The Hypercar Blueprint

In Biology 101, the wings of bats and birds and the eyes of humans and squid often are used as examples of convergent evolution -- essentially, when organisms arrive at the same result via different developmental paths. In the realm of hypercars—those rarefied vehicles that exist in the plane above mere supercars -- we are at a particularly interesting point of convergence. By 2015, hypercars from Acura, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche should be roaming the roads and racetracks of this world, redefining what we consider fast and efficient. These vehicles will do so using a very similar formula: a gas/electric hybrid powertrain mid-mounted in a chassis composed of exotic materials, driving the wheels through a dual-clutch transmission. How did we all converge upon this point in time?

Spyder

Rushin' Unorthodox: Awd Power, Savvy Software Make Le Mans-Level Performance Accessible To Mere Mortals

By: Frank Markus

Zuffenhausen, Germany

Base Price:$845,000

Weight to power:4.2 lb/hp

0-62 mph:2.8 sec

The decision to build an ultra-high-performing, plug-in hybrid concept for the 2010 Geneva show was made just six months before the doors opened at the Palexpo. It would be the first hybrid supercar to be displayed to the public, and it would not be a science-fiction fantasy. So a team of 40 engineers in Germany and 20 fabricators in Italy sharpened their pencils, developed a ration-al design that leveraged racing experience with kinetic-energy recovery systems (KERS), and made it happen. In July of that year, the board of management gave the gas/electric hybrid all-wheel-drive 918 Spyder the green light for production, with the seemingly disparate goals of achieving 3.0-liter/100 km (78 mpg) fuel consumption and a quicker Nürburgring lap time than any previous Porsche supercar had achieved. The strategic point of the exercise was to develop the skills, hardware, and software Porsche's engineers will need to achieve future CO2 and fuel economy compliance without compromising performance.

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As with most hypercars, this one leans heavily on racing experience, from its drivable carbon-fiber monocoque chassis (we rode along in a bare development chassis in June 2012), to its 4.6-liter V-8 based on that of the LMP2 RS Spyder race car, to its hybrid drive control systems derived from the 911 GT3 R (flywheel) Hybrid racer. What sets Porsche's hybrid apart from those of its competitors is its 6.8-kW-hr battery pack. The lithium-ion chemistry is equivalent to that used in the Panamera plug-in, but the cells are wound placing the anode and cathode closer together, which permits much faster charging and discharging. Its 312 cells can deliver an impressive 230 kW of power -- enough to feed the 95-kW front and 115-kW rear electric motors full power at a maximum discharge rate of 606 amps for 10 seconds. It can absorb regenerative braking energy almost as quickly, providing up to 0.50 g of regen, biased heavily to the electrically driven front axle. (Most hybrids top out at 0.15 g.) With this much energy onboard and the ability to maintain it, Porsche reckons the 918 will be able to deliver more e-boost energy lap after lap than its hybrid competitors. Folks who track their 918s may find themselves adapting their driving style to include earlier braking in some corners to regen enough juice for the front/rear motors to add their 127/154 horses to the V-8's plenty impressive 608 hp throughout the next long straight.

<blockquote align="Center"><p>Grip, acceleration, and braking deliver on the car's Le Mans prototype looks.

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Production of the run of 918 cars begins on September 18 (get it?), at a price of $845,000. Add $84K for the race-optimized, lightened Weissach edition. Put your order in soon -- half are already spoken for.

Driving the 918

The 918 starts up in stealth E mode, good for a claimed 7-second 0-60 time and 93 mph or 15 miles of gentle EV range. Toe into about 70-percent throttle, and the flat-plane-crank V-8 barks to life, its frenetic double-four-banger exhaust exiting about as far away from your ear as a Ducati's. Now you're in Hybrid mode, which can also be selected by rotating the Map switch on the steering wheel. Hybrid mode optimizes for efficient driving by upshifting early, coasting with the engine off, etc.

Of course, if you get only three hot laps of Porsche's Leipzig test track, you quickly dial up Sport and Race modes. These keep the engine running and sharpen all responses, delivering max e-boost for 20 or 30 seconds, respectively, and tailoring the rear wing and front diffusers for greater downforce. Overall levels of grip, acceleration, and braking absolutely deliver on the car's Le Mans prototype-racer looks, while all-wheel traction and deft computer controls invisibly make the performance feel far more accessible and less brutally dangerous than in the Carrera GT. The steering aptly conveys that the front tire grip is diminishing toward the end of the lapping session, but the brake pedal divulges no hint of regen, metering out (abundant) carbon-ceramic retardation in direct proportion to pedal pressure. Driven like an amateur piloting a multi-million-dollar prototype (full acceleration on the straights, early conservative braking into turns), the state of charge increases from 70 to 90 percent during a couple of R-mode laps. Porsche driving ace Walter Röhrl quickly depletes the battery during his violent three-lap session, demonstrating that the V-8/7PDK is still quite capable of delivering amazing performance all by itself.

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How didAcura,Ferrari,McLaren, and Porsche arrive at a similar conclusion of what a hypercar should be?

"Porsche decided to build this car to give a clear answer to the CO2 discussion. To show that with technology it is possible to optimize and reduce fuel consumption and on the other hand to show that high performance will survive. When we showed the car for the first time in Geneva, Porsche was the first to show a super sports car with a hybrid drivetrain. Other competitors followed. I think that is the best feedback for us that we made the right solution. We are totally convinced that we did it the most sustainable way; the most 'engineering' way. We have a front motor so we can recuperate much more energy from the front than the back; our ability to drive purely electrically is much more exciting than if you had not the power and big battery onboard. And our [NEDC combined] fuel consumption will be 3.3 liters/100 km [71 mpg] -- no other super sports car will achieve this." -Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, senior project manager for the 918 Spyder

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2014 McLaren P1

Boundary Pusher: At last, the Legendary F1's Successor has arrived

By: Benson Kong

Woking, United kingdom

Base Price:$1,150,000

Weight to power:3.8lb/hp

0-62 mph:3.0 sec

The media presentation told us McLaren Automotive's 10-man senior engineering team boasts 108 combined years of supercar development experience and another 63 years of working in Formula 1. Which sounds like plenty to guide the P1 plug-in hybrid supercar from idea to production.

While there's no doubt the P1 will be a technological masterpiece, it was refreshing to learn that McLaren didn't know where to start with the whole shebang. True, the P1 was one of the originally planned products in the lineup, and in the works since August 2007. But there were many unknowns at the outset: whether the car could generate as much downforce as an FIA GT3-spec race car, whether the car would achieve less than 200 grams/kilometer of CO2 on the New European Driving Cycle (the 12C is rated 279 g/km), and whether the car could sufficiently cool 903 hp.

A plug-in powertrain was settled on, but McLaren isn't Toyota and had no experience with hybrids, much less how the electric drive would function. Electric motors and traction batteries available early on proved inadequate. So McLaren decided to build its own e-motor, but failed in its initial 2010 attempt. After continuous learning, the current e-motor offers 176 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque. Johnson Matthey's Axeon led the P1's lithium-ion battery development. The 324 cells, six cell modules, and shell casing were sized as small as possible to meet weight, packaging, and power density requirements. Other battery numbers to note: 4.7 kW-hrs of energy, 180-kW peak power, and at least 6 miles of all-electric driving range. The 6 EV miles are critical in helping meet the NEDC CO2 target.

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The 727-hp twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-8 is about 90 percent new over the 12C's. Having more than 900 combined hp at the driver's disposal presents handling and stability challenges. In response, McLaren evolved its adaptive hydraulic suspension. While the 12C features active roll control, the P1 takes it a step further with control circuits for roll and heave. The high level of continuous control allows the car to easily transition from road to race modes, permitting the coexistence of a compliant normal setting and a ride stiff enough to accommodate more than 1300 pounds of downforce at 160 mph. The P1's exterior looks absolutely futuristic because elements such as the front diffuser, door blades, and active rear spoiler are designed to maximize the airflow's potential.

Production of the P1 began on July 8, and the first 50 should be completed by December. By then, we predict all 375 of the $1.15-million supercars will be spoken for.

How did Acura, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche arrive at a similar conclusion of what a hypercar should be?

"It's quite funny actually to see how different companies in different parts of the world arrive at similar targets, achieved in a very different way for each of them, all at the same time. Formula 1 is a little bit like that. If you look at the cars on the F1 grid, they're produced in very different environments with people from very different backgrounds. They all arrive at similar solutions. Our solutions are actually quite different from our competitors', and we feel that we've stolen a march on many of them from many different areas, and we're quite pleased about that. I guess it'll be up to the press and then the customers to tell us who has won -- who's in the lead -- of this little race."- Chris Goodwin, chief test driver, McLaren Automotive

P1 Numbers Countdown

• 10The projected range in seconds the P1 will finish the quarter mile.
• 96kilograms (212 pounds): the li-ion battery's weight.
• 8The total number of rear brake-caliper pistons on each P1.
• 7The claimed maximum time in seconds needed for the P1 to reach 124 mph.
• 6The number of different carbon-fiber grades used throughout the P1.
• 5The number of P1 powertrain modes: E-mode, Normal, Sport, Track, and Race.
• 40percent: A 2/5-scale P1 model was subjected to wind-tunnel testing before the full-size car went in.
• 350percent: the increase in roll stiffness when going from road to race mode.

29degrees:

• the rear spoiler's angle of attack when producing maximum downforce.
• 1The number of P1s you'll need to drive to feel special.
• 0The number of right-hand-drive P1s to be built.

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2014 Ferrari LaFerrari

Thy Name is Fun: As flagship technology demonstrators go, you don't get more bleeding-edge than THIS

By: Edward Loh

Maranello, Italy

Base Price:$1, 400,000

Weight to power:3.6lb/hp

0-62 mph:3.0 sec

When asked to describe in one word what it's like to drive the LaFerrari, Roberto Fedeli doesn't miss a beat. "Fun," says Ferrari's soft-spoken technical director.

Fun may be the result, but high technology is the means. Like its predecessors the F40, F50, and Enzo, the LaFerrari is the brand's flagship high-technology demonstrator, a rolling distillation of everything Ferrari knows about racing and road car production.

"We want to show ourselves and to the world what is the technology limit to build a car. Technology limit means what performance we can achieve, what is the aerodynamics -- from the lowest point of view -- we could achieve, what is the best engine that we could build, and so on, and so on. The whole car -- that must be the expression of the technology limits," says Fedeli.

This is why the car borrows so heavily from the Formula 1 experts at Scuderia Ferrari. The LaFerrari's hybrid kinetic energy recovery system (HY-KERS) is a direct result of the KERS system Scuderia has been developing for F1 racing since 2009 (see next page), but differs from most of today's hybrids -- supercar or not -- in a few key ways. There is no plug-in recharge option­ -- the LaFerrari batteries charge only via the regenerative braking system or instances of excess engine torque, such as during cornering. There is also no EV-only mode as in the 918 and P1. When asked why, Fedeli replied, "We don't want to use the car in electric driving -- pure electric driving -- because we think this kind of car is a supercar. It's completely crazy to think to use [it] in a way that you can't hear the sound of the engine…sound is a part of the emotion, it's a part of the feeling that you need in order to understand the car." To get an idea of the kind of sound the LaFerrari will make, you need only examine the beautiful tangle of Inconel snakes that slither from the sides of the 12-cylinder's vee.

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The LaFerrari's carbon-fiber occupant cell weighs only 153 pounds (half the weight of the total HY-KERS system) and is assembled using the same hand layup process and autoclaves used by the Scuderia. This limits output to one vehicle per day and is one of the reasons the LaFerrari production run is only 499. Numerous composite fibers are used in different combinations throughout the chassis­ -- T800 carbon fiber is used in the roof structure and tub, while T1000 UD is used in the door sill area, its unidirectional fibers arranged according to the load pathway. Similarly, high modulus M46J and Kevlar fibers make up the floor and battery cases because of their puncture resistance. LaFerrari drivers will sit lower and more reclined than in the Enzo, just ahead of and above the battery packs, with their feet elevated. Following the theme, this position is less passenger car and more Formula 1.

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Says Fedeli:"There are some performance numbers: 0-100 km, 0-200 km, and so on...but what we can summarize, what we would like to achieve from this car, is another kind of feeling when you drive it. "And we all know what that is: fun.

Engine

Ferrari claims the LaFerrari's 6262cc direct-injection V-12 is the most powerful production automotive 12-cylinder engine in history. It makes 789 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque via an undersquare design, 13.5:1 compression ratio,

and screaming 9250-rpm redline. F1 technology, including a dry sump oiling system featuring reed valve scavenging and a variable displacement oil pump; special low-friction coatings and finishes (on the tappets, cam lobes, and piston skirts); and a lightweight, aerodynamic crankshaft make this possible. The greatest geekery takes place inside the carbon-fiber plenum, where the inlet ducts maximize volumetric efficiency by constantly varying their length in response to engine speed and load.

How did Acura, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche arrive at a similar conclusion of what a hypercar should be?

"Speaking about what the other car manufacturers are doing, I don't think that the starting choices -- the starting specs -- and the final result could be the same. Because, for instance, [some of us] are thinking [about] the car with a different kind of performance that they want to reach with the electric driving. I don't think all of us are working for the same game, for the same kind of problem. For sure, we thought the product that for us is very consistent with the other cars that we are producing and with the other supercars we have produced in the past. We only are optimizing, making an evolution for what we [needed] in the past. This is the philosophy we follow. But I don't think that all of us are playing the same game and will obtain the same result at the end."-Roberto Fedeli, Ferrari technical director

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2015 Acura NSX

Ohio's Crown Jewel: honda's halo Moves from Suzuka to…the Buckeye State?

By: Benson Kong

Ohio, United States

Base Price:$140,000

Weight to power:6.0lb/hp

0-62 mph:3.2 sec

Every driving enthusiast knows the 1991-2005 Acura/Honda NSX's legacy is large and legendary. That legacy is inescapable if you're tasked with bringing the next NSX to market.

Now imagine you're Ted Klaus, a 22-year Acura/Honda veteran with tremendous experience working on chassis and vehicle dynamics, stability control, and all-wheel-drive integration. He's been named the Large Project Leader (essentially chief engineer) for the new-generation NSX, and his American engineering and assembly team have orders to give the revived supercar an AWD hybrid powertrain. The purists' outrage is palpable. What's a guy like Ted going to do?

"The first thing you do is you go and talk to the people that were there and developed [the original NSX]," Klaus says. "I went and took the entire development team, and we met and spoke with Uehara-san [Shigeru Uehara, the first NSX's LPL] and some of his colleagues in Motegi, at their annual [NSX] fiesta. You learn what was on their mind. You learn about what NSX means and how to carry that on. To get to the essence of what the NSX was, and should always be, was really critical to me."

So it won't be exactly the same as the 1991 car, but the underlying spirit remains. NSX, as Klaus asserts, "didn't stand for aluminum-bodied, mid-engined V-6. It's an experimental interpretation of what a sports car should be."

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The possibilities are fascinating. Within two years, the labors of Klaus, associate chief engineer Clement D'Souza, and the development and assembly team should bear fruit. The high-performance two-seater will be fitted with a mid-mounted V-6, likely twin-turbocharged in light of Honda's decision to rejoin the Formula 1 fraternity as a turbo engine supplier in 2015, spinning the rear wheels with help from three electric motors -- one coupled to the seven-speed twin-clutch automatic transmission and one powering each front wheel. The combined system should produce an estimated 560 hp. Ensuring the car elicits a "vivid response" from the driver, and being extra mindful of the human-to-machine connection, are top priorities.

Given Klaus' background in AWD integration, he is understandably enthusiastic about the Sport Hybrid Super Handling-All Wheel Drive. "It can be proactive and it can predictively respond," he notes, admitting that the challenge is making that response feel natural. "We feel with our experience with SH-AWD, we can meet the challenge to have it be direct and linear."

Sounds like the original NSX.

How did Acura, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche arrive at a similar conclusion of what a hypercar should be?

"All carmakers who want to deliver what we call 'timeless sports car values' at a very high level are seeking a new way to deliver those values -- to deliver a new driving experience. So certainly, I don't know how they've arrived at them all at similar times, but inside Honda, NSX stands for New Sports eXperimental. So this is our method to deliver this new sports car experience. "- Ted Klaus,Acura NSXlarge project leader

The New NSX's Long, Tortuous Journey

July 2005

After 15 model years, Honda schedules NSX production to conclude at year's end. Eventual total U.S. NSX sales: 8999 units.

January 2007

Acura's Advanced Sports Car Concept debuts at the Detroit auto show. The front-engine, V-10-powered coupe (with SH-AWD) was hailed as the new NSX.

December 2008

NSX project is cancelled because of global economic conditions.

December 2009

Honda declares the ASCC-based HSV-010 GT will campaign in the Super GT racing series with a V-8 and RWD.

September 2011

Mystery Acura convertible sports car is spotted on "The Avengers" movie set.

December 2011

After months of rumors, an NSX concept is revealed to journalists in Las Vegas.

January 2012

NSX concept 1.0 unveiled at Detroit auto show.

January 2013

NSX concept 2.0 -- wider, lower, and finally with an interior -- makes an appearance at the Detroit auto show.

May 2013

$70-million Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio, is announced as future NSX home site.