Porsche 2014 Annual Report Download - page 21

038 039 Annual Report Porsche AG 2014
“ The 919 Hybrid comes
from our Weissach
Development Centre.
All of the insights flow
back to there and are
then available for all
model lines.”
WOLFGANG HATZ
Member of the Executive Board – Research and Development
fabled Nürburgring race track. In logging
an unreal time of sixminutes, 57seconds,
the 918Spyder announced its arrival
in grand style. A new track record,
17seconds better than the previous
best for a production vehicle with
street-legal tires.
“The 918Spyder is a prototype made
for the streets. No other vehicle on the
market has more technology inside,”
Hatz says. “The 918Spyder contains our
collected knowledge – which is why it has
kept us ahead of the competition.”
Porsche’s collected knowledge, in one
car? Yes – although even that inherently
only reects this brief moment in time.
As the abbreviation in its formal name
suggests, “Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG”
is rst and foremost an engineering
company. It’s in the sports car maker’s
DNA to strive to produce the most sport-
ing, technologically advanced vehicles
on the market. An engineering company
never rests. It drives constantly for
improvement. So just a few months after
Porsche celebrated the record drive by
the 918Spyder, the next technology-
loaded vehicle already approached the
starting line.
A spotlight on the 919 Hybrid. The LMP1-
class racing car bumps the eciency
bar up by yet another few notches. It is
the only racing car in the LMP1 eld that
recaptures energy during both braking
and acceleration. It will be bringing this
novel engineering feat into top level of
the WEC (World Endurance Championship)
competition: The regulations stipulate a
maximum consumption level per racing
lap, dierentiated by drive concept. In
2014, the Le Mans organisers specied
the threshold for the 919 Hybrid’s cate-
gory at just 4.79 l per lap. The 919 isn’t
just racing against the clock, it’s also
racing against the fuel gauge.
Only the most modern vehicle concepts
can achieve that. The 919 Hybrid reached
its eciency target in full for the 2014
racing season. And, as Porsche has done
so many times in the past, within a year
of joining the top league the car had
already claimed one victory and earned
several additional trips to the podium. It’s
excellently positioned heading into the
2015 racing season. “Even so, the 919
Hybrid is a rolling laboratory for series
development. We benet every time it hits
the pavement. Every kilometre it travels
produces data and experience for the fu-
ture,” says Hatz, Member of the Executive
Board – Research and Development. “The
919 Hybrid comes from our Development
Centre in Weissach. All of the insights ow
back to there and are then available for all
model lines.”
TECHNOLOGY COSMOS WEISSACH
Weissach. Among car guys, the mere
mention of the town’s name perks up the
ears – a bit like mentioning the Piemont
to true fans. The Development Centre
is a unique technology cosmos. Some
6,500 employees, 5,000 belonging to
Porsche and 1,500 belonging to partner
companies, work on a daily basis there in
the areas of R&D, motorsports, purchas-
ing and support elds. The buildings are
placed close to one another, with narrow
connecting streets snaking between them.
The test track has a variety of dynamic
and torture tracks, as well as a small but
ne 2.8-km circular track. If you could dis-
till the essence of Porsche and lay it down
as pavement, this would be it: companies
that build sports cars need to test on
sport tracks. And because motorsports
inherently involve a need for speed, those
tracks are ideally placed near the R&D
facilities.
Sophisticated, compact: The additional electric motor on the 919 Spyder’s
front axle is a key part of the electric Porsche Traction Management (ePTM)
system that gives the car even more traction and driving feel.
A prototype and a production vehicle: Porsche 918 Spyder.
Technology
and Innovation
All vehicles of the brand, whether intended
for daily street use or racing competition,
run through the dierent departments at
the Weissach Development Centre (known
as the EZW in German). Here is where
work on the automobile of tomorrow
never ends. As soon as one generation
is nished, the next is already being set
into motion. Parallel lines now allow for
completely new models to be added to
the portfolio, each of course with its
own innovative technology. A programme
oriented toward perpetual improvement
as demanded by the philosophy of
“ Porsche Intelligent Performance.”
ROLLING LAB OF AUTOMOBILE
TECHNOLOGY
The drive concept of the 918Spyder
explores what is currently technologically
possible to the fullest, harnessing these
leaps into new features that move the
overall bar well forward. Its independent
all-wheel drive with an electric motor on
the front axle is based on insights gained
through competition experience with the
911 GT3 R Hybrid. The powerful lithium-
ion battery can be recharged from a
standard power charger, and can run up
to 31 kilometres in pure electric mode. A
re-developed “Boost” strategy provides
intelligent management of energy levels
for the electric drive and ensures that
pushing the gas pedal to the oor at any
time delivers the full 887 hp of accelera-