While we've heard rumblings that Porsche was going to show its hot new 918 Spyder Hybrid Concept here at Pebble Beach, it appeared that the car was only going to be shown to a select few at private events scattered around the Monterey Peninsula during the week.
Well, today at the Pebble Beach Lodge, site of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the company surprised us by driving the hybrid supercar up to the concept lawn for all to see – and hear. They did a quick turn around after sitting still for a second and as the V8 rumble died away, the car started moving forward again. A couple of people were taken by surprise as they thought the driver may have forgotten to engage the parking brake, but no, the car had switched over to battery power.
We shot a little video and took a few pics as we pushed through the massive scrum surrounding the car when it finally came to rest. Follow the jump to see the video and click below to see our high-res images.
UPDATE: Porsche has revealed that the 918 Spyder actually made its driving debut a couple days earlier on a closed road in Monterey. The company kept the drive a secret, though produced a nice video of their own that really shows off how the car sounds under its own power. Added after the jump.
Original Autoblog Article
Countdown to Motion: Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid Drives.
from TangentVector on Vimeo.
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