Nürburgring in Germany is where you bring your car to test its handling, brakes, and performance. Think of any car or supercar — whether upcoming or prototype — and it is very likely that the vehicle was tuned and tested at Nürburgring.
Nürburgring is unlike any racetrack in the world as its extremely varied 25.98 km-long tarmac with huge crests, blind corners and an overall extremely challenging layout replicates the imperfections and undulations of the road.
For a certain car to make a record here, that would be something and that’s what the Taycan, Porsche’s 100-percent electric-powered super sports car did recently as it set a new EV lap record at Nürburgring.
The Taycan’s official lap time of seven minutes and 7.55 seconds is fastest achieved by an electric Porsche. Porsche development driver Lars Kern was the one behind a pre-production version of the updated Porsche Taycan when a new lap record for 100-percent electric-powered sedans was set.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF PORSCHE PH
Porsche development driver Lars Kern bested his own fastest lap record aboard a Porsche Taycan at Nürburgring.
Faster lap times
This officially timed lap is 26 seconds faster than Kern’s last record drive, achieved in August 2022, in a Taycan Turbo S equipped with the performance package. The time also shatters by about 18 seconds the previous record for EV sedans set by a Tesla Model S Plaid on the 20.8-km Nordschleife track.
For safety reasons, the pre-production Taycan test car was equipped with a legally prescribed roll cage and racing bucket seats.
Compared to the 2022 record, the pre-production Taycan was 25 kilometers per hour faster than the Taycan Turbo S heading into the Nürburgring’s famed Schwedenkreuz corner.
And by the time Kern crossed the finish line near Grandstand 13, he would have only just been about to enter the Nordschleife’s Antoniusbuche section. This puts the distance between the pre-production Taycan and the Taycan Turbo S at more than 1.3 kilometers, illustrating the leap in performance achieved.
The new record lap time means the Taycan’s performance is in the same league as electric hypercars. Just as impressive is the fact that the pre-production model clocked almost identical times over several laps.
In the Philippines, the Taycan continues to be one of Porsche’s bestselling models.
From the top-spec Taycan Turbo S model that debuted the nameplate in the country in 2020, the local Taycan lineup has since grown to include variants like the Taycan GTS, Taycan Sport Turismo, Taycan Cross Turismo and the Taycan four-door coupé in rear-wheel drive, which is popular among consumers who expect dynamic performance in a 100-percent electric vehicle.
