Ride Along for the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT’s Record Nurburgring Lap
A nearly 5,000-pound car shouldn’t be able to move this well.
Porsche's new Taycan Turbo GT, with its weight-saving and downforce-adding Weissach package equipped, just set a blistering lap time at the Nürburgring Nordschleife of 7:07.55, obliterating the Tesla Model S Plaid's time by more than 17 seconds and taking the electric production car class record. In this newly released footage from behind the wheel, the Taycan's Nürburgring lap time is as impressive as it is quiet.
Typically, these on-board Nürburgring videos are loud and chaotic, with some exotic engine's tachometer pinned near redline for the majority of the lap. The Taycan Turbo GT, being entirely electric, though, is nearly silent the whole way around. I wonder if the silence made the lap easier for driver Lars Kern, allowing him to focus more on steering and braking inputs without the scream of a high-strung engine in his ears. Or do pro drivers want to hear their powertrain, to get a better sense of what's going on while they push it as hard as it can go?
While the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT technically holds the electric "production" record at the Nürburgring, it isn't the fastest EV to lap the Green Hell. The only electric road car on sale that's quicker than the Taycan Turbo GT around the 'Ring is the Rimac Nevera. However, the Nürburgring categorizes the Nevera as an electric "supercar or hypercar," which puts it in a different category. Admittedly, the Nevera costs nearly ten times what the Taycan does, at around $2.2 million, and is produced in far more limited numbers. For what it's worth, Nürburgring officials note the Turbo GT is the fastest four-door car to lap the 13-mile track regardless of propulsion system—even if the Weissach version's rear doors open to no back seat.
It isn't just the speed that's impressive, though. The Taycan Turbo GT looks as sharp and as composed as Porsche's more hardcore GT cars. It turns in and clings to the road like a 911 GT3 RS, despite weighing 4,925 pounds. Even in Weissach trim, the Taycan Turbo GT is more than one and a half tons heavier than the 911 GT3 RS. And yet it carves up the 'Ring like a much lighter sports car, with only minor understeer through the highest speed corners. On the straights, its 1,092 horsepower and 988 lb-ft of torque make the speedometer spike like its from a video game.
This is only Porsche's second real attempt at a high-performance electric sedan, following the pre-refresh Taycan Turbo S, and it's already the fastest car in its class. More importantly, though, it looks like it's actually fun to drive at speed, proving that EVs aren't condemned to only be good at generating eye-popping figures; they can be enjoyable sports cars, too.
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