718 SPYDER RS

THE VERY LAST MID-ENGINED PORSCHE WITH PISTONS GOES OUT ON A HIGH

- ANDY ENRIGHT

ANDREAS PREUNINGER is great company. Porsche's director of GT products is the man who dreams up all the really illicit stuff. While SUVs like the Macan and Cayenne swell the coffers, the beating heart of Porsche is borne of purity: of pared-back, fierce sports cars and we're in a familiar spot in Germany to drive one of its very finest.

The elevator pitch for the 718 Spyder RS is simple. Take the lightest mid-engined body available and plumb the incredible engine from the 911 GT3 into it. With 368kW propelling a mere 1410kg up the road, the results are predictably explosive.

Yet behind Preuninger's signature bonhomie and effusiveness is an element of sadness because this is, in some regards, the end of an evolutionary line. There will be no more Porsche 718s with internal combustion engines. No more midengined Porsches with pistons. The next 718 will be powered by a pure electric drivetrain, of which the engineers assembled would say little officially, but there were enough nods, winks and nudges to feel assured that they know it'll be something very special indeed. But we're not here to talk batteries.

"Rev this engine from 8000 to 9000rpm and you get that metallic edge to it, a really exciting sound," says Preuninger. "It sounds like the [3.8-litre] engine of the 991.1 GT3," he adds. He's on record as noting that the 3.8 sounded fiercer and more exciting than the later 4.0-litre in the 991.2 GT3 and was keen to bring back that zingier, more exotic mechanical top note.