the future sports car exist in the future?
Will they be accepted?
Will customers accept that the fuel consumption of super
sports cars is different to the everyday car?
And we said, no, we have to give a technical answer to
something like that.
And that's why we decided for this very, very extreme
concept by adding the hybrid power in that
car, and with it--
by driving, it's much more fun.
You have more different cars.
You get different cars in one package.
You have an EV side.
You have a hybrid side, and you have a race
side in that car.
So I'm fully convinced this is a concept for the future.
And this shows what will be possible.
CHRIS HARRIS: It's quite a compelling answer, actually.
It's quite a good answer, an irritatingly good answer.
OK, there's a bit of me that still wants to drive an RS
Spider for the road.
Ever since you let me drive one in 2006, wasn't it?
And I thought, I'd love to drive one of these with a
number plate on it.
So maybe I have to wait a bit longer.
It is a stunning engineering exercise, I have to say.
And the level of calibration that goes on to make this
electricity talk to this internal combustion engine
talk to the front axle, talk to the back axle, talk to the
differential, I mean, it's so complicated.
FRANK WALLISER: For sure.
CHRIS HARRIS: Is it more complicated than you thought
it was going to be?
FRANK WALLISER: No, I was not surprised.
But the level of the complexity and to organize
everything and that these different engineering teams
come together, that's really a task.
I'm not surprised by the complexity.
In day-to-day life, you sometimes think maybe less
would be better, to make your day just easier.
But if you see, then, the benefit, if it works and if
you see how the car here performs on the track, and if
you see the fuel consumption that we have, then we say, OK,
this was perfect.
That's really the right approach on that.
CHRIS HARRIS: OK.
Within the package, we've carbon fiber this.
We've got new technologies with the hybrid powertrain.
One thing that seems to get forgotten is how special on
its own this internal combustion engine is.
Now, much as I love your electricity, me, I'm an engine
man, still.
So talk to me about this engine, right?
140 kilograms.
Tell me a bit about the spec the insides, how it works.
FRANK WALLISER: This is--
well, where to start.
Well, it's coming from the engineering
team from the RS Spider.
That was, for the first time, in Porsche with a completely
new V8, very light, very powerful engine at that time.
And the idea was now taking this very light engine as the
target was to bring the curb weight of the car down.
We said, OK, a normally aspirated engine is always the
lightest one.
So this will fit in a car like that.
And so we decided to take over the concept of the RS Spider
in a street legal engine.
Well, different displacement, and at the end of the day,
it's a new engine, but we have still the same designers, the
same engineers working on that thing.
And I think that makes it so powerful, so unique.
And it's so close to the race engine that's
really, really amazing.
It's 9,000 rpm revving.
It's titanium connection rods.
And one nice story was when we asked the supplier and sent
the data to the supplier of the crank shaft, he called us
back and said, hey, guys, which race car?
We said no race car.
Street car.
And he said you are crazy.
CHRIS HARRIS: So we're at 900 rpm, effectively a race crank.
But because you have all this electricity for your
auxiliaries, no belts, no nothing.
FRANK WALLISER: No belts.
And the decision to make a new engine says, OK, if you're
doing the design from scratch, throw out the belts.
That helped us in the length of the engine.
It's an engine like that that's really a
small and tiny thing.
And also with these electric motors, they
have the low-end torque.
We can add to the high-end torque of
the combustion engine.
And that give this wonderful flat line that gives you
overtaking power all the time.
CHRIS HARRIS: So at the heart of 918, it's still a really
special internal combustion engine?
FRANK WALLISER: Exactly.
Exactly.
And Walter just--
I asked him, Walter, what do you think
about electric drive?
And he said I love it if I have it additionally.
So that bring it down.
And in fact, also without that engine, we couldn't achieve
the fuel consumption.
Because if I calculate the other way around, around 3
liters, and then considering to having not a plug-in, not a
hybrid, it means that this combustion engine has a fuel
consumption of approximately 11 to 12 liters.
And 11 to 12 liters in that car means it's 40%, 45% less
in fuel consumption than a Carrera GT for a 580-plus
horsepower, 4.6 V8.
And that's really, really low.
CHRIS HARRIS: I think it's a spectacular thing.
And obviously you can see the exhaust.
You can see the design touches.
We could go on for hours.
FRANK WALLISER: For sure.
CHRIS HARRIS: I'm becoming convinced.
FRANK WALLISER: That's good.
[LAUGHTER]
FRANK WALLISER: Very good.
CHRIS HARRIS: The 918 is something new.
It's exciting and clever.
But just as it teaches us that we have to change, I still
can't stop wanting a lighter car without all the clever
heavy electric stuff.
But what do I know?
Here's Marc Lieb, the very best racing driver around the
Nordschleife to tell us what the 918 feels
like to drive fast.
A few hours after this was shot, he posted a stunning,
7-minute, 14-second lap.
MARC LIEB: It feels very fast, actually, everywhere.
It feels fast in the corners.
It feels fast in the straightway.
It's really good in the breaking.
[MUSIC PLAYING]