Ferrari LaFerrari vs Mclaren P1 vs Porsche 918

Had also seen the last TG episode, what stunned me most was McLaren's refusal to run a timed lap with the P1 at Dunsfold, a track that they are more than familiar with and is only the odd 30 miles from McLaren HQ, it speaks volumes about that company and that vehicle and the limitations of this alleged track oriented $ 1 million road car. Seems to me that "all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put humpty together again"...

 

I already know what the excuses are: the track is too slow, the car wouldn't get enough aero, the track flavors porsche because of slow corners, it was damp, the stig hasn't had enough time in it--Ron Dennis would beat his time by 5secs, the trofeo's weren't properly aired up, the porsche had extra power.

 

I have enough to share! Who wants some?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Haha!!

And good, clear picture (thumbs up)!!

 

The Emperor Has No Clothes, as he fell off the wall and broke up into itsy bitsy pieces, never to be put back together again after his fall indeed.

Can we write the final epitaph on this McLaren King Of The Ring, Any Track Anytime, Ron Dennis/Cultist Hyperbole BS now????

It's obviously a poser (at least in these type of scenarios/battles, not necessarily with it's owners) based off McLaren's grandiose claims.

Sooner or later, even hardened, recalcitrant Cultist/Flat Earthers gotta give up, concede the loss, and/or move on???.... Right (yikes)?

 

Porsche earn a lot of respect, I hope they will build 960 and kick some a** again

 

And is that on Trofeo´s or Corsa´s

 

McLaren will not say another official word about the P1's performance anymore, nor will they participate in any head to head, there is no point for them. Their primary goal for the P1 was to make lots of money in the short term to firm up their bottomline, Ron Dennis did his job, his big speech has resulted in 375 people buying up the P1. Mission accomplished.

By declining to participate, there is no way to officially confirm or deny whether the P1 lived up to Ron's promises, whatever out there is just noise which can easily be dismissed.

They have since released a faster version, the P1GTR, which by all accounts will top the 918 or the LaFerrari, so that's their build-in excuse just in case the P1 was proven to be slower.

They are trying to follow Ferrari's footsteps in declining comparisons, but the difference is, Ferrari never promise their car to be the fastest, the just release it period.

Porsche on the other hand doesn't mind comparisons, they have always been a willing participant to anything, and the 918 certainly is capable enough to take all comers. It doesn't matter if the car win or lose, Porsche will always participate.

Who won the current generation hyper car war? For pure lust/want factor, the LaFerrari wins hands down, I have yet meet someone who would say no to a LaFerrari. The P1 and the 918 pretty much are tied for 2nd there, as there are people on each side of the camp who wouldn't hesitate a second to turn down either a P1 or a 918.

For performance factor, the 918 wins. There are no asterisks, small prints, buts, etc to its victory. There was no need to explain or examine or micro investigate or pick and choose it's time or telemetries, it's always a clear cut victory. If a victory has to be explained, then it's not a victory, very simple.

The 918 doesn't really have a big speed advantage to the P1, it's just a tiny bit faster but for all intends and purposes, the 2 cars are just about equal in performance for most people.

But even that tiny little bit of advantage is huge as in the beginning when internet fanboys are predicting performance from just paper numbers, the 918 wasn't even suppose to be close, the P1 was suppose to blow it out of the water just from breathing alone. What a big surprise in the real world when it seems the 918 overachieve and the P1 underachieve.

If one can see past the headline numbers, especially the HP ratings, and study how the 2 car works, then it's not hard to figure out that these are hybrids, their HP rating will be measured differently than a conventional car.

The P1 is primarily a 727HP car, the extra 176HP from the electric motor only kicks in part time, it is not a full time 903HP car. it might have bursts of 903HP but that number cannot be sustained.

The 918 is also not a full time 887HP car, as it's well known that the front motor quits once the car goes above 265km/hr, below 265km/hr, it will have more time hovering around the 887HP mark simply because it has a bigger battery and regen from braking to constantly top off the battery pack. It also have a Hot Lap mode where engine power is not used to recharge and in that mode all 887HP is available ready to be put down to the pavement.

Now one can see why the 918 will have better real world performance than the P1 especially in Hot Lap mode, it simply can spend more time at the headline HP rating than the P1, especially when the real world weight difference between the 2 cars are smaller than initially thought.

Without the help of the Hot Lap mode, the 918 in Race mode operate exactly as the P1 does, but with the benefit of brake regen, so it simply can recharge it's battery faster than the P1 so again it can spend more time in 'juiced' mode, i.e. at the headline HP rating. The P1 will always have the help of a lighter car and the extra aero downforce and that makes them a closer match.

 

Torque wins races
Torque and grip

 

Torque wins races
Torque and grip

 

^ I also think I read somewhere that the P1 has poor front end grip compared to the 918 and Laf. Could someone let me know if thats true.

 

TG will post later this week a behind the scenes of the three presenters continuing their discussion on the LaF/918/P1. Just like this thread...but on video...

 

that Top Gear segment was hilarious.

Richard just stood there by the 918 and didn't even mention that Porsche is willing to race anywhere.

You can tell they told him not to say anything to embarrass the almighty P1 track conquering promise car.

As for LaFerrari this isn't any surprise just like Enzo, Top Gear needed to get customer car to test it and Ferrari never claimed bs laptimes like McLaren did.

 

This episode was a disappointment. May drove the LaF around the factory so his segment looked like all the ones we have seen for the past year. Nothing new. Even if they couldn't lap them, they could have driven all 3 together around..that would have been new and beautiful to watch.

 

I disagree. Top Gear and in particular Clarkson, did their best to embarrass Ferrari and Mclaren into allowing a proper test against the 918. Far better that they did that then some poxy cover up and pretend that everything is hunky dory.

 

I think Mclaren did Porsche a favour by not allowing a lap time on the Top Gear Track. After all, Ron Dennis did say that they already beat the top gear track record by 10 seconds - and I know the 918 won't get anywhere near that time. So Porsche should be thankful.

 

By the way, did Mac actually say what the time was or did they say that it was too dangerous to release?

 

The TG crew (the actual mag journos, not the telly clowns) have already delivered a verdict.

 

They could still do that (embarrassing Ferrari and Mc) and give us something nice/new. The May Laf test was the same thing we have been seeing ever since the press has tested the LaF. Driving around Maranello, then driving on Fiorano. 0 originality. I get it. It's the factory car, so they have to drive around. But then they get the 3 cars on stage. Couldnt they film the cars being driven nearby the studio or wherever else? Instead, they spend the next 10 mns trashing 2 peugeot and looking like complete morons.

 

BTW, for those that live outside the UK and have not seen the Top Gear episode, you can download and install Hola (VPN software) and select "Browse from UK". Then go to BBC Two TV website, you should be able to watch it. It will be up on that site for 30 days.

 

Get a bit torrent client like Vuse or Leap. Install Quicktime, DiVX or Windows Media Player,

Vuze Bittorrent Client - The Most Powerful Bittorrent Software on Earth

Use Reddit file sharing site: Search on "Season 22 Episode 05"

https://redditjs.com/r/TopGear/comments/2ws25q/uk_season_22_episode_05_watchdownload_thread/

Bit Torrent: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:EF22EB3174D0CD32D717B358FFB31058C22400BE&dn=top+gear+22x05+720p+hdtv+x264+fov+rartv&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337%2Fannounce

Paste the torrent into you client and start downloading, depending on bandwidth and speed, will take about 15 minutes. Don't waste your time and storage on 1080. 720 is just fine

Very simple,

MB

 

True.

Today we run with the Le Mans P2's at Aragon with Dunlop.

On Friday we do a full reveal.

A week from today we put our Road and Race Version on our stand at Geneva.

We then take that race version and another race version and begin racing REAL races.

It will be interesting...

 

I formed this view after about 30 secs when setting eyes on the P1. They were never going to allow a test until all sold. For me it was all about repaying investment.

Think it would have been another story if Merc had remained around though.

As for the TG test, think Mac played a smart one ie " only a customer car", down to the Autocar connection they knew that Ferrari would never agree to this, as such they were able to save face a little..

 

So...
Any other if, when, but, in order of, imagine, extrapolate, graphics, simulations, ideal laps, ideal tracks, ambient temps, asphalt temps, drivers, driver's lunch, driver's weight...?!?

Or we can just close this tread...

 

Looking forward to the full reveal...best of luck Jim!!!