Porsche had wige solutions take the vid and do the timing in front of independent observers . That is more than Ferrari or mclaren have had the balls to do . Also a lot of what you call " details" is just gossip as far as I'm concerned .

 

I didn't say tests, I said TIMES.

I certainly get why testing at the Ring is valuable to these manufacturers. No doubts about that at all and I would even argue the point with Captain Slow if given the opportunity.

>8^)
ER

 

McLaren haven't claimed to have beaten anyone - they said they reached their goal, then added "comfortably".

The fact that some won't believe them without proof is fine - I'm not here to convince anyone of McLaren's results as I realize I can not offer proof.

McLaren are apparently due to bless us [] with a multimedia presentation of some sort in the near future, so we'll probably get to repeat all these same old debates when that arrives. #yippee

You know the old saying, "I can't wait till Tuesday..."

I get that Porsche tried to present an air of transparency with their efforts this time, but independent observers from a magazine and a private film crew are hardly the oversight that is needed for these times from any manufacturer to be considered legitimate.

We can take their word that these were production cars just the same as we can take McLaren's word that they set their sub-7:00 time, right?

Given the complexity of systems in these cars any of them could easily be tweaked to enhance performance - non-critical systems/components could be shed to save weight, tires could be supplied with special compounds, suspension settings altered, power delivery enhanced, more aggressive brake pads fitted, transmission shift times improved and so on. If the car only needs to survive for a few days of hammering around the Ring there's not a great concern to longterm reliability, lifecycle of components, or the function of things like the rear wing hydraulics - were they present in these 918s?

An observer from Sport Auto Magazine isn't going to have a clue about all those things. They didn't even raise the issue of Porsche tucking the windscreen wiper down in the cowl and out of the airstream which is not where it will be placed on production cars. If something as simple as enhancing the aerodynamics to whatever nth degree that benefited them mattered to the team and was clearly altered, what other liberties might have been taken that could not be seen?

Now I'm not here to slag off your precious - I think the 918 is great and if you have decided its the car for you then I hope you will be tremendously pleased having one in your collection. We should all be so fortunate. It's still the marketing influence of Ring times I have an issue with - it has gotten completely out of hand and far too much stock is put into the numbers.

>8^)
ER

 

Man...just listen to Ron Dennis at 8:21 +

 

Cheating in F1 before, now BS in the automotive industry... Ron Dennis trademark!

 

Thank you captain obvious. We all know what Ron said at Geneva in March - I'm talking about now. I've already mentioned that they were clearly working to a different plan back then and if they could rewind the tape and make some edits they probably would.

Those comments are what people in the investment world call forward looking statements, usually coupled with a disclaimer that there are no guarantees of results. In this case, there is a result, but they have decided not to be specific.

The table for all the bitter people is over there. -->

>8^)
ER

 

As they say: "There's none so blind as those who will not see"

Time to take off you rosecoloured glasses and see the big picture.

 

I have the benefit of knowing what McLaren achieved with the P1 at the Ring and recognize their statements have turned from boastful to humble. Being guilty of changing their mind is hardly the grave injustice some want to make it out to be, and again, this is all over a Ring time that in the grand scheme of things isn't all that important.

The P1 is a world beater and if you and others need physical proof to recognize that you are just going to have to wait.

>8^)
ER

 

Getting back on point of this topic, I'm borrowing a post from Fabian/fytl on McLife who is a future P1 owner and attended one of the preview drive opportunities in Woking and at Dunsfold today. This info should put to rest some doubts, I would hope.

>8^)
ER

 

Now that is cool!