ONLY AFTER the phone calls and arm twisting had ended,
disputes over tyre choice were settled, the fee for hiring the Portimao race
circuit had been agreed and enough hotel rooms were booked could battle
commence between the Ferrari La Ferrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder.
All three cars were supplied by the respective manufacturers
and represent the pinnacle of their engineering know-how. The referee for the
shoot out between the so-called Holy Trinity was Chris Harris, motoring
journalist and You Tube video presenter.
Actually, that's not quite true; the ultimate referee was
the VBOX data logging equipment that was fitted to each car for recording its
timed hot laps. Also present were racing drivers Tiff Needell and Marino
Franchitti.
The objectives seemed simple enough: find out which supercar
went fastest against the stopwatch on a flying lap of the 2.9 mile of the
Autodromo Internacional do Algarve - better known as Portimao near the southern
coast of Portugal; and decide which of the million pound machines was the most
enjoyable to drive.
Setting the lap time was Chris Harris - and if you don't
want to know the result, don't read on. In the end, the McLaren P1 posted a
best of 1 minute 53.57 seconds, the Porsche 918 Spyder was just behind it, at 1
minute 53.98 seconds and finally came the flying Ferrari, with a time of 1
minute 54.25 seconds.
Harris sums up the staggering performance of the Holy
Trinity cars, saying "I have never driven cars like these; no racing cars,
nothing."
Tiff Needell confesses he's never driven any of the three
cars before, and says he's looking for driving pleasure and "couldn't give
a doodle about what's underneath".
Marino Franchitti, a professional sports car racer, admitted
that it took a while for his brain to catch up with their speed, saying
"they are so savagely fast," and adding "The moment I'd driven
all three I said, 'Yep, I need all three.'"
Harris declares the four-wheel drive Porsche 918 Spyder - reviewed here by Jeremy
Clarkson - to be "a bit scary at times. You're aware there's
computers and people with big foreheads have been playing with things, and I'm
not entirely sure what it's doing at times - but my, my, is it effective."
Whereas the Ferrari gets his vote for sheer acceleration in
a straight line. "The straight line performance I think is the greatest
here. It feels the fastest but it also feels the most exciting. You can't match
this for majesty."
The McLaren comes in for praise for its handling. Harris
feels it's the easiest handling McLaren yet - quite a feat for a 903bhp,
rear-wheel drive machine.
source: http://www.driving.co.uk/news/video-chris-harris-tests-the-ferrari-la-ferrari-mclaren-p1-and-porsche-918-spyder/
by James Mills
http://www.fzrestoration.com
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