Toyota sets electric-car lap record at the Nurburgring

September 07,2011

Ever wondered what happened to erstwhile F1 participant Toyota Motorsport? The company has been working on electric vehicles, setting a new lap record for an electric vehicle. The Green Hell, as the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife is known, is the ultimate proving ground for manufacturers wishing to hone their cars’ handling. Toyota’s prototype EV P001, with electric drive, broke the eight-minute barrier and posted a respectable 7:47.794 second time. It’s just outside the lap times of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (7:44.42) and the Porsche 911 GT2 (7:46).

The prototype is powered by two electric motors with a combined 800 Nm of torque. Top speed is 260 km/h. The team’s target was to be the first electric vehicle to break the eight-minute barrier and they did so in style. Toyota says the new lap record was completed on road-legal tyres, using the complete Nordschleife track.

Toyota is planning to use the electric drive technology in a motorsport application, possible in a one-make racing series. Could the day of emissions-free F1 with artificial sound tracks be that far away? Perhaps Toyota will be leading that pack.

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