THIS PORSCHE 918 WEISSACH SPYDER IS THE COOLEST PAPERWEIGHT MONEY CAN BUY.
The Porsche 918 Spyder is art in motion, arguably one of the best-looking modern Porsches with a revolutionary powertrain that makes it stupendously fast. The very first time I spotted one in SA - the only one ever to visit our shores - belonged to well-known Porsche man Toby Venter. Early one morning some years back, I was headed to cover a drag race event at Tarlton International Raceway and on a stretch of road, a few Porsches barreled past me. As a Porsche fan that immediately got my excitement levels up, and when I spotted them turn off into a shopping centre I almost wet myself. As I turned into the centre to see why all these Porsches were there, Toby arrived in a 918 and circled the parking lot. Seeing the 918 had me at a loss for words, and then to make it even more memorable, Toby proceeded to chuck the car around doing donuts and figure 8s - and my camera was in the boot. Eleven years ago camera phones had the quality of a potato. When he stopped I did get a few snaps of the car with some great close-up detailed shots that have long since been lost on a hard drive that decided not to work anymore. Years later the 918 was in the news when Paul Walker was killed in an accident in a Porsche 918, an event that put the car into the spotlight, especially the safety of the car. A few recalls have taken place since, but the car is still out there and available to collectors who have the time to trawl supercar auctions and sales sites. There were only 918 examples of the car built for public consumption, and there are fewer than that left. There was that aforementioned crash, rally driver Walter Röhrl crashed one testing on track and there are a few other examples on YouTube and the web. All these incidents just added to the value of the rare 918, which is evident in this listing over at RM Sotheby’s under a sealed auction.
Making this 918 Spyder a bit more special is the fact that it was optioned with a Weissach package. Weissach refers to the Weissach Development Center in Germany where engineers focus on high-performance development. The Weissach package focuses on reducing weight (by 45 kg) and enhancing aerodynamics for improved performance with the use of carbon fibre components to replace the front trunk lid, the roof, the wing mirrors and the rear spoiler along with a set of lightweight magnesium wheels and tweaks to the suspension. The version here features an amazing Psychedelic Design paint scheme with a Rosso Corsa base, and the lightweight wheels were made white (whitewait wheels?) while inside is a full Indian Red leather. The car has covered just over 800 km since new, and that’s barely two tanks of fuel in the grand scheme of things. More details will be added to the listing at RM Sotheby’s in due course, but so far it’s estimated that the car will fetch between CHF1,650,000 - 2,000,000. When you convert those Swiss Francs to our stellar currency, at the high end that’s in the region of R45,000,000, give or take a few thousand. The hybrid powerplant is made from a normally aspirated 4.5 litre V8 with dual electric motors that has a combined power output of a whopping 661.5 kW with 1280 Nm of torque. This from a car released 11 years ago now. That’s amazing power even by today’s high standards.
Take a look at the YouTube video from Frank Automotive that details all the coolest bits of the iconic and rare Porsche 918 Spyder when it's optioned in the full Weissach spec. The car has legendary status among both Porsche fanatics and supercar lovers the world over, but it's actually been deemed a dangerous car that you can no longer safely drive: Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach Pack - Revs + Walkaround in 4k | Frank Automotive
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