Porsche 918

The Porsche 918 was presented to Ferdinand Alexander Porsche for his 60th birthday by Porsche employees in the early Seventies. The car, based upon the Porsche 914, was fitted with Porsche's only eight-cylinder racing engine, courtesy of the Porsche 908, with four twin-choke carburettors, modified air filters and a road exhaust system. Despite the 908 producing around 360bhp in racing tune, the 918's output was estimated at around 300bhp, soley due to the breathing restrictions put in place for the road. The power loss was not a problem in a car as light as the 918 - the car was rumoured to out-perform both racing specification 911s and the best efforts from tuners.

To keep up with the power on tap, a few modifications had to be made to the 914 base. A new front valance was fitted, which housed the oil cooler, which was larger than standard - plus, there was little room for anything but the engine under the bonnet - and the lift-out Targa top was welded into place, to aid structural rigidity. Seven-inch wide Fuchs forged alloy wheels were fitted, and inside, the only change was to the rev-counter, which now counted to 10,000 rpm. F.A. drove his example for over 10,000 km on open roads before retiring it to his collection of automobiles.

A total of two 918s were built - one for F.A. Porsche and the other for Ferdinand Piech, whose featured an even-closer-to-race-spec engine - and both cost the company around 100,000 DM.