This new Porsche Taycan is in fact only 2 seconds off the ‘Ring time of the Rimac Nevera.
Porsche is certainly off to a fiery start in 2024, as it has recently reported that a pre-production example of its as-yet-unnamed new Taycan variant has just blasted round the ‘Ring in a scarcely believable 7:07.55.
Without a doubt the new standard now for all-electric performance sedans, this blisteringly quick time is a whopping 17.681 seconds faster than the Tesla Model S Plaid’s previous record-holding 7:25.231 time. Though perhaps even more impressive is the fact that this four-door four-seat Porsche is to just be 2 seconds off the pace of the near 2,000 hp Rimac Nevera EV hypercar round the green hell.
What more too is that at least according to Porsche, its development driver Lars Kern that set this record-shattering time in the new Taycan actually managed a few more laps with nearly identical results. This therefore means given the Nurburgring’s punishing 20.8 km length is typically torture for EV drivetrains, the Stuggart supercar marque may have incorporated some pretty trick drivetrain tech into this new Taycan to have it pound round the ‘Ring at that consistent speed.
Unfortunately however, further details into what lies under the skin of this particular Taycan will not be known for some time yet. And while Porsche is not one to lie about their sporting achievements, it is worth highlighting here that the German automaker has nevertheless elected to not reveal footage of this record ‘Ring time just yet, with it apparently instead to only showcase it sometime in mid-March, likely to coincide with the mid-cycle refresh of this four-door EV sedan.
In any case, Porsche has revealed that this record-breaking Taycan did receive minor modifications to make it safer and more trackable. Racing bucket seats and a roll cage among the additions to it, with the official photos released by the automaker showing for this all-electric sedan to be sporting an aggressive front splitter and an equally massive fixed rear wing too.
If the rumours were to be believed as well, this new supposedly-named Taycan Turbo GT is likely packing a tri-motor drivetrain that should be outputting somewhere in the region of 1,000 hp. There are also whispers pertaining to potentially a different battery chemistry and the incorporation of silicon carbide inverters, in order for this performance-oriented four-door to reliably operate at its upper performance envelop.
What is probably the more exciting prospect however with regards to this upcoming top-flight Taycan is to be Mr. Musk’s likely attempt at a retaliation to Porsche’s seemingly-unbeatable new record. Though given how the Model S is all but phased out for this iteration at least, this 7:07 time may just be one that stands for quite a while more…
And just for the Nurburgring nerds here (as they will probably be the only one who will get what is going on), this is what Porsche has to say about the details of its record-shattering lap:
Compared to the 2022 record in a Taycan Turbo S, the times were significantly better: the pre-series car was a good 25 km/h faster heading into the Schwedenkreuz. To illustrate the difference further, by the time Kern crossed the finish line near Grandstand 13 (T13) this time, he would have only just been passing the entrance to the Nordschleife, about to enter the Antoniusbuche section, during his record drive in the Taycan Turbo S in 2022. This put the distance between the pre-series Taycan and the current Turbo S at more than 1.3 kilometres – a figure that illustrates the leap in performance achieved on the 20.8 km course in Germany’s Eifel region.
