MOTORING
SHE can serve at speeds of more than 100 mph — but Maria Sharapova was whisked to the pre-Wimbledon party in a £700,000 electric car capable of twice that.
Keeping up the theme, her chauffeur for the night in the 214 mph carriage, pictured, was former Fomula 1 driver Mark Webber.
French Open winner Sharapova made it to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event at Kensington Roof Gardens, West London, on Thursday in one of the fastest cars on the planet — the Porsche 918 Spyder — which is also one of the least polluting.
The plug-in hybrid supercar is the most powerful Porsche road-car ever built, designed both f or t he road and the racetrack.
It can accelerate from rest to 60 mph in a scintillating 2.5 seconds, and hit 124 mph in 7.2 seconds — yet produces so little carbon dioxide that it is exempt from London’s Congestion Charge. The two-seater supercar will even do 93 mph in silent, pollution- free, electric- only mode.
Webber, just back from competing in last weekend’s Le Mans 24-hour race, collected Miss Sharapova from her Central London hotel and drove her to the ball. On arrival — strictly within the speed limit — she said: ‘What a way to arrive at the party. To be in the fastest Porsche with a racing driver like Mark is amazing.’ The 918 Spyder has a mid-mounted 4.6-litre V8 race engine coupled to two electric motors with lithium-ion batteries, which t ogether develop 887 bhp — equivalent to nearly nine Ford Fiestas.
It holds the lap record for a production car at Germany’s Nurburgring race circuit. Yet the combination still delivers 94.1 mpg and emissions of just 72g/km and a potential electriconly range of 18 miles.
Porsche fan Sharapova owns a personalised Panamera GTS and her confectionery business, Sugapova, features a sweet called Speedy shaped like a 911.