Stop The Presses- News Flash From Porsche

I was all ready to do a wrap up story on the April 19th DuPont Registry Cars & Coffee car show when I spotted this news from Porsche.  Gotta get this out to you because it is so special it may be the dawn of a new era for the Hypercar market and the technology will eventually translate to street cars from the race track as this post will show.  After seeing the Silverstone race report, I'd give anything to go to Le Mans this year.  See below:

Here is the excerpt of a press release I received tonight from Porsche:

Press Release 20/04/2014

Sports Car World Championship WEC, round 1: Silverstone/Great Britain, LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid race debut was a success Stuttgart. The eagerly awaited race debut of the innovative Porsche 919 Hybrid in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) was a success. The highly complex Le Mans Prototype took a podium at its first attempt in the action packed six hour race at Silverstone (Great Britain). Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU) came third in the Porsche 919 Hybrid after 165 laps on the 5.891 kilometre long track. The race was red flagged because of heavy rain 24 minutes before the planned six hours were completed. Webber brought the car home behind the safety car. The sister car of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) had to retire after 1 hour 15 minutes because of a technical problem. The overall victory went to Toyota drivers Sébastien Buemi (CH), Anthony Davidson (GB) and Nicolas Lapierre (FR). Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development of Porsche AG: “I am really proud. This was a proper comeback to the highest class of endurance racing. Preparation, operation, discipline in the garage and at the wheel of the two Porsche 919 Hybrids have been very good. The race itself was fascinating and this shows me that the new WEC rules work well – despite or even because of the great technical freedom. Three manufacturers, three innovative hybrid systems and exciting competition on the highest level. For me this is motorsport that contributes to road car development.” Courtesy, Porsche Factory Press Release And to compliment this news- take a look at this video of the new Porsche 918 Spyder you can buy for around $900,000.  It is worth every penny when you consider the R&D that goes into making this car possible.  This is an engineer's dream. Porsche 918 Video Give Me That Hybrid Power Unit!