It’s safe to say that Porsche isn’t fucking around with the Taycan Turbo GT. This EV track monster is the company’s next step in the evolution of electric performance. You can bet that this isn’t the last step, either, as they continue to push the envelope with upcoming hybrid 911s and EV Caymans. I’m a big fan of this step in the evolutionary chain, as the company has gone flat out with its EV super sedan, creating the ultimate two-seat sporting experience from the platform. And kicking ass at tracks around the world.
As part of the car’s launch earlier this week, Porsche finally showed us the onboard video of the Nürburgring record lap that it announced back in January. Porsche has been in a battle with Tesla for N-ring EV supremacy for the last handful of years, and this might not be the bomb drop that ends the war. At the very least, it’ll certainly keep Tesla engineers busy playing catch-up for the next year or two.
Click play on the video below and you’ll immediately see the impressive speed with which the Taycan attacks the famed Green Hell. There is a lunge off the corners that isn’t possible with a gasoline-powered machine, and the speed just builds rapidly from there. The car could certainly use a higher top speed, as it tops out at 188 miles per hour about halfway down the long Döttinger Höhe straight.
The 7 minute 7.55 second lap is damn impressive for the be-winged battery on wheels. That’s a faster lap than Kern’s own record in a 991.2 GT3 Clubsport back in 2017, faster than the manic 997-generation GT2 RS, hell, it’s 21 seconds clear of Walter Röhrl’s famous Carrera GT lap! Only 27 road-legal cars in history have turned a faster lap than this car. That in itself says quite a lot about the engineering that went into the Taycan Turbo GT.
My favourite part is at the 6:45 mark of the video when Lars Kern shows his most polite German frustration by throwing up his hands when Attack Mode isn’t available to push him even faster. Both hands off the wheel at 173 miles per hour? That Taycan must be one hell of a stable car.