Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Porsche, First Drives, Racing
A Flywheel-Equipped Race Car Leaves Us Whirring for More
Spinning at 36,000 revolutions per minute just two feet from my right thigh, a 31-pound flywheel is screaming like a five-horsepower Shop-Vac with the filter removed. The sound pierces the composite shell of my racing helmet and drills through my form-fitted foam earplugs before painfully slamming into my eardrums.
Yet despite the aching annoyance, I welcome and embrace the high-pitched drone. It means, in the simplest terms, that the monster inside this ballistic carbon fiber cocoon is not only awake, but completely energized.
With a stab of the throttle, the kinetic energy in the spinning flywheel is automatically exchanged for electricity - the charged ions power two strong electric motors on the front axle. Instantaneously bestowed with 200 torque-laden horsepower, the sticky Michelin slicks claw at the pavement with a vengeance. I clench the wheel as the carbon-fiber bodied race car lunges forward with more accelerative force than an F-16 fighter jet at takeoff power.
Welcome to the driver's seat of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0.
Continue reading Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0
Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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