Porsche Taycan sets new EV Nürburgring record

Porsche’s assault on electric-car records has continued with its upcoming Porsche Taycan electric sedan smashing the four-door EV record at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife.

A pre-production Porsche Taycan blasted around the historic, mountainous 20.6km track in seven minutes and 42 seconds – well below the “sub-eight minutes” Porsche had as its target when it launched its concept-car predecessor, the Mission E.

It has even been busy showing a teaser picture of the Taycan’s interior, which showed a button-free environment and clean, simple lines.

“The Taycan mastered its Triple Endurance Run superbly," said Taycan product line vice-president Stefan Weckbach.

“First, our electric sports car demonstrated the reproducibility of its performance as part of a strenuous test involving 26 successive acceleration runs from zero to 200 km/h.

“Then it completed 3425km within 24 hours in Nardò without any issues and now the record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

“Numerous factors contribute to this performance and the efficiency of the powertrain, also at high speeds. These include the chassis systems that react within a fraction of a second as well as the outstanding aerodynamics,” he insisted.

The Nürburgring has long been a prized circuit for Porsche, whose factory-supported Manthey Racing operation is based there. The late Stefan Bellof still holds the race car lap record there, the 6:11 lap more than 30 years ago, at an average of 198.3km/h.

It was the outright lap record at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife (north circuit) until Porsche itself beat it with the 919 Evo tribute car, whipping around in 5:19.55.

It also frequently trades fastest production car laps there with sister company, Lamborghini, owning the current record with a 6:44.9 in an Aventador LP770-4 SVJ.

Now it’s done it again with regular test pilot Lars Kern (who also owns the second-fastest production car lap on the Nordschleife with a 6:47.25, set in 2017 in the 911 GT2 RS).

“The Taycan is also suitable for race tracks and it convincingly proved that here on the world’s most challenging circuit,” Kern said.

“Again and again, I am impressed at how stable the all-electric sports car handles in high-speed sections, such as Kesselchen, and how neutrally it accelerates from tight sections, such as Adenauer Forst.”

While a lap record was always a target, the main reason Porsche tested the Taycan at the ‘Ring was to gain tighter control over its thermal management and electrical energy use.

The Taycan will make its official debut at the Frankfurt motor show next month, with electric motors on each axle to give it all-wheel drive.

Porsche claims the electric motors operate much faster to control wheelspin or slip than conventional cars with Torque Vectoring, reacting in tiny fractions of a second via its 4D Chassis Control system.

It will run three-chamber adaptive air suspension all around, along with electromechanical active roll stabilisation, all-wheel steering and 21-inch wheels and tyres.

It will also become the first car to run an 800-volt electrical system – double the normal 400 volts used on electric cars.

Porsche has yet to reveal the exact battery capacity or power output of the Taycan, which is based on its internally developed J1 dedicated electric-car architecture.

There is some good news for Porsche's luxury sister brand in all of this, too, with the Audi e-tron GT essentially set to be a reskinned Taycan when it arrives next year.

The Porsche Taycan will be available in Australia in late 2020.