This is true to a lesser extent on LaF.
Yes, the Ferrari’s naturally aspirated V-12 is a better base for drivability,
but you’d never squeeze 950 hp from it without compromising flexibility. Even
in this application, with a more aggressive state of tune than in the F12, the
engine needs a clever variable-length intake system to let it efficiently take
over when the electric motor is done with its work. So it’s safe to assume that
the Ferrari also wouldn’t be as fast or as usable without electric drive.
Or as much fun. The immediacy of the power
delivery is what’s so engaging with these cars. It’s apt that our society—so
obsessed with temporal efficiency that it has zero tolerance for any type of
delay—has now addressed the apparently tardy power delivery of its supercars.
Each of them just bolts from a point in the rev range that shouldn’t release
such urge. It’s both addictive and impressive. Drive an F12 and you just cannot
believe that any car could respond more keenly to a prod of the right foot.
Then you drive the P1—an engine with turbochargers that massive shouldn’t be
capable of such response, yet somehow, it is. The LaFerrari is a mite sharper, but
it’s barely noticeable. The whole thing can feel like a kind of snake oil,
using electricity to cheat. But it’s enormous fun.
Mesh
rear end on the P1 helps vent heat out of the engine bay
It also has positive ramifications for the
future of our passion. But they are tempered by the need for improved battery
technology. However, even at the current state of things, the LaFerrari—a car
that is way faster than an Enzo—boasts a 50 percent reduction in CO2 on
government tests.
How will we feel about these cars in 10
years? Will they be viewed as a quaint stepping stone to a new age? Will
Porsche’s battery supplier have gone bust, rendering every 918 a beautiful but
static reminder of what might have been?
Attempted prophecy is about as foolish as
one can get, but I’ll have a foolish stab and choose to see it like this: The
P1 and LaFerrari are astonishing machines built in volumes so far below
consumer demand (499 for the Ferrari, 375 for the P1) that they will inevitably
rise in price. Their medium-term provenance probably relies on them not being
outpaced by the next generation of series-production machines, the way a 458
Speciale is 1.4 seconds faster around Fiorano than an Enzo. The McLaren and
Ferrari are surely safe from such ignominy because they are starship-fast; the
918 might not be. Factor in the Porsche’s much greater production run (918
units), and the 918 already looks like it’ll be less fondly remembered.
At
the heart of LaFerrari sits a 6.3-litre V12 engine alongside two electric
motors
From the outset, the Porsche was a
technology showcase in the mold of the 959: front-axle electric power,
zero-emissions urban driving. It’s less a statement of performance and more a
suggestion of what might be possible from Weissach over the next few years. But
in lacking hyperbolic statistics, it leaves itself in the wake of the other two
cars. If the McLaren and Ferrari didn’t exist, I would be much more in awe of
the 918.
Ultimately, I can’t tell you which is best
without having them all together at the same time, on the same roads and the
same circuit. I can tell you that the LaFerrari is a stunning machine. When I
later I watched video footage of its active aerodynamics at work as I was
driving—wings darting, flaps flapping—I was struck by just how clever it is. A
constantly variable electronic locking differential works alongside some
infernally smart electronics to trim line, maximize grip at both axles, and
generally make the driver feel like he has Raffaele’s skills.
With
the V8 motor on full noise, the Porsche 918 turns into a roaring tiger, the two
big exhaust outlets just behind your head venting burnt combustion gases like a
pair of angry dragons
But it can also be bluntly analog. Switch
the safety system off, and the Ferrari would lay thick black lines everywhere,
in any of its first four gears. It belongs to a new generation: one that is
better, faster, cleaner—and crucially, more enjoyable for the driver. And when
you’re approaching the lockstops in third gear, applying inputs through
instinct, it’s hard to believe something so complex can seem so
straightforward. Just a wheel, some pedals, and the seat of your pants. As it
should be.
