Top lap time - Porsche Taycan beats Super Tesla on the Nordschleife - why this is no surprise
Porsche is announcing the "fastest electric car from Zuffenhausen" for the new year. This refers to a pre-production model of the Porsche Taycan, which the manufacturer has apparently extensively reworked - although it is not yet known in detail how. According to the report, test driver Lars Kern managed to lap the Nordschleife in 7 minutes and 7 seconds. This means that the new edition of the electric car is already 26 seconds faster than the previous model.
"The distance between the pre-series car and the current Turbo S is therefore over 1.3 kilometers," the company is pleased to announce in a press release. But Porsche has not only beaten itself: with the current time, Porsche has also beaten the Tesla Model S Plaid, which initially set the previous lap record for four-door cars in September 2021 with 7:35 minutes, making the competition look old.
Even then, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that they could do better if they modified the Tesla Model S aerodynamically, changed the tires and swapped the brakes. The company then followed up with the conversion in June 2023 and achieved a lap time of 7 minutes and 25.23 seconds. In contrast to the previous Model S Plaid, the vehicle was equipped with the "Track Package", which is theoretically available from Tesla for 18,435 euros, but is currently not in stock.
Porsche advances into hypercar regions
With the new time, Porsche is nevertheless many times faster - and is even scratching the performance of electric hypercars such as the Rimac Nevera, which completed the track in 7:05.298. Porsche plans to make a video of the record run available in mid-March.
Even if car enthusiasts are currently pouncing on the fact that Porsche has knocked Tesla off its throne, the new record is hardly surprising. The sports car manufacturer from Zuffenhausen has been optimizing its vehicles for lap times and the best possible racetrack performance for decades. Porsche's experience in this area is therefore just as great as its ambition to achieve ever better results.
The Tesla Model S Plaid, on the other hand, was not even modified for the first record, but corresponded to the standard car from the factory. Only in the second attempt were some new parts added. Tesla naturally enjoyed the marketing effect of the good lap times, but did not pursue comprehensive vehicle optimization for even better results.
The Taycan that has now set the record, on the other hand, is a pre-series vehicle in which Porsche has not only learned from its experience with the current model, but has also optimized its development to achieve such race track times. The comparison, even if it can be made for the sake of illustration, is therefore somewhat misleading. This could also be the reason why Porsche makes no mention of other manufacturers in the press release.
Porsche holds several Nordschleife records
Incidentally, Porsche also holds the record for the fastest ever lap of the Nürburgring: a Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo managed to complete the Nordschleife in 5 minutes and 19 seconds. However, this was a thoroughbred racing car.
The fastest electric car on the Nordschleife comes from VW. Racing driver Romain Dumas completed the lap in an ID.R in 6:05.336.
Among the road-legal vehicles, Porsche was in the lead for a long time with the Porsche 911 GT2 RS and was only replaced by the Mercedes-AMG One in 2022. The current record here is 6:35.18 minutes. Porsche can currently also claim the top position in the "SUV" category, as a Cayenne Turbo GT completed the lap in 7:39.9 minutes.
Sources: Porsche, Tesla
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Source: www.stern.de
