However, the Porsche has five different drive modes of its own, ranging from pure electric mode through to Hybrid, Sport, Race and eventually Hot Laps, in which all of the responses from the car’s myriad components – its engine, electric motors, gearbox, brakes, throttle, four-wheel drive system, diff and exhaust (especially the exhaust) – are turned up to 11.Īnd it’s true that the 918 does feel like an entirely different car as you scroll up through its various modes, becoming increasingly aggressive as you do so.īut even when you press the magic red button on its steering wheel to select Hot Laps, the transformation isn’t as dramatic as when the P1 goes from Track to Race. For a car with numberplates, that is entirely unprecedented, even beside the 918. The transformation is akin to that of Clark Kent before and after he enters the phone box, and it provides the P1 with GT3 racing car levels of stiffness, grip and downforce McLaren claims that 600kg is generated at 161mph. The 918 also has a limited-slip differential at the back, whereas the P1 does not, McLaren claiming that its car doesn’t need one. Like the P1, the 918 uses a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and employs a clever torque vectoring system to further increase its traction, not just at corner exit but on entry as well. So although the Porsche is heavier than the McLaren, at 1634kg versus 1450kg, its torque-to-weight ratio – probably the key figure when it comes to acceleration – is superior.
Unlike the P1, however, the 918 is four-wheel drive, the first and bigger of its two electric motors powering the front axle, the second providing supplementary power to the rear.Ĭombined, the 918’s quoted outputs are 875bhp and, get this, 944lb ft. The 918 uses a larger but atmospheric 4.6-litre V8 that has genuine competition pedigree and revs higher and harder than the P1’s V8.
The P1’s twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 and electric motor produce combined outputs of 903bhp and 664lb ft, sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. The Porsche, on the other hand, costs a shade over £700,000 in Weissach specification (its actual price is quoted only in euros, at €853,155) and will be more than twice as common as the P1, Porsche intending to build 918 examples over the next two years.īoth are fully paid-up hybrids. McLaren has decreed that it will build just 375 during the next two years, so it’s also the more exclusive. The P1 is the more expensive of the pair, at £866,000. It also looks instantly and unmistakably a Porsche. It has wings and ducts and huge 21-inch rear wheels, yes, but beside the P1 it looks less furious and more fluid. The 918 seems purer and simpler by contrast, despite the garish stripes that adorn the bodywork of this lightweight Weissach Pack version of the car.
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