There’s a shallow left kink before the
track’s first braking zone that I’ve never even considered before, but this
time the approach speed is so vast that it triggers the Voice. For a split
second, I wonder if I’m going to stop for Turn 1 and confirm the suspicions
behind those sunglasses. The brakes, vast 15.7-inch and 15-inch carbon-ceramics
by Brembo, are well matched to the LaF’s accelerative powers. The brake pedal,
with its zero-dead travel, is the most race-feeling component on the car, and
it’s also the source of the most impressively cloaked electro-trickery. The
LaFerrari has regenerative braking, harvesting energy while slowing, where the
P1’s brakes are not at all connected to its hybrid system. If the regenerative
918’s relatively jerky and aloof braking behavior was the initial benchmark,
then Ferrari’s calibration work is altogether more impressive (although it
could be argued that the task is much, much easier on a two-wheel-drive
platform).
The
P1’s rear wing pops out a little at times, or a lot in Race mode. It can be
flattened for straight-line speed
In the Ferrari, I wasn’t even initially
aware that the brakes were involved in the charging process. Like everything
else on the LaF, the driver is allowed to simply get in and drive. But the best
brakes are still on the P1, as its Akebono ceramics are otherworldly.
For many people, the above information
allows us to exhale with some relief. It is possible to isolate the driving
experience from the unfathomable complexity of these machines—and the Ferrari
does this best. The greatest compliment you can pay the car is to say that it
feels like a 458 with a rocket up its backside: The performance potential is
immense, and you have to manage the traction available, but the fundamental
chassis balance is very 458. The main differences are the steering, which is a
good deal more informative, and the fact that it takes time for your body to
adjust to suddenly shorter straightaways and more violent braking episodes.
To have fashioned such a conventionally
enjoyable driving experience from such exotic and potentially invasive
technology is a complete triumph. And of course, it allows Ferrari to announce
to a world increasingly uncomfortable with fossil-juice consumption that it is
embracing hybrid technology, when it is actually doing so for no other reason
than to improve lap times. Which is far less misleading than the Prius’s key
message of greenness for greenness’ sake.
The
LaFerrari comes with luxuries including air conditioning and satellite navigation
But is this technology for the sake of
technology? To deflect that accusation, the question each of the new hypercars
has to answer is whether it would have been a faster, more enjoyable device
without electricity. This is where the three diverge.
I firmly believe that two of them, the
LaFerrari and the P1, are superior in both speed and enjoyment because they are
hybrids. But the 918 is a different case. Yes, a 2400-pound, 600-hp,
V-8-powered, two-wheel-drive Spyder would be more fun to drive. But it wouldn’t
be faster around any given flying lap, and Porsche has the simulated data to
prove it. The front-axle traction and extra torque combine to make the heavier
production machine faster. But it remains a 3820-pound machine, significantly
porkier than the other two and a good deal slower from rest to the magic
300-km/h (186 mph) number that Europeans use as a metric. For me, that means it
isn’t a true rival here. (To be fair, I also happen to find the Porsche the
most beautiful, but my opinion on aesthetics counts for very little.)
In
“Race" mode, the retractable rear wing of the Porsche 918 is set to a
steep angle to generate high downforce at the rear axle
McLaren openly admits to having run a P1
test mule powered solely by the car’s twin-turbo, 727-hp V-8, no hybrid system.
The marque says that, at the production P1’s 34.8 psi of boost, turbo lag was
unsupportable. In other words, we can categorically state that not only is the
P1’s hybridity not a disruptive element, the car wouldn’t be nearly as fast or
as fun to drive without it.
