Porsche Taycan Turbo S Sets Fastest Production EV Nürburgring Lap Record
The car set a lap time of seven minutes and 33 seconds.
If you don't set a Nürburgring lap time, are you even for real? Clearly, this question was on Porsche's mind when it took the Porsche Taycan Turbo S to The Green Hell—and then promptly set a new record there for the fastest production EV.
Development driver Lars Kern was at the wheel and managed a lap time of seven minutes and 33 seconds. That's 7:33 if you want it written out in 'Ring-speak. In its release, Porsche insists that the car was "entirely" stock. It just had a roll cage and racing seats, per track requirements. The car also had a performance kit and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control—but, again, Porsche says that its weight was identical to a stock vehicle.
You can watch the lap here:
If you're curious, that performance kit is comprised of a software update to the onboard 4D Chassis Control so it works better with the extra sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsas, themselves also part of the kit. As a final touch, the rubber is wrapped around 21-inch RS-Spyder wheels, making for what sounds like a pretty serious set of shoes. For now, the performance kit is limited to German-market 2023 Taycan Turbo S models only. Porsche expects the kit itself to become available at the end of 2022.
To make extra sure that no internet sleuths or bored people with nothing better to do (the two are one and the same, often) have any reason to doubt the lap, Porsche also says it brought out a notary to confirm the new record time. On top of that, an independent third party called TÜV Rheinland was also on hand to confirm that the car used for the lap was stock. There was absolutely no funny business afoot, okay?
That 7:33-minute 'Ring lap brings the Taycan Turbo S impressively close to other extremely fast cars, according to Fastestlaps.com, including the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (7:33:95), Koenigsegg CCS (7:33:55), Mercedes-AMG GT S (7:33:04), Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (7:33), Porsche 911 GT3 RS (7:33), and Pagani Zonda F (7:33). Whip this little factoid out at your next dinner party and smoke it.
The only other EV with a lap time faster than the Porsche is the Nio EP9, with a time of 7:05:12. The EP9 is not road-legal, however, and makes 1,360 horsepower to the Taycan Turbo S' 616 hp. There was also the Tesla Model S Plaid that may or may not have set a faster lap than the Taycan Turbo S. That one's still a little up for debate, though.
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