‘The body and brain is the limit, not the car’: How it feels to drive the world’s quickest Porsche
“Six G-force, your neck nearly comes off,” Neel Jani grins.
Jani isn’t a jet pilot or an astronaut-in-training; he’s a racing driver and the car he’s talking about is the Porsche 919 Hybrid.
It was built by the German manufacturer for the FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC) and won three times, including three victories at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“The body is the limit, not the car,” Jani tells Nicki Shields for CNN’s Supercharged TV Show at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
“The car could probably go quicker; it’s you, the body and the brain which cannot follow anymore.
“It’s the quickest Porsche ever built.”
Jani and German driver Andre Lotterer were teammates in Porsche’s third successive WEC victory in 2017 and have linked up once again, taking the wheel for the manufacturer in its Formula E debut season.
“That’s the ultimate beast,” Lotterer says of the 919, which has a top speed of nearly 360 km/h (223 mph), according to Porsche.
“Insane acceleration, it’s the only car that accelerates as quickly as this on the planet.
“Anything you drive after is not as good, you’re spoiled. Fun is an understatement!”
Jani and Lotterer also introduce Shields to the Porsche 956 which is mounted upside down on the roof to demonstrate its legendary downforce.
And they speculate on the most valuable car in the museum, arriving at the Porsche 917, a long-time holder of the speed record at Le Mans.
“They go for eight digits,” says Jani, of the re-sale value.
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READ: Germany’s ‘Big Four’ compete for the first time in motorsport history
Germany’s ‘Big Four’
Porsche is a name in the motorsport world synonymous with speed and success.
With history at the highest level in racing stretching back to 1950, the German manufacturer has become a leading name both on the track and on the road.
This season, Porsche has joined the electric racing revolution and lines up on the Formula E grid for the first time.
It’s a particularly tantalizing addition to the rapidly growing sport as for the first time in motor racing history, the “Big Four” German manufacturers — Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Audi — will all compete in the same series for the first time.
Jani has been racing with Porsche in various disciplines since 2013 and Lotterer has joined from rival Formula E team DS Techeetah, where he was part of the last season’s championship-winning team.
Both drivers know the pressure is on to win races and ensure Porsche’s new Formula E car takes its place in this museum.
Watch the video at the top to see more of Nicky’s tour of the Porsche Museum.
