Porsche 918 Spyder hits the Nurburgring (video)

The Porsche 918 Spyder – Porsche’s hybrid replacement for the Carrera GT – has been caught on video at the Nurburgring.

Incredibly, it’s more that two years since Porsche took the wraps of the 918 Spyder at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, yet we’re still more than a year away from actually seeing production cars. But Porsche are putting their time to good use.

Porsche has made a few cosmetic tweaks already from the original 918 Concept, but they’ve also let it be known that the 918 Spyder will get a 550bhp 4.6 litre V8 to go with its electric motors on the front wheels  (one less motor than originally envisaged – there was going to be one one the back axle too), which will make the 918 Spyder a FWD Porsche when in EV mode.

All of which has come together in the latest iteration of the Porsche 918 Spyder – the pre-production prototype – which Porsche revealed in May complete with Porsche 917-inspired livery and the cosmetic and drivetrain tweaks developed.

Now Porsche is busy pounding a 918 Spyder round the Nurburgring complete with a new Martini livery as they get closer to showing the production 918, and it sounds great. But then it should; the 918 may be a hybrid but it still get a great V8 based on the RS Spyder’s 3.4 litre lump.

The 918 Spyder video probably can’t be called much more than a clip, but it’s still worth seeing and listening too. It’s not every day you hear a hybrid that sounds appealing.

The Porsche 918 Spyder will go in to production at the end of 2013. It will cost £678k.

By Cars UK