One-off Arrow Blue paint, Weissach pack, just lovely. Consider us salivating

Blimey, that looks good.

Doesn’t it just? The Porsche 918 Spyder is already desperately pretty, certainly by hypercar standards. And seeing it out of its oft-seen silver or Martini schemes is a pleasant surprise.

The colour you see here is called Arrow Blue. Alongside Mexico Blue and Riviera Blue, it is one of a number of lovely blues that Porsche offers. Perhaps it’s less famous than those other two, but it’s no less bewitching. And this is the only 918 to leave the factory thus painted.

And the interior?

It’s black with Acid Green highlights. The whole colour scheme is – to our eyes – exquisite. The best we’ve yet seen on a 918, probably. Reason alone to start practising our best nods and waves in preparation for this car going to auction.

But there’s more. See the carbon bucket seats and unpainted carbon wing? Porsche nerds will know exactly what they mean…

And what DO they mean?

This 918 Spyder has the Weissach package, which is the box you needed to tick if you were buying your V8-powered hybrid supercar for driving, not posing.

In short, Weissach 918s are 45kg lighter than standard, with lots of interior leather being replaced by Alcantara, and aluminium by carbonfibre. The brakes have titanium components and the wheels are magnesium.

Alright, a 45kg saving is nothing if you’ve not got appropriate talent to actually exploit it. But merely having the Weissach pack is a cool statement of intent.

Well used or a garage queen?

This one hasn’t gone far. It’s two years old, is yet to pass 7,000 miles (est. 11,000km) and it’s just had a full service from Porsche Great Britain. This included new tyres and brakes, so it’s ready to be driven with as much commitment as you can muster.

The car hasn’t been used since said service, while the paint has a protective film on it. Oh, and there’s a front axle lift system to help you over difficult speed bumps or over the pebbles of your posh driveway. In short, you’ll be very unlucky to scratch this 918’s front end.

Anything else interesting?

It’s car number 537 (so it was made before Mark Webber’s, if you want an obscure pub boast), comes with a painted key and a 918 photo book. It’s had just one owner from new, too.

Like all 918s, it’s left-hand drive. But so are all LaFerraris and McLaren P1s. You’ll get over it.

Remind me what that V8 can do.

Well, being a hybrid, the 918 has two power sources. A race-derived 4.6-litre V8 provides 599hp and revs past 9,000rpm. It is sublime. There’s also an electric motor on each axle, boosting the 918’s total output to 875hp.

That means it falls short of the LaFerrari and Mclaren P1 – its natural rivals, and the other members of the ‘hypercar holy trinity’ – but it fights back with more torque. Much more. And it drives through all four wheels for maximum propulsion.

So the performance is strong?

Yup. The 0 to 100km/h time is 2.5 seconds – probably quicker in good conditions, with Porsche famously pessimistic about these things – while its top speed is 345km/h. And it’ll lap the Nürburgring in under seven minutes. Apply any measurement you wish to the 918 Spyder, and you’ll conclude it’s sodding quick.

But it will slink around silently at low speed, under electric power alone. Head out at 5am for a blast on empty roads and you needn’t let the whole street (or estate) know what you’re up to.

Is this really the perfect 918?

Superb, one-off colour? Yup. Meticulous maintenance and one, caring owner? Aye. Attractive, performance-minded option pack? Indeed. Then there’s the small matter of being obliged to have a holiday in Italy to go and bid on it.

All Porsche 918s are special things. We reckon this may be one of the most special.

TG pitted the Porsche 918 against the McLaren P1 and LaFerrari before anyone else. Read it here