Detroit – Porsche marked its return to the North American International Auto Show with the unveiling of the stunning 918 RSR. Porsche has explained the 918 RSR is a test bed for future production car technologies as tested on the race track. We expect to see some of these technologies in the future 918 road car, Porsche’s “Vision” of an eco-friendly supercar.
There’s magic in the naming of this car. The previously shown 918 Spyder Concept could be seen as a play off the fabulous 908 Spyder that won races throughout Europe including the Targa Florio. The 908 was a brilliant, lightweight flat-8 mid-engined racer. The coupe’s numbering could have people thinking of it as the continuation of the all conquering 917 Porsches of the early ’70s.
This car will be brutally quick, sporting a 563 horsepower at 10,300 rpm. With the electric motors, the peak is 767 horsepower. Additional power is stored under braking using a flywheel to store kinetic energy which spins up to 36,000 rpm.
Think of this as Porsche’s replacement to the short lived Carrera GT. This will be a competitor to it’s cousin, the Audi R8 and its Lamborghini cousins. Perhaps it biggest external competitor will be the Mercedes-Benz SLS, but the SLS appeals to a different niche.
Regardless, they will sell all of these they can build.
There is no BMW model that would compete with this car, certainly not the production version of the Vision EfficientDynamics that some are calling the ‘i8’.
