To punctuate the car’s official debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show, Porsche took its 918 Spyder to the famed Nürburgring. Why? Oh, just to smash a few records, that’s all. The new hybrid supercar lapped the 12.8 mile Nordschliefe in six minutes and 57 seconds, putting it into the elite sub-seven-minute club as well as knocking fourteen seconds off of the current record for a street-legal car.
The four year-old record was broken by each of Porsche’s test drivers–former European Rally champion Walter Röhrl and Porsche test drivers Timo Kluck and Marc Lieb–with the ultimate best time going to Lieb. The 887-horsepower car averaged 111.5 mph over the entire course, and the vehicles used in the test featured a “Weissach package” that improves driving dynamics.
The 918 Spyder goes on sale in the U.S. as a 2015 model early next year, with a starting price of $845,000.
