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A laptime at the Nürburgring is something very, very special. It has to be prepared for properly.
The team worked for months for that day.
It's the best feedback you can have as to the perfomance of the car, it's your laptime on the Nürburgring.
For a super sportscar, the 918 is absolutely unique.
The combination of the normal aspirated engine and the electric engine is something very special.
Everytime, you just touch the accelerator, it's like an explosion.
The 918 Spyder has a wide range.
On one part, it's very, very efficient. On the other part, it's one of the most powerful cars in the world.
And there, the tyres play an important role.
And a very good example is the tyre Michelin developed exclusively for our 918 Spyder.
We decided to design a completely new tyre, the Pilot Sport Cup 2
featuring a specific tread pattern, a massive external shoulder to maximise dry handling performance,
and duel rubber compounds with the inner section reducing rolling resistance,
and the outer maximising lateral grip.
If I listen to the race car drivers, the feedback is overwhelming.
Everybody says « I can’t believe that tyre, this is so sporty. »
On this track we needed to design a really well balanced tyre
because it’s not only a matter of grip, it’s also a matter of stiffness.
Because at the Nürburgring, we have very high speed sections, where we really need stability.
In the context of a laptime record, during which you push *** the tyres,
temperatures can be extreme; we can reach over 100°C inside the tyres,
and more than 200°C at the surface of the contact patch.
Managing properly the tyre temperature is a key factor of success in this context,
because you need to have the best performance throughout the lap.
A key factor for the success is that all the tyre tests have always been jointly Porsche/Michelin.
This is very important for the project and for the behaviour of the car.
We understand their philosophy,
we put in our resources, our elements, and as well our solutions.
What we see today, the Pilot Sport Cup 2 is the tyre which delivers the record.
So in the beginning, we said we can, and now we can say, we did!
I couldn't trust my eyes when I saw the numbers on the board. Unbelievable!
This morning was fantastic, we had a fantastic run, the conditions were perfect.
We had great weather, the right temperatures. Everything was fantastic.
The car was prepared very well. It was just perfect. And we had a fresh set of MICHELIN tyres on,
and we had a really good lap time: 6 m 57 sec in a street legal production car is amazing.
Of course it makes the team extremely proud that it worked,
that we have a ground breaking record to announce, 14 seconds faster than a car has ever achieved before...
It's really a big step. This, I think, is the biggest difference.