“That’s a Supercar.”

Jonathan Najarian
Aug 28, 2017 · 6 min read

Radio up, windows down, clutch in, first gear, and off we go. 95 horsepower of fury pulls off the lot at the Audi dealer. It’s Friday night, I just got out of work to pick up my little A1 (named CJ) from service: last stop of the day. Dropping into neutral, I roll up behind traffic in a small construction zone, just past the dealer. I glance down at the time: 7:37 pm. Travis Scott is telling me “It’s lit!” over the speakers when suddenly, I hear it.

Mysterious, forceful, musical, exhaust outlets.

No no, not Travis Scott. I hear IT. The sound of a dual clutch transmission down shifting from third to second gear. But this is no Volkswagen GTI, this is no Audi RS3, this isn’t even a 911, no, no, no, this is something else. I could hear an abnormal level of air coming from the exhausts in that downshift: it came with force. The kind of force that sounded as if 75 engineers debated for months of how to get their pride and joy to downshift as fast as possible. There is motorsport heritage here. Racing through the car databanks in my head, I check the “Cars heard in real life -> downshift exhaust notes” subfolder, but I’m not finding anything…. when suddenly, the front nose comes into view…

The four stars.

The color of snow from the peak of Mt. Denali in late May when the sun is out, curves for days, fiber that’s 10 times stronger than steel, wheel size that would be found on a Cadillac Escalade in 2003, Kermit the Frog dressed calipers saying “hi-ho!”, a singular crest in gold and red, four bright white stars on the left and right….

I look up from the headlights to check who’s driving, all I can see are bright white teeth from the driver smiling as wide as he can. The roar of the 918 engulfs the environment around me as he rips past. I can hear that smile get even wider as the driver puts his foot further down on the gas. GOGOGOGOGOGO — I chuck the wheel of my all mighty three-cylinder, turbocharged furious CJ all the way to left, cut through the construction pylons, and jump on the gas in first gear.

“I have to try to catch him.”

A symbolic picture, portraying me (left) attempting to catch the 918 (right).

I straighten CJ out at six thousand rpm’s, and grab second gear. I turn my focus down the long street in front of me when suddenly, I see a childhood dream start to unfold: “It’s the intro scene from Need For Speed 2 SE — XJ220 vs. Italdesign Calá Concept” I think to myself. Crawling down the street is a silver Audi A2, aka the newest-age grandpa car in the history of Audi. Grandpa Audi has no idea that the 6:57 lap on the Nürburgring Porsche 918 behind him has just yelled out to the world that it caught third gear. Well, poor grandpa Audi is about to get the surprise of his life.

Replace the XJ220 (right) with the 918 and that’s what the scene looked like.

The 918 pulls out into the empty oncoming lane with full commitment, the sound flying off neighboring buildings and into my eardrums. Eight naturally aspirated cylinders are screaming towards redline with two electric motors pushing the 918 even further. I’ve never seen a car on the street move this fast. Combine the power of eight cylinders and two electric motors, and that is a total of eight-hundred and ninety-three horsepower hurling the 918 past grandpa Audi.

The 918 pulls back into its lane at the top of third, grabbing fourth gear, and choosing not to continue the heavenly music. BUT WAIT: He’s approaching a traffic light! And what do you know, it’s turning yellow….RED! YES! YES! RED! HE HAS TO STOP! My mind flies away like I’m six years old again and thinks the world wants to give me presents: “Here’s my chance to catch him! Maybe I can talk him into pulling over! Maybe I can get in it and rev it! Maybe I can take pictures of it for this article! OH! What if he lets me drive it!? OH, NO WAY WHAT IF HE LETS M….”

Nope. He downshifted, hit the rev limiter, and blew the red light.

A fictional picture illustrating what my first words could have been, if I had caught the 918.(Left: Me, Right: the 918)

Meanwhile in CJ, I still had hope for the next 10 minutes: “Oh this light isn’t taking that long… I bet he stopped at the next red light… Maybe if I just blow past grandpa Audi on the other side of the… Ok, if I were in a 918, which direction would I go, ah yes! I would turn right! Maybe he’s down this stre….”

No chance. The 918 was gone. As I turned CJ around and in the direction of home, I started to realize what had just happened.

It was a totally normal day when out of nowhere my mind hit record. I was supposed to drive home, but instead, I turned in the opposite direction and tried to chase down another car. I love cars, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t do this for just any car. It was all about 20 seconds from when I saw the 918 to when it blew the red light, but it was now recorded in my mind forever. I can now say I’ve seen one out of the three Trifecta (The two others being the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari) on the street, in day to day life.

Two days later, and I still have a smile on my face when I think about it.

That’s a Supercar.

The Porsche 918 Spyder. Yes, 893 horse power and the roof can come off.

P.s. For the real Porsche enthusiasts: I know Porsche named the 918's brake color “Acid Green”. I just liked saying Kermit the Frog to describe the calipers for the story, ok?

Want more 918 Photos? Check these guys out for some beautiful photos I found while writing this:

And the videos that I drooled over while writing this:

The birth of a 918Chris Harris review: The 918Pure sound: 918 on track

And hey, if you read this far, you must have liked my story. Could you tell me what you liked about it? or share it? It would mean a lot to me to hear from you :)

Jonathan

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Jonathan Najarian

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Professional Coach | www.jonathannajarian.com