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Porsche 918 Spyder Faster than McLaren's P1 on Laguna Seca Says 1:29 Lap Time

The headlines of this week involved Top Gear one way or another. That’s the biggest news of the moment and until we get some official, final word from the BBC we’ll just have to bite our nails waiting. While we’ll miss the dynamic trio for their entertainment, we also are never going to find out which of the three hybrid hypercars of the moment is fastest around their track.
Porsche 918 Spyder vs McLaren P1 on Laguna Seca 1 photo
Photo: MotorTrend
In the last episode they aired, they claimed that McLaren, Porsche and even Ferrari were warming up to the idea of allowing a comparison between the three to be performed on their track. After initially declining for all sorts of reasons, things were starting to come around. Good thing Clarkson punched that dude in the face, right?

Well, they’re not the only ones with access to such exclusive cars and while Ferrari figures out another excuse not to allow journalists to compared their LaFerrari with its only rivals out there at the moment, the guys from MotorTrend took a Porsche 918 Spyder and a McLaren P1 to Laguna Seca.

In order for things to be as accurate as possible, their usual test pilot was invited to test the two on the same afternoon. Therefore, Randy Pobst showed up all dressed up for the task and with a huge smile on his face. The result?

The Porsche is faster. There, we now have an answer. Surprised? So are we, so were the Porsche and the McLaren people because of a couple of simple reasons.

In theory, the Brit should’ve been faster. It has more horsepower and is lighter on its feet. However, the man who drove them both explained exactly what happened: traction.

The Porsche is all-wheel drive and manages to put the power down better, especially when coming out of a slow corner. On the other hand, the rear axle of the McLaren struggles to find grip with all those 900+ horses trampling all over it.

Furthermore, the ABS settings on the P1 were a bit restrictive as in they cut in too much, forcing Randy to start breaking earlier before turning. Those two determined the final lap times after several attempts.

Around the Laguna Sega track, the Porsche 918 Spyder is faster than the McLaren P1, the former being clocked at 1:29.89 seconds while the latter crossing the line in 1:30.71. That’s the case here, on a tighter track but what if they raced on a faster circuit? The game is surely on, we’re just waiting for Ferrari to man up now and join in.
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