THERE ARE TWO kinds of people in the world. Folks like me who earn money, and those with a license to print it. Don’t call them rich. Rich is not enough word to depict their indescribable wealth. For one special week of the year in August, the thousands of petrolheads among them flock to the Monterey peninsula in California for the most outrageous automotive celebration in the world.

IMAGE GALLERY 918 HYBRID

It culminates on a Sunday with the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, now in its 60^th year, but that’s preceded by five days of parties, auctions, historic rallies and some eye-popping classic racing at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It’s known as the Monterey Classic Car Week and if it’s not on your bucket list, you need a new list. It also means for one week some of the world’s wealthiest car lovers are jam-packed into one of the eco-friendliest corners of the planet. California, after all, is not just one of the world’s richest economies, it’s a place where its citizens try to out-hybrid each other with the number of Toyota Priuses parked in their driveways.

So if you’re Porsche and you want to show the world that your hybrid 918 Spyder is more than conceptual smoke and mirrors, that it’s a real supercar able to race from 0 to 100kph in 3.2 seconds to the accompaniment of a roaring soundtrack, or glide silently on electric power only and consume less than 3.1 litres per 100km, where would you do it?

Which is how I find myself in a very exclusive private estate in the hills behind Monterey with a select group of motoring writers watching Michael Mauer, Porsche’s chief design engineer, drive the 918 to and fro in front of our cameras.

Some of the United States’ wealthiest car nuts and Porsche lovers, talk show host Jay Leno among them, had already had private viewings of the hybrid in an aircraft hangar at Monterey airport in the days leading up to the event. But this was the first time anyone outside of Porsche had seen the car in motion.

I’d love to tell you I was blown away by the Spyder’s neck-snapping acceleration through all seven gears on the PDK transmission, considering the normally aspirated 3.4-litre V8 and three electric engines combine to churn out 535kW. Sadly, this was not to be. Mauer never changed out of first gear as the V8, an advanced version of the mill in the RS Spyder racing car, strained painfully at its leash, barking and spitting as it trundled past.  He did it a few times silently in electric-only mode as well.

The point was made though. It still has a way to go, but the hybrid 918 Spyder is a real working car, not just a concept anymore. Although there’s no indication of price or an on-sale date, it has been approved for production by Porsche’s board. Mauer and his team of engineers confirmed afterwards that, bar a few tweaks here and there, the production car will remain true to the concept. The rear view cameras on the sides will be replaced by conventional side mirrors, and there’s no definite decision yet on one, two or three electric engines. But what remains is the sculpted exterior and stunning carbon fibre-clad cockpit with its mobile phone-inspired touchscreen. The supercar of the future has, thankfully, become a reality.