Video: This is what it looks (and sounds) like to hot-lap a circuit in the Porsche 918

IT’S AS close as most of us (and that means 99.99% recurring) will ever get to experiencing a Porsche 918 Spyder in all its hard-edged, high-tech, hell-bent glory.

In this refreshingly straightforward video, free of pulsating rock music and fancy camera work,  Porsche works driver Patrick Long takes us, and his 918 company smoker, for a hot lap of the new Circuit of the Americas  in Austin, Texas.

His helmet cam affords us a bird’s eye view of his office as he deftly flicks the gear paddles and, at one stage, casually presses the hot-lap button to release the hybrid car’s combined 875bhp for a slingshot 174mph down the back straight.

Hot tip: See 1m 49sec for a lesson in car control

Hot fact: Long, 33, has a professional skateboarding brother called, Kevin “Spanky” Long. No, we don’t know why, either.